M'sian City Life #28: The Day I Started Believing In PDRM Again
"Seriously, I felt like I was a VIP, who was protected by a few police officers with guns in their hands," he said.
By Tang Ruxyn — 29 Jul 2016, 12:08 PM
It was a Friday afternoon on 15 July and everything seemed to be going well for Aaron Wong, who was on his way to withdraw some money from the bank
He found the perfect parking spot right beside a mamak stall in a crowded area in TTDI (Taman Tun Dr Ismail), Kuala Lumpur.
Although the 24-year-old had to wait for about an hour before he could proceed with the withdrawal, everything seemed to go on smoothly.
"After getting the money, I went back to my car. While I was using Waze to navigate to my office address in my car, I heard a sound — as if somebody pressed the back of my car," Aaron said.
He recalled turning his head back and seeing a guy walking away quickly from his car. Thinking that the incident was probably an accident, he didn't give much thought about it and ignored what happened.
The moment he drove out of the highway, he felt that something was amiss. Aaron noticed that there was a sound coming from the back of his car.
"Thinking it might be a case of punctured tyre, I stopped at the side of the highway. I came out to have a look, and true enough, one of the tyres of my car was punctured."
Aaron then decided to drive into a shop lot area and stopped his car at the side of the road.
Somehow, he felt uneasy, so he decided to take out the envelope containing the cash from his bag and hid it somewhere else.
However, he had left his bag pack at the front passenger seat, in the leg space area.
Then, it happened.
Aaron went to take out a spare tyre from the car boot while the feeling of uneasiness was still reeling inside of him.
While he was distracted and concentrated on taking the tyres, he suddenly heard his car door closing.
Aaron immediately reacted by closing the car boot. The next second, he spotted a man who was carrying his bag and running away with it. The man was heading to another vehicle.
"I blame myself for being nervous and stunned, because I could not remember the car's number plate."
The only detail he could remember was it was a good car.
"Scared that he might be targeted again, I held a wrench. I called my boss and the police while hiding behind a van, watching out for my car," Aaron said.
After Aaron made the call, the police and his colleague arrived within minutes
Aaron's colleague came and retrieved the cash from him.
When the police arrived at the scene, they were quick to lend a helping hand to change the punctured tyre. Unfortunately, as Murphy's law has it, the spare tyre had some problem.
However, the police took the initiative to offer Aaron a ride to the tyre shop, while the other two police officers stayed back to keep an eye on his car.
The kind officers even helped to fix back the new tyre for Aaron when they returned from the tyre shop.
At the end of the day, Aaron lost a bag, an external harddisk, a few thumb drives, his prized 12-year-old pencil case and some office documents. However, it felt like he still gained something from this experience.
The incident restored his faith in the police force because they clearly went the extra mile in assisting him during the unfortunate ordeal.
"Seriously, I felt like I was a VIP, who was protected by a few police officers with guns in their hands," he said.
"To police officer, Sham, Zuraimi and Fendi, I really thank you for all your extra effort in assisting a helpless citizen."
Aaron also noted that a few people who were not in the police uniform have offered him assistance too.
"The sergeant from TTDI police station also made it a point to personally make his way to the scene to look out for any CCTV that might have caught the culprit on camera."
At the end of the day, Aaron was just thankful that he was not hurt from the incident and the fact that the situation could have been worse
"Please be careful and don't ever step out of your car when there is something fishy going on, even if it is someone banging your car. It would be best to get it checked by going to the nearest police station for safety reasons."
He said that he was in the bank for an hour and realised that he was probably the only one that went into a special room to perform the transaction.
"Please be careful of your surrounding, as I suspect that I was targeted from the moment I stepped out of the special room."
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