The return of a convicted Malaysian serial rapist

A MALAYSIAN serial rapist who served his 24-year jail sentence in Canada has been deported back to the country. News of his return sparked widespread restlessness and anxiety to an intensity not inferior to that of the Zika virus.

The public response is understandable. Selva Kumar Subbiah was labelled the most dangerous rapist in Canadian history by the media there. Some claimed he had raped between 500 and 1,000 women from as young as 14.

While the number may be a little exaggerated, when he was arrested in 1991, the police found a log book with the records of 170 women, each having her own rating.

Upon investigation, the police managed to locate 75 of the victims, leading to his 18-year jail sentence, extended after more victims came forward and evidence surfaced.

No one knows exactly how many women were assaulted by him, as not all were willing to come forward and testify against him.

Now that the monster is back in Malaysia, will he be on the hunt again for women to satisfy his lust? Will more innocent women fall prey to his sexual perversion?

How should he be treated by our society? Will he be accepted into society again or should he be isolated from the rest of us?

Should the police put him under closer surveillance? Or should he be left alone and his personal freedom respected?

How will Malaysian laws going to handle former convicts like him? Make him wear an ankle bracelet? Or register him for real-time tracking as practised in some countries?

Restlessness at the return of a serial rapist has exposed the various blind spots we have towards sex offenders, from the lack of social cognition to a dearth of preparedness on the part of our enforcement authorities and legis- lation, as well as the basis of corresponding legal responses.

Did the Canadian prison authorities reform him during his 24 years behind bars so that Selva Kumar could turn over a new leaf again upon his release?

Or was he given mental and psychological therapy to rectify his psychological and behavioural lapses?

The Malaysian authorities should seek further clarification from their Canadian counterparts to get a better picture of Selva Kumar to gauge whether there was any chance he would return to the very crime he was found guilty of.

A criminologist said during a media interview that former convicts like Selva Kumar are catego- rised as highly dangerous individuals akin to walking time bombs, as if any woman crossing their paths on the road could get abused.

But, it remains debatable whether such an assumption is fair. Crime records show that reversion to criminal activities by a former sex offender is substantially lower than that of a burglar or other offenders.

I’m not trying to hint that we should just put our guard down in the face of a convicted sex offender but that we must treat the case in a more scientific and logical manner. We must never deny any opportunity for people like this to be assimilated back into society again merely out of fear and panic.

After a criminal comes under legal sanction and had served his jail sentence, this should serve as a conclusion to his criminal past judging from the functionalities of prison re-education and the punishment meted out to him.

Additional punishment to him or to deny his return into society is not the right thing to do.

Sure enough, he will still come under police monitoring and surveillance owing to the severity of his earlier sins.

In Western countries, former sex convicts are legally required to register themselves and have their risk assessment done and varying degrees of surveillance imposed based on the severity of their offences.

Perhaps this is what the Malaysian Government and legislative authorities need to look into.

Instead of being overcome by irrational phobia and alarm, why not respond to such former convicts with a more rational attitude and more comprehensive system?

As for Selva Kumar, I personally feel that the 24 years he spent behind bars should be enough to make him repent. His remaining years are for his own moral redemption and to turn over a new leaf.