Coffee, anyone?
Saturday, April 14, 2007
The accidentLife's full of ups and downs, let's face it. The story that I want to tell right now is not a pleasant one, but I guess it's a good lesson for us all.
So we were in KL, shooting our documentary about a day in the life of a tattoo and piercing artist, and the artist that I'm talking about is Frankie, the boss of Zoo Body Art in Sungei Wang Plaza.
It was a long day because the major tattoo process took around 4 or 5 hours, and by the time we're done shooting, it's around midnight already. So Elyn drove her boyfriend's car to fetch us back to Cyberjaya. However, when we were just about to leave, Mr. Hamid, the guy who rented videocams and lightings to us, asked us to return the equipments to him at The Mall (the location of which none of us knew for sure). Great, so we asked Frankie for the direction and headed that way right after we're done with everything.
All that I could remember is that Frankie told us that we should turn right at Maju Junction. So we were driving along, looking for Maju Junction and unfortunately we missed that junction. In order to go back to that junction Elyn made a (legal) U-turn and headed back. This time we're in an opposite direction so instead of turning right, we should turn left. Makes sense? Right. However as we approached the junction and tried to turn left, we realised that we couldn't, because that was a one way street, so we wanted to turn right instead. So Elyn hit the right indicator and made a right turn.
What happened next happened so quickly I don't even know how it happened before piecing together all the evidence and come up with a logical explanation for it. So basically I heard a scream (from Heidi, I think), and suddenly a motorcycle hit us and flew off to the front, and our car was halted, then immediately after that there was a greater impact that came from the back which sent our car in a 180 degree turn along the Y-axis (the vertical one) and a displacement of a few metres along the X-axis (the horizontal one, like, duh!).
Right after I regained "consciousness" after the sudden shock I went out of the car to check if the motorcyclist was OK. He could still walk, but with a limp. Some scratches and abrasions on the skin, and nothing else, I think. No broken bones whatsoever, I presume. He certainly didn't look happy, and he didn't look strong enough to be of any physical threat to us, so I wasn't too worried about him. However, the taxi drivers came and wanted to find trouble. They kept pointing their fingers at us, taking photos of our car and number plate, and calling us names like "penipu" (liar) and "sombong" (arrogant) and "bodoh" (stupid). So Elyn had an argument with those furious taxi drivers (yes, several of them, even though there was just one of them involved in the accident).
The passersby weren't much of a help either, because all they manage to do is provoke the taxi drivers and make the situation a whole lot worse. I'm not being racist here, but let's face it (if you're a foreigner you might want to take notice of this; and if you're a Malaysian and had never met with this kind of situation before, read carefully). In Malaysia, when an accident happens between people of the same race, things get settled quickly and relatively more peacefully. Either someone pays up, or they call the police. However when it happens between people of different races, chances are that there might be a fight, and usually passersby would join in to create more trouble. Once again, this is not a racist statement, this is a fact. I've seen this happen several times now. It's worse when it happens in rural areas.
So while Elyn was busy arguing with those taxi drivers, I called the police and made a report. After that, I called Frankie, who was near the area, just so that we're not totally isolated. The situation was that the 5 of us were the only Chinese around, and to tell you the truth, I was really, really afraid. Also, I called Mr. Hamid to come to Maju Junction to get his equipment back, with the hope that he could speak for us a little, so as to lower the tension a bit (which he did).
So about 2 to 3 minutes later, Frankie arrived and asked if we're OK. The police arrived slightly after that (or was it the other way round, I couldn't really remember). Seeing that the police had arrived, Frankie decided to leave, which I think is the right thing to do, because we had trouble him enough for the documentary, and he didn't have to get involved in this. The police checked the scene and took down some identifications, but the taxi drivers kept asking Elyn for her IC, and kept saying, "Ini undang-undang (this is the law)!" So, feeling that they're bullying her, I went up and said (and I stress that I said it in a very polite way), "The police had arrived, and they've taken her identifications and all, so just let them settle this, ok?" Know what? That guy stared at me with this I'm-not-talking-to-you-so-why-don't-you-shut-the-fuck-up-or-I'll-beat-the-crap-out-of-you look and yelled at me, "What are you saying, huh? What do you know? This is the law!" Of course, we conversed in Malay, while Elyn was the only one who spoke English for reasons unknown to me. Her actions (speaking in English), of course, met with most unpleasant reactions. He said to her, "[lorem ipsum dolor sit amet]... Cakap Bahasa Melayu lah! Kenapa cakap Bahasa Orang Putih? Sombong!" The "lorem ipsum" part was something he said before that, which I couldn't remember, and had no wish to remember.
So a few minutes later, Mr. Hamid arrived. He asked us to quickly get his equipments and load them into his van, and I thought that he's trying to escape as soon as we're done loading. However I was wrong. He actually came and tried to understand the situation, and tried to get us out of trouble. He even get scolded by those taxi drivers for helping us, and among those unpleasant words I heard him being scolded with was "malu" (shame). I felt bad for him, but at the same time, really grateful. There was another (Malay) guy who advised us to leave the scene as soon as possible, and I would really like to thank him for being the few who were actually trying to solve the matter instead of creating more trouble.
So after taking some statements one of the police officers came to me and said, "You better go to the police station now. I'm just patrolling this area and I came by just to see to it that the situation is under control, but if people get into fights or anything I'll arrest all that's involved. Since I've checked everything and nobody's making any trouble, I'll leave it to the traffic department and go on duty soon, so if you still want to stay here and later if anything happens, it's out of our hands."
Wow, how helpful is that? So I went to the other police officer and asked if he could help escort us to the nearest police station, which they agreed to and did. So all that followed were simply procedures. Filing reports and all. The taxi driver never showed up to report the accident that night. I don't know whether or not he did it the next day, and I don't care. I'm just glad it was over with.
So here's a piece of advice for you all out there. If you meet with a minor accident and either one of you were willing to pay up, just take the money and leave. If it's not, call the police and let the police handle it. If you feel that it's not your fault and you've got people on your side, please for the love of God don't be an asshole and try to bully the other party or take matters into your own hands! By doing so you're not solving the matter at all, you're just making it a whole lot worse! If you feel that you're not guilty but you're outnumbered by those who think otherwise, call the police, don't argue or quarrel with them, or you might get yourself into trouble. And if you're just a pedestrian or passerby, you can either help the injured, or help to prevent a fight, or just stand there and watch. If what you decide to do wasn't one of these 3 options, please FUCK OFF!!!
About This Blog
Tag Board
About Me
Recent Entries
Archives
Links
Credits