Women learn city survival skills at workshop-The Malaysian Insider

Some 100 women learned how to deal with city “threats” like snatch theft, rape, and house burglaries at a workshop yesterday.

The women-only workshop on city survival skills was conducted by Captain K. Balasupramaniam but it was not your traditional martial arts-based self-defence class.

Instead, Balasupramaniam gave them practical tips like how to deal with an attacker.

“When attacked from behind, don’t try to kick the groin as it is too high up. You don’t even have to look behind to kick the shin bone,” he said.

And instead of trying to pull an attacker’s arms away when he is choking you, pull at his fingers instead as they are weaker and kick his shin bone.

I found this one of the most useful tips in the workshop as we are generally taught to kick an attacker’s groin. Although we did not get hands-on practice, it looked simple enough to execute.

“Remember the acronym BADGE if you are raped. Be calm; (get) assistance; don’t wash up; (go to a) government hospital; and (get) evidence,” he said, adding that rapists generally do not buy equipment to attack women but use what is available at hand.

He cited various rape and murder cases where victims were strangled with their lanyards, bras, cardigans, bags or even plastic bags used to carry food.

Statistics from the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry showed that the number of reported rape cases since 2000 has tripled to 3,626 cases last year, doubling within the last five years alone.

When it comes to snatch theft, another common threat that women face daily in the city, Balasupramaniam advised us to get handbags with detachable straps to prevent getting dragged on the ground.

He took a handbag with a detachable strap from a woman in the audience, saying:  “If it’s a handbag for work purposes, get a strap with a clip like this, not the one that is sewn to the bag.”

This was a simple yet pertinent tip to take note of considering that many deaths and severe injuries have resulted from snatch thefts. I made a mental note to change my handbag which had a sewn on strap.

To ensure survival in the event of house burglaries, Balasupramaniam told us to key in the number of a person who can come to their aid in 15 minutes or less into our mobile phones.

This was another good tip as one’s first reaction would be to call the police or friend and they could be miles away.

Balasupramaniam also recommended that women get water-based US-made pepper sprays equipped with key rings at the bottom to prevent one from dropping them.

“A good pepper spray is a water-based one. It (the spray) can jump eight feet. If it is gas, the wind will blow it back at you,” said the safety activist, who has trained over 100,000 women in the past 11 years.

He also told the audience that criminals today use sophisticated two-way mirrors in changing rooms that can no longer be detected by fingers.

“You have to use a device to detect it (the spy camera behind the two-way mirror),” he said, adding that women could change underneath a sarong if they did not want to buy the device.

But the best tips of the morning workshop cannot be reported here as Balasupramaniam felt that they would lose their effectiveness once they are made public. These involve trickery and pretence.

“A good pretender is a great survivor,” Balasupramaniam repeated several times throughout the workshop.

Although the workshop could be improved by giving participants hands-on practice on simple moves to free oneself from an attacker, most of the tips shared were extremely useful as they taught basic survival skills without needing to learn self-defence.

The workshop was organised by Pandan MP Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat in his constituency, together with non-governmental organisations Yayasan Bakti Nusa Malaysia and Persatuan Belia Rakan Nusa.

Ong said that his service centre planned to repeat the workshop later this year in other parts of Malaysia including East Malaysia, depending on demand.