Monday, August 15, 2005

Getting back the car Pt. 1

Finally I get to sit down and relate the whole story...

Right after I blogged on Wednesday about going to Ipoh to see the sergeant, I got a call from him. I thought it was nice of him to confirm our meeting on Thursday... until he asked me to bring some money for him. I told him I didn't have money anymore, since I was already spending a lot to travel to Ipoh. Some more I was the victim of a scam and I had to pay the finance company 3 months of installments for the car, plus the insurance, the road tax, etc... Eventually, he asked me to go over and "discuss".

Besides being a Christian, personally I rather pay the government than to bribe a police officer. So, I shared it with my gf, cell members, and brother about the bribe. Worst case scenario, I would tell him that "tak ada orang nampak, tapi Tuhan nampak" reason for not giving him anything.

Anyhow, on Thursday morning I woke up at 6am and left for Ipoh.

Ipoh mali!

Halfway on the journey, I encoutered a roadblock and I was stopped!

PDRM working hard to keep the road safe

An officer approached me and the conversation went something like this:

polis: Minta lesen...

(I handed him the license)

polis: Dah lepas had...

me: berapa?

polis: 12km... boleh tulis?

me: Boleh...

(He proceeds to jot down my details)

polis: Kena tanya dulu... kalau nak tolong, boleh-lah..

(At that moment, I was pretty pissed off with yet another police officer asking for bribe)

me:(with the poker face) Tak apa...kalau dah salah, kena bayar-lah...

polis:(looked at my license and returned it to me) Tak apa, nanti kami hantar surat...

So I took my license back and continued my trip- guess the officer was just trying his luck.

Anyhow, I reached Ipoh around 8.30am and the traffic was fantastic compared to KL/Pg.

smooth traffic

I went to JPJ first to get a number because I wanted to renew the road tax before taking it back. I later realised that not many went there to renew their road tax so no hurry there. So straight I went to the police station.


Ibu Pejabat Daerah

On my way see the sergeant, I went to the toilet to ease myself and I noticed something strange.

Umbrella?
Is she wearing an umbrella?

At the office building, I was told that the sergeant just went back home to change after spending the whole night in Kuala Selangor. An officer there asked me to have my drink and come back later around 11am. So I went down the road to a kopitiam for breakfast and I saw her.

behind bars

Even though the number plate had been removed, I could recognise it. The bonnet looked suspiciously repainted. Anyhow, I proceeded to have my meal and later on I fetched my eldest brother who was coming here from Pg.

At around 11am, we went back to see the sergeant and he was in this time- he was so "IN":

sleeping on the job

He was sleeping so soundly that we were reluctant to wake him up. After sitting there for about 2 mins, we finally called him softly and got him up from his slumber. Apparently he didn't get much sleep because of the meeting in Kuala Selangor. He got down to business and did do the paperwork to release the car to me. However because it was past 11am, we were unable to go to the court to get the magistrate to sign the document. Therefore, we had to postpone it to the next day.

Eric then suggested that I go back to Penang for the night instead of back to KL. So, bye-bye haze and hello sunny Penang I went...

(To Be Continued)