Kampua Talk

Note:
The story which I am about to disclose is based on real experience where yours truly was one of the few people who witnessed the incident first-hand a few days ago. Whether or not this piece is in the news, you read this FIRST in Kampua Talk. Names of the people involved have been changed to protect their privacy and image.

Dressed smartly in a business-like way, a 22-year-old young man entered *Company X on one fine Wednesday morning to rent a car. *Alex waited from morning till noon to get the Proton Perdana that he wanted. He was willing to wait as the staff of the company were too busy with their work. Alex got what he wanted in the end. Off he went with the car.

Two days later:

Alex reported to Company X that the black Proton Perdana was missing. After questioning, Alex alleged that he parked the car near a surau that very day (Friday) to fulfill his prayer one evening. After the prayer, the car was nowhere to be seen. As a prove that the car was really missing, Alex showed them the car key.

Company X sent two representatives, *Shawn and *Felix, to deal with Alex and to find their car. The company record showed the car’s final signal was on the Wednesday Alex rented the car, near midnight. Little did Alex know that Company X practised a risk management technique in their business which is called Loss Control. Company X invested a certain cost to install a GPS system in their vehicles. With this technology, they can locate their vehicle. The record showed the car’s final stop was somewhere in Klang at about 11.49pm on Wednesday.

What does this tell you? There were contradiction in Alex’s alleged claim and the GPS record. After acknowledging the presence of such technology, Alex quickly changed his claim/story that the Perdana was actually missing on Wednesday night and not Friday night. This roused some suspicions. Somehow, Alex gave full co-operation in locating the car. He led Shawn and Felix to Klang, to the place where he last saw the Perdana.

Shawn and Felix imformed their GPS system provider where *Alvin assisted them manually through the phone. After obtaining the latitude and longitude of the last location of the car, Alvin plotted them into his personal navigator and directed Felix, who was driving, to that particular location through the phone. As there was no road that leads to the location as shown by the map, they circled the place many times but failed to find the car.

The next day (Saturday), Shawn and Felix decided to bring Alvin with them to find the car. Yours truly, of course, tagged along because she did not want to miss the fun! We went there in a Naza Ria with Alex in the car. Following Alvin’s navigator, we were brought to a really kampung (rural) place in Klang - Jalan Kampung Delek or something like that. We discovered a narrow dirt road which was not shown in the map and decided to try our luck. Following the road for about 50 meter, we turned right into another equallt narrow dirt road.

JENG JENG JENG!

No, the Perdana was not in front of us. A kampung-style workshop was there to greet us. A young lad was repairing a car looked up when we approached. Two of his co-worker stood up and stared at us when we approached. Felix suggested that we turn back and try to appear lost. Alvin exclaimed that he saw one of the sides of a black Perdana. I saw the front bumper of a black Perdana. Alex suggested we call the cops.

We backed out from that area fearing for our safety as we did not know what kampung people would do. Sitting at a mamak shop to quench our thirsts while thinking what to do next, Shawn called his boss to confirm our next move. Alex was chatting on the phone and did not join us until later. We suspected the workshop was operating a kereta potong (car-cutting) syndicate, which is illegal.

The boss instructed Shawn to confiscate Alex’s handphone for the moment until everything is settled. The boss called the Shah Alam police department who then called up Klang OCPD for a raid. The Klang Police Department sent a team of 7 plain-cloth officers in a Pregio to meet us up at the Mobil petrol station. After planning their strategies, we were ready for the action to begin.

The first team, consisted of 5 officers was to go to the garage first in our Naza Ria with Felix as the driver. Their inspector was to follow them on his kapchai motorcycle. I was very excited and nervous at the same time. This was the first time in my life getting up close with the police and following them for their modus operandi. I imagined myself in those CSI series.

Only 2 officers, Shawn, Alex, Alvin and yours truly left at the station waiting for a back-up team. I wanted to follow the first team and see for myself how the PDRM raid bad guys but come to think of it, I might interrupt their duty, I diam diam (shut up) and go with the flow, scared later I kena charged because interferring the duty of PDRM and threatening the national security. *slap self*

10 minutes after the first team has left, Alex turned to Shawn and said “OK lah, bang. I mengaku lah. I yang buat semua tu. Suruh dia orang patah balik. I tak nak libatkan budak-budak kat bengkel tu. Dia orang tak salah. Saya yang salah.” And he went on and explained everything to Shawn with one of the police officer listening. Shawn was shocked! Alvin and I was shocked to speechless. The officer was stunned as well.

