FRU gets lost, disperses pasar malam
KUALA LUMPUR, DECEMBER 6 – Effect to change on a near daily basis, the highways of Kuala Lumpur can be a challenge for the both the tourist or the uninitiated. Unfamiliar with KL’s highways and traffic situation, an FRU unit that was sent to the Brickfields area last night found itself on the other side of town.
“We received a call from headquarters to disperse a crowd that had been gathering illegally in Brickfields,” said Sergeant Rosli Amrahan, who led the team to disperse the crowd that had congregated along Jalan Tun Sambathan last night. The gathering, which had numbered almost 200 people, mainly consisted of members from parties belonging to the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, as well as a few members of the public.
Sergeant Rosli’s 20-man unit, which had only been transferred from Kuantan a week before, was unfamiliar with the capital city’s highways. Rosli commented that his unit’s transfer was part of a greater directive that was designed to to cope with the rising number of demonstrations that have been occurring in the city as of late.
“Traffic was pretty heavy at the time, and we were really rushed for time, last minute and all. So we decided to chance it by taking a quick shortcut,” opined Constable Razlan, who had been appointed to drive the FRU truck along Jalan Tun Razak last night. “We were stuck in a jam for over twenty minutes, and we had to make some cuts here and there just to get through.”
A series of cuts, that eventually took them to the heart of the northern part of Kuala Lumpur. The FRU unit found themselves in the middle of Setapak, nearly ten kilometres away from the intended destination.
“How were we supposed to know? Every street looked the same, and there weren’t any signs that told us how to get to Brickfields! I mean, come on, in Kuantan, five cars in front of yours is a traffic jam!” Razlan lamented. When asked why they did not choose to take a tolled road, the constable sighed, “Any toll charges on our behalf have to come out of our own pocket.”
“By this time, our bosses were screaming at us over the intercom, telling us to disperse the gathering , any gathering, at once, so in a panic, I guess we followed orders,” Rosli said, and paused for a moment before he shuddered, “To the letter, unfortunately.”
Rude shock for traders
Unbeknownst to the unit, they had stopped by a pasar malam. “It looked like a really big gathering, and at first we didn’t know how to handle it. There must have been more than a thousand of them in the same spot, and a lot of shouting and lights all over the place,” Rosli recounted, adding that his unit had seen rallies held by the Opposition use similar tactics.
“It was shocking, I tell you,” said Ah Meng, a local DVD seller. Operating at one of the stalls at the the Setapak night market last night, the stall that Ah Meng and five of his colleagues handled were amongst the first to encounter the riot police. “Usually we’d take our time to leave when DBKL would come, but I guess they really meant business this time.” Upon seeing the red truck pull up beside their stand, the six pirates departed on the spot.
Other stall-keepers were not spared the unlikely surprise either, though they remained where they were, and continued to shout their wares. “We thought we were really in trouble,” said Azmi Jahit, a fish trader who had been operating in the Setapak night market for over seven years. “When I heard the call to disperse immediately, and all these cops in full gear, I was praying that if God would deliver me from this mess, I would never mark up my prices again.”
While a number left the night market in a hurry, the majority of the traders operating that night stood their ground, not knowing what else to do. After a tense five-minute standoff, the FRU officers realized their mistake, before promptly apologizing to the traders in the area. Although shaken, the local sellers quickly forgave Rosli’s men.
Meanwhile, the 200-strong crowd that had been gathering near the KL Sentral station in Brickfields last night had waited for over two hours for the FRU unit to show up. “We were singing Negaraku and holding candles all night long, but none of the police showed up,” sulked DAP parliamentarian Tony Pua in an interview at his office today. “Usually, they appeared in a minute or two. But this time, we had to wait for over two hours! Eventually, we just got bored and went home, because there’s only so many Negarakus you can sing in one night,” said the dejected Opposition parliamentarian with a hoarse voice.
“It was not a total loss, however,” Sergeant Rosli was quoted as saying. “We did find some good curry laksa in the area, and I think my boys and I will come here again,” he remarked, and stopped to think for a moment before continuing, “But without the uniforms, of course.”
December 10th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Perhaps had they sung The Internationale, the FRU would have shown up in two seconds.