What Do I Do If Selva Kumar Lives Near Me? We Ask Selayang's MP For Answers

An image of a document stated that Selva Kumar, who is dubbed as Canada's "worst serial rapist", has apparently gone to live with his brother, Asok Kumar Subbiah in Selayang, Selangor.

The photo, which clearly displayed Asok's home address, has been circulating on social media for the last few days as netizens speculated his whereabouts.

Since then, Asok has been getting unwanted guests around his house as his home address has been exposed.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, 16 February, Asok said that he was being harassed by the public and the media, as people snapped photos of his house and shared them on Facebook.

"Our privacy has been ‘raped’ by the public. How would you feel if you had people coming to your house, snapping photos of it and posting it on social media in a bad light?" he was quoted as saying by Malay Mail Online.

"This is my house and people around here know me. Do you know how embarrassing it is to have people posting a picture of my house on social media stating things that are untrue?"

He said that his family and mother, who does not live with them, are stressed out for coming under this unwanted public scrutiny.

According to a "reliable source close to Selva Kumar's family", Selva Kumar has apparently moved to Kelantan where he has close relatives. The exclusive information was reported by FMT on 15 February.

It is said that Selva Kumar is "very happy" to be with his family and that they have been very supportive.

"For now, he spends much of his time at home and chooses not to go out because he does not want people to be scared or to continue viewing him negatively," the source was quoted as saying.

However, Kelantan CID chief Mohamad Fakri Che Sulaiman has denied reports that Selva Kumar is in Kelantan.

Can worried residents do anything since they fear that Selva Kumar's presence could be a threat to the community?

"This is a very difficult situation. We appreciate and understand the concerns of the residents. Nobody wants to have a convicted serial rapist as a neighbour. The fact remains as of now, we do not have a registry for sex offenders," Leong said.

In countries like the US, a sex offender registry is used to alert the public on any sexual offender who might be in their midst.

"Even if we do have (the sex offender registry), it does not mean that we are going to arrest him," Leong said.

"With the news that is available, the people are aware of the situation. As of now, we have to be more careful. As far as the police are concerned, they are also aware and they will keep an eye on him. What can be done in a situation like this, the authorities are doing it."

Leong added that this applies to other convicted criminals who have been returned to society since they are entitled to live as a free person after serving their sentence.

What other precautions are there besides knowing where he is and what he looks like? MP Leong explained that the answer isn't as straightforward as residents might hope it would be.

"We can't just ask the authorities to catch him and put him behind bars."

"What we can do is to be concerned, other than that there's really not much we can do. We can't go and arrest him or beat him up. That is the situation that we are facing."

"This is another part for us to look at, whether it is fair for the rest of society to do this to the family because he has paid his debts to the Canadian society."

"He has not done anything here. Of course, people will say,'Do you want to wait until he has committed another rape?' But we have got to go with our laws. It has to be balanced. As of now, he and his family are also entitled to their own privacy," he stressed.

"Sometimes, it is not fair (sic) depending on the situation to release the information without getting it confirmed. The poor people staying in the house are under harassment and it may not be justified," said Leong, when he was asked to comment on rumours related to Selva Kumar's whereabouts.

Stressing the importance of having a sex offender registry, Leong says that it is equally important to have necessary tests to evaluate a former convict to determine if he or she will repeat an offence.

"This is something (whether a person will re-offend or not) that nobody can say. Even if you ask some professor or doctor, it is at best just an opinion," he explained.

"Right now, we are contesting the fairness of acts like the Prevention of Crime Act (POCA) and Prevention Of Terrorism Act (POTA); it is not fair that just because the police thinks a person is going to commit a crime or a terrorist act, we detain that individual."

"If we apply the same thinking now: we think this person is going to commit a rape now, so we detain him. However, the parallel is the same - they haven’t done anything yet."

"In this situation, we have got to live with the laws that we have, and not the laws that we would like to have," Leong said.

"What we would like to have (the sex offender registry), we need to go back to the parliament to propose it. As of now, we have got to deal with it."

When asked if Malaysia will have a sex offender registry soon, Leong said, "That is for the present ruling government to consider. There have been proposals before this to have an act."