The Times I Was Stopped By The J.P.J. Authorities While Instructing Students

As a driving instructor of over 35 years experience, I recall 3 times when I was stopped by the authorities. To tell you the truth, one of the things an instructor hates most is to be stopped by J.P.J. I guess it’s only natural that we all have what’s called a psychological fear regarding such things.

Although I had all the necessary documents such as:
i) S.M.3 or the permit to teach or instruct,
ii) S.M.1 or the permit to conduct driving instruction,
iii) S.M.2 or vehicle’s inspection certificate issued for Puspakom ‘s inspection,

nevertheless, no instructor likes being stopped, especially by the J.P.J.

In my tenure, first as a driving school instructor and then as a driving instructor for the institutes later, I in fact possessed all necessary requirements. As such, I should not fear being stopped for inspection at all.

But as I said, human beings are such, when meeting with spot checks and road blocks, people by nature tend to feel apprehensive. As I explained earlier on, it’s only natural, I suppose, to dislike such things.

As a driving instructor, I was attached to the Sekolah Memandu Mat Saad for over 25 years, conducting its business under Permit P.S.M. 0058. Later on, and currently, I was transferred to an institute in Klang.

For reasons known only to myself, I elect not to disclose the institute I am presently attached to.

What were the 3 times in which I had been stopped by the authorities?

1) The First Time.

The first time, I still remember rather vividly was along the 3rd Mile Jalan Kapar near the Bata Shoe Factory. I happened one evening at around twilight time. 7:30 pm to be exact while crossing a traffic light with a female student.

Cruising along at 30 – 40 km/h. the traffic light suddenly turned yellow. If you were an instructor like myself, what would you then do?

As a lecturer for the 5 hour Kursus Pendidikan Pemandu (K.P.P.) for a long time now, I am well aware that yellow lights indicate Stop. But instead, I instinctly instructed the new learner to accelerate to beat the traffic light.

I admit, should not have acted in this manner. But then, I am only human and it was already too late. That’s was a folly I was to regret for a long time to come.

Stationed a hundred meters away on the left side of the highway was a team of J.P.J. road block officials conducting its usual routine duty. One official with a big red ping-pong bat, stepped forward to signal me to stop.

Instructing my student to immediately signal left to stop, I knew I had committed one traffic offence that could never be excused. The officer who stopped me uttered, “Apa macam ajar kereta?”

Profuse apologies and appeals failed to get me off the hook. I was handed a summons which I later settled at the Petaling Jaya J.P.J. office for RM300. A costly lesson indeed!

With half of the tuition fees used up for settling the above summons, you could say I ended up teaching the female student nearly free. To all other driving instructors reading this article, do not ever emulate what I did many years ago.

2) The Second Time.

The second time I was to be stopped by the J.P.J. was at a housing estate in Taman Chi Liung, Klang. The usual car I was then using, a Datsun 120Y, which had all the necessary documents sustained a mechanical failure that day.

Not wishing to cancel my appointment, I then borrowed another vehicle to teach my student. As luck had it, the J.P.J. authorities were around the vicinity and they stopped me.

As usual, no amount of appeals and requests managed to prevent the officers from wanting to summon me. Finally, a summons was again issued, the reason was that I was using a car that had not undergone Puspakom’s inspection.

3) The Third Time.

To try and relate you the third time I was issued with a summons, I have to delve into my recollections. This was because it happened many years ago.

The third time I was to be handed a summons was at Taman Goodwood or currently renamed Kelana Jaya, Klang. A J.P.J. Pajero stopped me while I was tutoring a young girl.

On upon checking my vehicle, the J.P.J. authorities discovered many items not to their satisfaction. Amongst them were:

i) The wiper of my car it seems were spoilt. No amount of explanation was able to convince the officials that day not to summon me.

ii) My vehicle had only 1 side mirror. The authorities insisted that my car had violated J.P.J.’s requirements.

iii) Upon testing my vehicle, it was further found that the brakes were not in satisfactory condition.

A summons was finally issued. I had to settle a compound amounting to RM300.

The many years I had been an instructor, my encounters with the J.P.J. authorities numbered more than 3. But I shall refrain from quoting others in the fear that it might bore you to read similar encounters.

Four Close Friends Who Went Fishing In The Malacca Straits Saved By The Deity Of The Seas

Beyond the east the sunset, beyond the west the sea. This is a famous line of a poem which I learnt while studying poetry in Form 1 and 2 in my school days. I’ve since forgotten the title of the poem. Likewise its author.

But what I remember was, my English teachers telling me, that since time immemorial, man has been since the early days, been lured by the call of the wild sea.

