ADDICTS' HAVEN IN CHOW KIT

Its notoriety as a drug addicts' haunt came into the spotlight after
reports of a heroin addict who brought along his child to get his daily fix

A MAN in tattered clothes beckons cars which pass by to park near where he
stands.

Identifying himself as Lim, the man gets loose change from owners of the
cars who park their vehicles at the roadside in Lorong Haji Taib.

Looking like he had not taken a bath for weeks, he said this was how he
funded his heroin addiction.

'What else can I do? I have to get money to get my fix,' he said, hobbling
away quickly as he saw a few people starting to gather around.

The backlanes of Lorong Haji Taib are the capital's best-known dirty
secret. Its notoriety as a haven for drug addicts came into the spotlight
after news reports about a heroin addict who brought along his
three-year-old daughter to get his daily fix in the area.

At any time of day or night, drug addicts, prostitutes and transvestites
congregate there to carry out their nefarious activities.

Located in the downmarket shopping streets of Chow Kit in an old section of
the capital, city folk routinely tell visitors not to roam alone into those
lanes after dark.

The dirty, narrow lanes of Jalan Haji Taib and Lorong Haji Taib 1 to Lorong
Haji Taib 5 are surrounded by two- and three-storey old shophouses.

'This place is good for them because there are many dark lanes, dead ends,'
said a police officer manning the Haji Taib Police Post.

In a swoop on the area on Friday, police rounded up about 120 people, all
suspected drug addicts. Drug paraphernalia were also seized from some of them.

'The police conduct operations to pick them up from time to time using
lorries. But others keep coming and after a few days, the place is full of
addicts again,' said the officer.

With the overcrowding in Malaysia's rehabilitation centres, it could take
months before an addict is brought in by the authorities.

To provide help and counseling for the addicts and sex workers, a halfway
house run by Pink Triangle Malaysia, a non-government organisation, is
located in the area.

In the daytime, the streets of Lorong Haji Taib bustle with normal
commercial activities.

Schoolchildren walk through the area to get to bus stops.

Locals and Africans can be seen visiting the shops selling watches, spare
parts, electronic goods and leather products.

Many of the shops are also used as store-rooms, with the stored products
stacked up to the ceiling.

Carpark space is hard to find. This makes it a lucrative business to those
who operate as jaga kereta, the part-time carpark attendants who expect a
ringgit or two just for pointing out an empty lot to you.

Restaurants are found at the corners, doing thriving business as the
high-rise offices surrounding the place pour out hundreds of hungry workers
daily.

The well-dressed workers easily outnumber the few addicts who go about the
area in the daytime.

'The addicts don't disturb us, although they sometimes come to the back to
get empty boxes to sell or to rummage for waste food,' said Madam Ng Wai
Lien, a stall operator at one of the restaurants.

Near the restaurants, prostitutes stand outside the doors of cheap
guest-houses.

The mix of women and transvestites in gaudy make-up are keen to perk the
interest of passers-by, doing a little jig at times to attract attention.

But at night, the character of the place changes dramatically.

For one, a pasar malam springs up every evening, brightening up the main
streets with neon lights.

It is patronised enthusiastically by locals and tourists seeking bargains
from fake jerseys of top soccer teams to pirated VCDs, copy watches and
fresh fruits.

The pasar malam is safe to visit, but the lights do not reach the murkier
alleyways.