Summon

Early September, few weeks before Hari Raya, I got a summon from a traffic police at KL.

I was driving from Pudu heading towards Sungai Wang. I reached the Kampung Pandan Roundabout and took a 9 o’clock turning into Jalan Kampung Pandan.

Unfortunately, right after I turned into that road, a traffic police stopped me and directed me to stop by the road side.

(Map below shows the route I took highlighted in green while the roundabout highlighted in red)

I parked my car and rolled down the window. The police officer walked slowly towards me.

(The following conversation was originally in Malay)

Police: “I.C. and license.”

I handed over both my I.C. and license and waited.

Police: “Do you know what is your offends?”

Me: “Ermmm… I’m not really sure.”

Police: “You cannot turn left at the roundabout, you must go around the roundabout first before you turn.”

Me: “Oh… sorry lah I didn’t know about that.”

Police: “That’s the thing. You have to be careful. Have you read yesterday’s newspaper?”

Me: “Er… no.”

Police: “Do you know Ops Sikap Operation has started?”

Me: “No I don’t.”

I was thinking what the hell is Ops Sikap?

Police: “Normally you have to pay RM300 compound. But during Ops Sikap, the compound will go to maximum. So how?”

Me: “Since I was wrong, never mind lah, I’ll take the summon.”

Police: “What?! You want summon? Are you sure? Because normally people don’t want summon you know?”

Me: “I know. But it’s okay I’ll take it.”

The police officer seemed a bit shocked and disappointed. He went back to his motorbike and came back with a summon 10 minutes later.

I took the summon and drove off. Then I started to regret.

I regretted not because I didn’t buy him coffee, but I regretted because I didn’t take any picture of that situation within that 10 minutes of idle time to post on my blog.

It sounds ridiculous but that was the only thing on my mind after I drove off.

Okay you might ask why I did not bribe him. I could have just pay him RM50 instead of RM300 compound.

But you know what, I would rather pay RM300 to the government than RM50 to him as his duit raya.

Hiding at a corner preying and waiting for people to fell into his trap especially weeks before Hari Raya is just so sick. I didn’t want him to get what he wanted.

I didn’t follow the traffic rules (although there was really no signage at that roundabout) and I’m willing to pay the price.

So until yesterday, I went to the Puchong Police Station to settle the summon.

I withdrawn RM300 and ready to pay the compound. But guess what, it wasn’t RM300 as told by the police officer. It was only RM100, plus a 30% discount!

I asked the officer at the counter why got discount? He told me that if I managed to pay the compound within the compound deadline (1 month from date issued), I will get 50% discount. If I pay after the compound deadline but before the court deadline (2 months from date issued), I will get 30% discount.

I felt so happy and relieved at the same time. Luckily I did not pay that police RM50.