Compliments to the police for having cracked the Canny Ong case. The 28-year-old IT analyst was abducted from the basement car park of the upmarket Bangsar Shopping Complex on June 13.

Four days later, her charred remains were found along Old Klang Road and on Tuesday, after conducting DNA tests, the police confirmed her family's worst fears.

In between, four men were arrested - three indirectly involved by disposing and purchasing the victim's personal belongings. The trio had no links with the fourth suspect who is in custody for the abduction and killing.

The 27-year-old cleaning company supervisor was alleged to have abducted, raped, stabbed, strangled and dumped her body in a manhole. It was claimed that he later doused the body with petrol and set it ablaze.

The police are also checking if the suspect was behind three other sex crimes in basement car parks in the city.

So are there any lessons to be learned from this case? Definitely yes.

For women:

Never leave your parking ticket in the car. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, you do not have to make an unnecessary and perhaps fatal trip to the parking lot for the ticket and secondly, it is easier to steal your car if the parking ticket is in it.

You may also want to consider parking in a well-lit spot. Don't park too far away from the exit points/elevator doors. And always have someone accompany you in secluded or unfamiliar car parks. You can seek the assistance of the security guards to do this.

If in trouble, always shout for help. It is still a mystery why Ong had not raised the alarm when two policemen had stopped to inspect her car. Even when the cops were jotting down details of her and her assailant, she kept mum throughout.

If she had only said or signaled to the policemen, her life may have been spared but perhaps fear sealed her lips.

For the management:

Your duty of care to customers who support you financially does not end at the closing time of business.

If you can entice customers by promising a satisfactory shopping experience, you must also ensure that the entire duration of that experience, even when they are in the car park, is relatively safe, especially when the customers are still in your premises.

Housing and Local Government Minister Ong Ka Ting suggested early this year for shopping complexes to install close circuit television cameras and employ security guards but nothing transpired.

Again, as we usually react in Malaysia, only after the Ong abduction, shopping complexes are busy boosting their security measures. They are fully aware of what bad publicity can do to their business.

Employing just about anybody as security guards - the norm here - would also do no good. Make sure a thorough background check is done first before a person is hired.

For the police:

Although they did well to solve this case, they could have done better, perhaps even to the extent of saving Ong on the day she was abducted.

The abduction trail involved one aspect in which two policemen on their rounds had stopped to check on a Proton Tiara parked in a dark and lonely spot in Kelana Jaya. This was the victim's car and she was in it at that moment together with the suspect.

The cops had even asked for their identity cards.

According to the official version, while taking down their details, the car sped off. The two policemen then returned to the Kelana Jaya police station, lodged a report and handed the ICs to their superiors.

This happened around the same time Ong's family was lodging a missing persons' report at the Brickfields police station.

Very unfortunate, no doubt. But by being a little alert, the two policemen could have brought a different end to the story.

Perhaps they thought the duo in the car were lovers, looking for some solitude. But still they could have asked the driver to step out of the car while his particulars were being noted.

Stranger still, they had not uttered a word to the victim. Does this constitute negligence on the part of the policemen? Perhaps unlikely, but a more thorough check could have saved her.

For sex fiends:

The first thing these people should do is to get a life. But being married, with one child, did not stop the suspect in Ong's case.

For these people, the main lesson from this incident is simple: "No one will sympathise with you if you kill people just to satisfy your sexual needs".

For the public:

Firstly be more vigilant and if you see a suspicious character, alert the authorities immediately.

Next, if you see a car in a lonely spot with a 'motionless woman' in it do alert the police. And if you see the car again later, only this time without the woman, but with some of her personal belongings, don't take them.

This was what one of those arrested did. Thinking that the woman in the car was "someone's lover up to something", he just left. When he returned some time later, he found the car empty.

He then spotted her mobile phone and other personal items in the car which he pocketed. He made several calls using the phone and later sold it and the SIM card to two others. All there have been arrested.

The lesson here: don't steal, or buy stolen goods.

Very often, we are too busy to be bothered about what's happening to the person next to us. We have become apathetic. Ong's life could have been spared with a stroke of luck.

A safe car park, a vigilant cop or a good samaritan could have been that piece of luck.

But then again, it is not just about luck, it is about people doing something concrete to help others.

Like how it always happens in our country, do not let this be swept under the carpet once the hue and cry is over.