23yr old robbed by the police

I was going back home and an incident with the police made me understand the ugliness of Malaysia. I studied in Singapore and Melbourne all my life and thought that as a Malaysian, I should work in Malaysia and contribute to the country. I love my country and my family, but what happened really made me lose faith in our system. Please help all Malaysians voice out our discontent and allow us to share our experience.

By Alicia

At 2am on Friday night (May 20, 2011 at Jalan Pudu), I was robbed by the police. He searched every compartment of my purse, under my seat and on the side of my car door, for money. He took away RM30, SGD180 and a 5 Scottish Pound that I always placed in my purse for luck. At 2.30am, I drove back home penniless with only my ‘Touch N Go’ card.

It was a roadblock beside the old Pudu Jail. The police force was looking out for ‘drink and drive’ drivers on a Friday night. I had a pint of beer. I have done something that I should not have and was prepared to face the punishment. However, the punishment that came my way was not something I was expecting.

In a typical road block, drivers are checked license, road taxes or I.C, followed by being checked with a Breathalyser that confirms the reading of the alcohol content of the driver’s breath. Drivers with higher than legal limit of alcohol content can be ‘booked’ or arrested, taken to the nearest hospital to check their breath, blood and urine samples.

None of these procedures were conducted on me. The police took my I.C but none of my particulars were written down. He asked me to blow into a yellow stick that looked a little like a torchlight. I have not been tested by a breathalyser before. I had no idea if what he made me blow into was a real breathalyser. All I know was, this breathalyser did not show the reading of the alcohol content. A red light beeped after I blew into it and the police claimed I had exceeded the alcohol limit. I requested to know what was the alcohol content captured, he refused to answer and began to raise his voice and threatened to lock me down.

“I don’t want to go with you. I’m new to KL, how are we going to the station? Can I call my friend? Please” I said.

He asked me to step out of the car and he would use my car to drive me to the station. I refused to go without calling my friend.

The robbery started here.

“How much do you have?” he asked.

I opened my purse to show him all I had. RM34 and a 5 Scottish Pound.

He was visibly unhappy with what he saw.

“This is not enough. I have to lock you down. I have to. Move to the passenger seat now”, he demanded.

I did not get it. Why was he sending me to the station with my car? I had no idea what was captured as the degree of my alcohol content. Don’t I need to take a urine sample in the hospital before being locked down?

“You said you stay in Subang. You would need to take the toll to go home, right? How do you pay for your toll?”, he asked.

Now, he was eyeing my Touch N Go. I showed the Touch N GO to him and this was when he saw the SGD 180 that was kept at the side of my car door. He started to open my door, searched through the side of my car and under my seat for more money.

I took out all my Singapore Dollars for him. This was really all I had left. It was the Singapore dollars that I left in my car after I visited Singapore a week ago.

He counted the money and looked at me in suspicion to see if I had more money.

He took all my money and left me.

I was met with a robbery at 2am in the Capital City of Malaysia. These robbers were supposed to keep my country safe.