The above call, until today, cannot be resisted by many of my Malay friends I know. Friends such as Encik Bakar Ahmad, Md. Saat Daruan and Arshad. These friends of mine relish spending their leisure time going fishing in the open sea in the Straits of Malacca to be exact.

Like my Malay friends mentioned above, my own brother-in-law, who has unfortunately passed away a few years ago was an avid part time fisherman who spent most of his free time enjoying fishing in the open sea. This he did until he died some years ago.

Fishing, for readers’ information is a dangerous sport. It needs lots of grit, endurance and patience. A person who wishes to indulge in this unusual sport must be ready to face any eventualities, dangers and even death. Ask any avid enthusiast and I’m sure he will verify what is being said.

My colleague Arshad, was once mesmerized by a female apparition as he participated in his love for fishing. The story goes, my friend would suddenly loose his senses every 7:00 pm as twilight time approaches.

Arshad it was said would become restless. At the same time every evening at 7:00 pm, he was as fishing enthusiasts claim, stricken or di pukau by a female ghost of the sea, who obviously had fallen in love with this handsome and dashing young man.

As a result of this incident, Arshad I heard, nearly lost his life. So readers, who fancy going fishing especially at the time when the sun is about to set or waktu mahgrib, as the Malays call it, please refrain from doing so. To be safe, choose another time to go fishing if you may.

Luckily for Arshad, after numerous attempts and appeals to the female apparition, his life was spared.

Today, my friend does not go fishing anymore. The bizarre experience has frightened him. And who wouldn’t, I ask you. If readers should feel what happened to Arshad was something chilling and frightening, wait until I relate to you what happened to my own brother-in-law and three of his good friends while they were fishing one lonely night in the open sea in the Straits of Malacca a few years ago.

Please read on…

This is not a fabricated story. Facts of this episode which truly happened was translated from a Mandarin newspaper cutting, which reported the incident extensively some time back.

The translation has been made possible by my own wife, without the assistance of whom, I would not have been able to relate the story today to you.

My brother-in-law’s wife and his eldest son, have been interviewed by me regarding this true story numerous times over. They are still living and alive today, living testimony and can attest that this story which I’m about to relate in this article did really happen.

The fishing tragedy, if you call it one, happened on the 27th June 1990. It happened to 4 close friends – Mohd. Ani, a policeman, See Kim Hock, a businessman, Molipin and my own brother-in-law, Wang Hai Siew.

All four had vast experience in sea fishing. The one with the most experience I believe was Hai Siew. My brother-in-law, although a Chinese educated shopkeeper was an avid Hash House Harriers (HHH) runner. He has competed in races all over the country.

In Indonesia, Philippines, Australia and many other countries abroad. But nothing could beat his love for fishing. Stories have it that even on the 1st day of Chinese New Year, my brother-in-law has left for the open sea to be with his favorite sport. Incidentally, members of the HHH group nicknamed his “Lau Hiao”.

In the many years that I knew him, my brother-in-law was a philanthropist. At one of his son’s wedding dinner, which was held at his home in Shah Alam, I vividly remember him offering a very large fish, which he had caught for auction to the crowd of fishing enthusiasts attending the dinner.

He managed to raise a few thousand dollars which he finally donated to charitable organization and schools around Klang and Shah Alam districts.

Buddhists believe. When you do good, you will achieve goodness. That’s karma!

Believe it or not, Hai Siew’s good heartedness and his philanthropist attitude and ways was to eventually lead to saving him and his friends on the unforgettable night of 27th June 1990.

The God of the Seas or deity was to give my brother-in-law his second chance in life, as the story unfolds.

On the night of June 27th, the four friends left Port Klang around 7:00 pm for their usual weekend endeavor. Within an hour, the expedition had reached Morib beach, near Banting, off the coast of Selangor.

The group had actually sailed 7 knots in their fishing boat. The vessel was quite a large one measuring 20 feet by 70 feet long.

That night, the boat was filled with all sorts of fishing paraphernalia, food, drinks, bait, nets and of course fishing rods and other odds and ends, only fishing kakis will know.

By 10 pm, the group had in fact reached the wide open sea. They were now anchored in the seas of the Mallaca Straits. They were in international waters.

On the right, they could see the Sumatran island of Indonesia. On their left, lay the Malaysian coast. Except for some mild breeze, the night was clear and cool. It was a beautiful night. Only an avid fishing enthusiast will be able to envisage what a fantastic and beautiful sight it was.

Fishing friends have always related to me, the open sea during the night with soft breeze blowing by and waves gently lapping against the side of the boat, and stars twinkling in the sky above and sounds of international liners plying by are things which those who opt to fish in open seas appreciate most.

