PI

Never realised that it was so hard to be a private investigator.

After much consideration, I decided to re-visit Sungei road. It was no surprise that the stall was vacant when we arrived. But we decided to search the whole area in case they had shifted their stalls.

There was an Indian lady with a child who was manning a bicycle stall. The bicycles were coated with dirt and dust, obviously stolen from someone else. Cousin W asked how much one was and she answered S$100.

Finally, I found the gentlemen in the next lane.

I pointed out the man in black and the boy in green to Cousin W. To avoid their suspicions, she pretended to make a phone call and took a video of them discreetly. Worried that our little act would be discovered, we took off hurriedly once the videos were taken.

If not for the theft of my bike, I would not have been known how prevalent bike thefts are in Singapore. These are the comments that I received when I related my encounter to them.

"I lost my dark blue Garyfisher too,"said LW." I went to Sungei Road and asked them whether they have good bikes cos the beter bikes are usually kept separately, but they said no."

"Aiyah, what's new. Even bikes parked outside Bishan MRT station can be stolen, what's more area like Lavender," said GC.

"It is useless to chain the bike, they can open it with multi-purpose key. If you use a number lock, they will just cut the chain. Sometimes, the lorry just came and lifted the locked bike onto the lorry. People saw but nobody stopped them."

"I almost bought a bike from Sungei road, it was brand new and was selling for only $35. It was a real bargain but I didn't buy 'cos your aunt said no."


The man who RETURNED my bike.


The boy who cleaned my bike.

Assuming that the cyclist has the common sense to park and lock the bike at a place where it is crowded, why are bike thefts so prevalent? I can think of only a few possiblities.

1) Bike thefts are riskfree as the thefts are not reported to the police. People don't report the thefts as they either think that there is no hope in retrieving the bikes or the bikes are not expensive. Hence nothing has been done to prevent the thefts.

2)Bike thefts are riskfree as nobody will stop you. Singaporeans are either shy about speaking up, afraid of a case of mistaken identify or totally indifferent since the bikes do not belong to them.

3)There are simply too many people who are buying in the black market, that made it worth while for the thieves to take the risk.

The experience had left me a little jittery about parking my bike in public places. Isn't it time Singaporeans unite to make our home a safer place to live in? Are we so preoccupied with our own affairs that we are so insensitive to what is happening around us? Are we so busy that we don't have time to spare in making that police report? Do we need to stoop so low to buy stolen goods to get that good bargain?