Cases Part 2

heh..heh..heh... kita sambung balik ye.

I arrived in the office late evening to pick up Abg Selamat, the staff whom seemed to know about the actual whereabout of Din and his other collegue (I had already forgotten the latter's name). Abg Selamat briefly informed me that it was all pre-planned by the opposition party to stage the demonstration. For once, I admit that eversince I joined the firm, I did not give all the nation's political ramblings much thought. At that time, even to watch the television or read the papers (especially the business sections), my concentration was to all the projects that the Firm's assisted... seriau tau.... buat one agreement, the next day it was reported in the news. And I am not talking about small sum of monies, but transaction that goes berjuta..juta.. and juta (millions). If anything goes wrong, I trust the insurance coverage for professional negligence in the Firm only covers up to RM10 million only...

We rushed to the scene, and armed with my black jacket (no tie!) and fortunately enough, my newly painted red 2nd generation Honda Accord hatchback (it was still considered kereta buruk to my friends, if not cared lovingly) had the Malaysian Bar emblem affixed (both at the front and rear of the car). We got clearence to pass through from all the police barricades / roadblocks. Maybe they thought that I am representing the Majlis Peguam Malaysia. Police were everywhere, it was hard to describe the situation... feels like in the moovies where police and FRUs all fully equippped and armoured to the teeth planning to launch a strike in the next hour.. then a small incident happened...

One guy was pleading with one of the superior police officer (in plain clothes) to allow him to enter into the masjid's premises on the pretext to assist his friends in there. The police was just asking the guy "ada urusan apa nak ke sana?" (what business you have to go across to the other side?) when the office turned to me and Abg Selamat to address me, thinking that I have official business with the police, this guy suddenly ran and slipped passed the police last barricade, climbed the locked gate and slipped into the masjid's compound and he cheekyly commented, to the fury of the police officers "saya nak tolong org yg polis kepong ni la!" ( I am here to give assistance to those surrounded by the police).

I slowly explained the to police officers that two of my despatch guys carrying official documents meant for the Prime Minister's Department were belived to be trapped inside the masjid. When their names were being called out, the slowly walked towards us till boundry the locked gate and said "Encik balik lah, tak guna tunggu kami, kalau kami keluar tentu kena pukul dengan polis" So we started to pujuk both of them to surrender to the police as I knew, Din is the sole breadwinner foir his family eversince his father passed away 2 yrs before. Abg Selamat joined in and said to the other guy "Ko tak ingat kat anak bini ko kat rumah ke? Kalau ko bantah Israel main kriket pun, ada ke orang nak tanggung anak bini ko?" "Din ko tak ingat ke mak & adik2 ko kat kampung tu?"The police gave assurance that they would not be harmed and at that point of time, I did the unthinkable "Jgn risau, kalau lori black maria datang nak ambil kamu berdua, saya naik sekali" and I pleaded withe the police not to handcuff them.

The idea to board the police van was sound but again the police reluctantly said that the nearest police station and barrack is just a stone thrown away - located in Lembah Pantai. "Encik boleh naik kereta sendiri ke balai" but still I insisted that I am here not to cause any trouble.