At 10 pm, the group anchored their boat and began to fish. They conversed a short while. Soon, they felt tired. By 2:30 am, all four fell asleep as the boat rocked softly amongst the waves.

While my brother-in-law was sleeping, he felt some mysterious hand tapping him on his shoulder. He opened his eyes and woke up in surprise. In front of him, he saw a 1000 foot oil tanker, with its light shining brightly, hardly a few feet away.

The tanker had in fact veered off course, right into the group’s small boat’s path which lay anchored.

The huge oil tanker, 10 storey high was a Holland freighter, had failed to see the small vessel in the dark. It was about to plough into the tiny fishing boat. And that would be the end of them.

Gripped with fear, Hai Siew woke up all his other friends quickly. He and his friends at first tried to put on their search light to alert the monstrous ship coming at them. Then the crew tried to start their vessel’s engine to get away from the oil tanker’s path. But in panic and fear, they failed to get the engine started.

It was now unavoidable, they freighter was coming straight at them!

Finally, the crew had no choice. All four of them jumped in all directions into the cold waters of the Malacca Straits. That was the only way of saving themselves.

The oil tanker from Holland soon crashed into their fishing vessel. Like a hot knife cutting through butter, the small fishing boat stood no chance. The impact of the crash caused the tiny fishing boat to break up into a thousand pieces.

Finding themselves floating in the water, Hai Siew and his friends began calling out to each other. They discovered all four of them were miraculously alive. Some mysterious being must have saved them.

Struggling furiously in the water, they found a big plastic drum which has been used to store food, drinks and fishing paraphernalia floating towards them.

They caught hold of it. Tying ropes around it and clung on to it to save themselves. If not for this huge drum, all 4 could easily have perished that night.

Clinging on to the big plastic drum for dear life, the 4 men of the small fishing vessel soon realized they were now in deep sea, renowned to be infested by man eating sharks.

My brother-in-law, by virtue of the fact he was the most experienced member soon advised all his friends to cling on the plastic drum quietly. They were not to struggle or make any violent movements. This was to prevent man eating sharks from being attracted to them.

The victims of the crash clung to the plastic container for some 8 hours. As they waited for help to come, they ate and drank water obtained from the plaster container.

At around 10 am the next day, as luck would have it, a Dutch cargo ship, the Jurata, flying a yellow flag passed by. This ship was reported to have been captained by Ryzard Stanzard. Using powerful binoculars, the ship from Holland spotted the four fishermen struggling in the cold, shark infested water of the sea.

Finally, all four men were taken on board the cargo ship. They were given food and warm clothing. As the cargo ship was en route to Singapore, the shipwrecked fishermen were taken there.

If you think reaching Singapore were the end of their woes, then you are sadly mistaken. The Dutch cargo ship was not allowed to depart Singapore for bringing in the fishermen. They were considered illegal immigrants. The captain then contacted its agent, Top Shipping Private Ltd for their assistance.

In the meantime, the estranged men led by Hai Siew contacted a friend in Malaysia, Mr. Gan Kim Hong. Gan was supposed to have gone along with the group. At the last moment, he could not go along with the ill fated group’s expedition.

Together with Mr. See’s wife, Gan then flew to Singapore. They were headed from the Malaysian Embassy there. Both of them had the difficult task of proving the four fishermen who are now stranded in Singapore were indeed Malaysian.

Stories had it that the captain of the Jurata even offered a RM40,000 warranty to prove the authenticity of the four men. But to no avail.

Finally, after many hours of hassle and investigation, the authorities decided to release them. New temporary passports were issued to the fishermen by the Immigration authorities. This allowed them to leave Singapore island and eventually head for home.

The four men, Hai Siew, See, Mohd Ani and Molipin became close friends after the incident. They in fact have been saved from the jaws of death.

Before my brother-in-law passed away, he told me the 4 fishermen used to meet yearly on the 27th June to celebrate the anniversary of the fateful day which they nearly died in 1990.

After the incident, I have often talked numerous times to my brother-in-law. “Who or what was the mysterious hand that tapped you on your shoulder as you lay sleeping on the boat that night?”, I asked him.

To the above question, my brother-in-law replied, “it must have been the deity or God of the Seas that saved all of us that night”.

You may be skeptical about it but ask yourselves this, if not for the deity, which Chinese believe so firmly in, who else was there in the big open sea that could have alerted Hai Siew from his slumber that night that led him to alert his other friends to safety?

Years after this incident, my brother-in-law, his wife and his family used to go on every Lunar New Year celebration to Kuala Selangor where the God of the Seas temple is reported to be located.

To pay respect and pray to the deity concerned for saving him and his friends on the night of June 27 1990. For giving them a second chance in life, so to say.