The officer said “Kenapa kau tak mengaku awal-awal? OCPD dah tahu ni kita tak boleh balik dengan tangan kosong. Operasi ni kena jalan juga. Kalau kau mengaku awal-awal ni, kita tak payahlah serbu.”

The officer asked us to get into their Pregio and off we went to join the first team. We reached and got down from the van. The officer asked Alex to explain himself to Felix. While they were at it, I went to have a look at the potong-ed Perdana. Only the roof, front bumper, front and rear windscreen, brake disc were left. The remaining of the car was nowhere to be seen.

On the other side of the story, as told by Felix, when the first team reached the workshop, all the cops got down from the van and raid the place, only to be greeted by three happy-looking young chaps not knowing what was happening. After questioning, the workers told the cops that it was the owner of the Perdana himself who sent the car to them to be potong-ed (cut). And when our team arrived, one of the workers pointed at Alex and told the cops “That’s the guy who brought the car here” Felix was shocked as well. They (the workers) asked Alex whether the car was a stolen car or a bank car before they cut it. They said they will not do it if it was a stolen car. Alex told them it was a bank car therefore they went ahead. According to the workers also, Alex helped them to dismember the black Proton Perdana before loading the parts into a lorry to be sold.

Alex’s side of story:
He owned a business but it is not doing well and he was in debt. That was why he resolve to this silly act. He tried to calm down when we were drinking at the mamak before calling the cops but he couldn’t. He was sitting right in front of me and I noticed that he puffed 3 cigarettes, one after another. After he though about his family and the families of innocent people that he involved in his unlawful act, he finally broke down and confessed all his wongdoings.

We waited for the big boss of Company X to come before touching anything. He came and thanked Alvin profusely for his help to locate the remains of his Perdana. The team inspector briefed the whole incident to the boss before leading him to see and recognize the remaining of his Perdana. Mid-way there, he met Alex in the police van. Alex extended his hand as a sign of apology but the boss slapped the hand away and scolded Alex. He wanted to beat him up but was stopped by the police officer.

After seeing the pieces of his Perdana, they were all being brought to the police station. The boss and Shawn went to file a report. We headed back to Kuala Lumpur as Felix had some businesses to attend. Alex was brought to the station in the police van, repented. The garage? Well, it was operated illegally as they have no lisence whatsoever. The workers and owner were brought to the police station and their things in the garage seized as well.

We all agreed that Alex is not a bad guy. Out of desperation and immature thinking, he resolved in this stupid act. Besides, he is also pulling the innocent kampung people into his shit the water. It is common for rural folks to open their own garage within their house compound, which is illegal. Now that the police has already raided the place, these innocenct kampung people who are making an honest living repairing cars will also be charged. One of the police officers said it, “Dia orang baik tapi buat kerja bodoh!” (He is a good guy but did stupid thing!)

Alvin asked the inspector about the penalty that Alex will face if found guilty. 7 years in jail!

Guess how much did Alex sell the Perdana parts…

RM 3, 000!!!

0.o!!! With all the parts he could easily sell it for at least RM 30, 000!!! But he only sold them for a blardy RM 3k?!

7 years of free curry rice because of RM 3, 000 is seriously NOT worth it. He is only 22 years old. He can earn a lot more in 7 years than a pathetic RM 3000. Only after commiting the crime that he thinks of his parents, siblings and his loved ones. They will be so disappointed. They will be so ashamed. They will be labeled and mocked by the society. He should think of all these before commiting it. I am sure his parents and family members are more than willing to help him financially. That is what a family is for.

The above incident is still fresh in my mind as if it only happened today. It gave a deep impact to me, as a third party who witnessed all that happened right before my very own eyes.

Lessons to be learnt:

• Do not steal cars from Company X, they can detect it! (Just kidding!)
• Money can make you happy as well as make you into another person who you cannot even recognize.
• Do not make money your master!
• Do not resolve to crime, no matter how desperate you are! Seek help!
• Think of your loved ones!

The final part is a community message brought to you by Kampua Talk. *slap self* Since when this blog become community blog ar? Never mind. Just ponder on the above incident and I am sure all you intelligent being out there know better than to commit crime, right?

*names have been changed