Are you ready for 6.5mil people?

Yesterday, my dad was on the MRT at around 4pm. The train was packed.

He got whacked in the face and stomach – supposedly accidental – prompting him to wonder to my mother why the MRT was packed at non-peak hour.

After he got off the MRT and was crossing the road to get the car, he was talking about how wonderful it was to be in safe Singapore. In other countries, they’d be pickpocketed.

And at that very moment, he felt for his pockets and realised that his mobile phone had been taken.

It was a good thing it hadn’t been his wallet, because my dad had the sense about him to put his hand on his wallet which was in the back pocket during the entire trip.

Probably that was why he got whacked for. So he’d let go of his wallet and someone else would swipe it.

People always laugh at me for being paranoid. And over time, I’ve become quite careless about the dangers lurking around.

The SMRT wants the trains to be filled to 80% capacity as opposed to 60% now. They talk of London and Japan filling up their trains more efficiently. With 6.5mil people, if you think Singapore is going to be safe as in the past, you’re kidding yourself.

So, partly as a refresher course to me and hopefully, you’ll find these tips useful too, these are the simple steps to take just to make yourself a little safer, without having to invest in anything.

• For people who wear jeans and in crowded areas, put everything into one front pocket and walk with that hand in your pocket. Don’t worry about the bulge because people will just think you have big hands. If you don’t mind looking a bit like Dirty Harry about to pull his guns out, put each hand into each pocket and spread the load. My father’s excuse for not having his hands on two things was: he has to hold something. My answer? If it’s that crowded, don’t worry about your balance. Someone else will hold you up because they don’t want you falling on them.
• When you walk, don’t just look straight ahead of you to where you want to go. Walking, should really be like crossing the road your entire life. Look left, look right, be aware of what is around you. And don’t forget behind you.
• I’ve also noticed that people are particularly careless after they have visited the money changer and the ATM. After they get their money, they turn around and put money in the wallet, letting everyone see the thick wad of cash they now have. Take your time at ATM and money changer, even if there is a line of impatient people behind you, to put your money in your pocket / wallet before you leave the machine. If you have pockets on you, spread the cash between your wallet and pockets.
• While you are lining up at the money changer / ATM, take a look around you at the people milling around, don’t just wait for your turn. Really look at them. Their faces, their clothes and so on. When the crime happens, you will feel confused, even disorientated and all the things that seemed to happen all at once will seem like some mad blur. But try and relax and by doing so, your mind will clarify the things you saw. And the more details you observed while waiting, the more you can help yourself and others.
• Our instinct in the MRT and lift and other confined spaces is to look away and avoid eye contact. Don’t do this. Actually look and observe the people around you. Look at their face, what they’re wearing. Same thing.
• Practice describing people in a useful way. Like the colours of eyes. Start categorizing them. What is light blue? Dark blue? Green blue? This is so that when you are asked to describe people, you do so in a consistent useful way that is easy to work with. Eyebrows, plucked, unplucked, bushy, thin, joined together, set far apart, scar in eyebrows, break in hair in the eyebrows, etc. etc. As city people, we tend to gloss over details to find patterns. This is due to the information overload we face. So we need to counter that tendency and be observant.
• Vary your route or vary your schedule. This applies particularly for people who walk dogs, go for classes or jog. By mixing it up, observable patterns are hard to pin down and plans of attacks are hard to make.
• Loosen your vocal cords. As we find ourselves in an increasingly packed city, you will find that your personal space is constantly being invaded. As part of that response to keep your personal space, you will find yourself keeping quiet and silent. As you feel tense, your vocal cords are also constricted. The key here is be ready to scream “help!” or “robber!” loud and clear. If more people can hear you are in trouble, there are more who can help. (And there are already so few who will.) Think of children and how free they are with their voices and their bodies.
• Use all your limbs. Kick and punch like mad. Don’t freeze up. (Applies for when you are attacked only.)
• When you exercise, add a kicking practice to your regime, with the foot and with the knee. Observe the actions of Muay Thai boxers when they use the knee especially. Do not follow the moves on the shin as these are painful for normal people. Which means you can kick the attacker’s shins.
• Which brings me to, observing your own body. Observe what areas of your body that make you feel the most pain and vulnerability. These are the places to attack the other person.
• When going home at night, in a dark car park or when you feel generally unsafe, carry your keys in your hand. Put the keys between your clenched fist. This will give punch to your punch. Go for the eyes. And when you punch, don’t forget you can also add a slicing motion. When you slice you are increasing your area of damage. Go for areas that have little fat. Arms, face. For example, use your legs to kick the body because your legs are strong. Then use the arms to go for the face. With the key in your hand, it’s more painful.

Here are two pictures of how to hold your keys, palm up:

… and palm down:

Be safe.

Edit: When I took the photos above, I felt quite uncomfortable about the position of the keys. I think they’re much better between the index finger and the middle finger, rather than the middle finger and the ring finger as pictured. I suggest you find whatever position is better, where you’ll get a nice firm grip on the keys.