In one séance session held with the medium of the temple, Wong Hai Siew inquired thankfully, “were you the one responsible for tapping me on my shoulder that night?”

The deity, the God of the Seas, through the temple medium replied, “if not me, who else?”

Believe it or not, it’s all up to you…

It has been 45 years since Genting Highlands casino resorts was launched by its founder the late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong in 1965. And to commemorate its 45th anniversary, Resort World Genting as it known today is once again offering ardent World Card members rewards for their loyal support to the company.

True, supporters of the casino without doubt would have undoubtly lost a small fortune during their visit to the above casino prior to this offer being made. But to be fair to Genting Highlands, the resort does show its appreciation to its supporters a few times a year as it celebrates anniversaries, Merdeka celebration and even members’ birthdays by offering free rooms and show tickets at the well know Arena of Stars, Pavilion and even at times at its International Room.

Normal free rooms offered to World Card members are worth some RM240 – RM360. Standard and Deluxe rooms at First World Hotel which has some 6,666 rooms are anything from RM260 upwards.

Entertainment tickets for 2 at the Arena of Stars alone come to approximately RM150 each. Normally in most of its celebrations, the Resort World Genting provides this offer to World Card members and their spouses. In a way, it’s the Resort way of repaying staunch supporters for its loyal support all these years.

As the saying goes, it’s the members support to the Resort World Genting that has brought it to where it is today. For your information, the Genting Highlands shares are valued at RM7.87 in the Malaysian stock market today.

A few months ago, I remember quite vividly, the Resort made a similar free offer to World Card members of a Deluxe room at First World Hotel and buffet breakfast for 2 at the 18th Floor of the same hotel.

Readers must have read the article about my visit to the resort with my wife and my sister and her husband going on a 1 day 1 night free offer, but landed losing nearly RM1000 afterwards at the casino.

This time around, in collaboration with its 45th anniversary celebration, again the Resort World Genting is offering World Card members the following:

1) 18 GP or Genting Point for 2 pax a Stand Room at First World Hotel.

2) Concert tickets for 2 pax at the Arena of Stars.

3) Door gift.

4) Lucky draw.

5) Buffet breakfast.

All in all, there will be a total of RM88,888 worth of prices to be won, as claimed by its advertising committee.

The entertainment show at the Arena of Stars is scheduled for 8:00pm on the 2nd of February 2010. Me and my wife, who has a yen for watching singing entertainment, be it by local artists or well known personalities from Taiwan and Hong Kong will be there again this time.

The last entertainment show at the Arena of Stars featured Astro 333 station’s famous Chinese artists from Taiwan.

For readers’ information, I have already made my reservation early last week. As the date, 2nd February 2010 approaches, my wife and I will once again be looking anxiously ahead to 1 day and 1 night free holiday at the famous hill resort.

This time around, me and my wife will be wiser as we once again visit the casino after the entertainment show is over. Hopefully, we will succeed in our intended plan. Maybe this time around, we will leave our credit cards and ATM cards behind, as we visit the hill resort.

Plans are to travel up to the hill resort via Batang Kali and Rawang town. Once again, a scheduled stop at Restaurant Eat First in Rawang for some sumptuous lunch will be made before proceeding to the cable car station.

As usual, we intent to park our car overnight at this station and will travel up to the hill top by cable car. I still have free tickets for the cable car rides.

After a good night’s rest and much required sleep at one of the resort’s standard room at the First World Hotel, we will then adjourn to the buffet hall on the 18th floor to have our free buffet breakfast of eggs, jam, bread and butter, sausages, assorted cakes and Malaysian kuih, milk, fresh oranges and other assorted food and drinks, like we had the previous time we were at the resort last December.

As usual, we plan descending from the hill resort after breakfast around 9:30 am to 10:00 am. Traveling down once again to Batang Kali town and Rawang slowly and leisurely. We anticipate reaching our hometown of Klang at around 2:30 pm, that is after a 1 ½ hour journey.

In conjunction with Genting Resort World 45th anniversary this time, is also the pre Valentine room and dinner offer at RM99, plus the offer of a Deluxe Room free including buffet breakfast and a 3 course Valentine dinner at either the Hai Nan Restaurant or Hou Mei Restaurant.

But unfortunately, although the above offer sounds very attractive, nevertheless, as the Chinese New Year celebration is just around the corner, on the 14th of February 2010, most World Card members are busy making preparations to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

As such, the offer may have to be overlooked this time around. What a waste indeed!

Whatever it is, World Card members do appreciate Resort World Genting’s wonderful offer this 45th anniversary! May we see further and better offers to come in the future times ahead from the hill resort of Genting Highlands!