Wednesday, November 7, 2007

My First Saman

Last last night, the 5-tonne lorry, that contained various beloved pieces of furniture from sitiawan to be deposited in my house in seremban, got lost. it couldn't find my house, possibly partly because the area is so new that the road signs aren't up yet.

so, i took our newly-bought, 3rd-or-4th-hand nissan sunny out to lead the lorry to our house from the nearby petronas station.

on the way back, i was happily leading the lorry along when to my mild surprise, i was pulled over by a police car. banishing thoughts of an exciting car chase (too many movies...) i stopped by the curb like the good, law-abiding citizen that i usually am.

my tail lights weren't working.

i tried turning the lights off and on again. the front lights worked fine, but the back lights were as dark as night. so the police wrote me a summons, i signed it, they left me holding the paper in disbelief, they left, and i continued leading the lorry to my house. slightly less happily, compared to before. and when i reached home and got off the car, guess what?

my tail lights were working.

the mysteries of the universe continue to baffle me.

since The Wife is currently having semester break while i have to work, it unfortunately falls to her to deal with the police, get the surat rayuan (letter of appeal) done, and etc. She has regaled me with countless energetic complaints about the police, how they make her wait, refuse to layan (serve) her, and generally act like jerks and arses. this was also a mystery to me, until a colleague gave me a possible hypothesis to explain their singular uncooperativeness:

"they want duit kopi laaaa!"
(duit kopi = cofee money, an idiom meaning a bribe)

hmmm. oh well. that's life, i guess. God is still good. =)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Better bring the car to a mechanic to check, probably the wiring is a bit loose.

I haven't had any problems paying saman in PJ. The policeman hardly even glanced at my surat rayuan. He just said, "Since you rayu, RM200 instead of RM300."

There was another time (I think about 2 years ago) when I went to the police station to pay saman, and the policeman told me, "RM150. But the receipt will say RM100 only." So you see, they have already figured the duit kopi into it. I was in a hurry that day and didn't bother la, just paid.

Chicken Feet aka KaKiaYam said...

Bro,

Wiring is important for a car. You should try to get your car rewired if possible. Old wires usually will have connection and leakage problem. Lights going on and off is just a small issue, a bigger problem will be a dead battery. You may have a new battery, but due to the leakage, it may easily drained off in a night or two. You may not have this problem initially as the batt is new and strong, but as it weaken, you will have starting problem.

Nissan is a good and reliable car. The chassis is anytime stronger than a kancil or wira...keke...

take care.

ern said...

Ouch

siehjin said...

wiring. got it.

the Universe has less one Mystery now.

instead, the question is, when will i have time to get this wiring thingy done?!?

sighz...

Pwinncess said...

Read this the last time but unsure if I should comment.

Been bothering me.

You din bribe him did you?

siehjin said...

no, of course not.

they didn't ask for a bribe also... but they did probe into my occupation, and i told them i work with youth. a sort of 'social work'. so they probably figured that
a) i wouldn't give them a bribe, since i hv to be a good example to the youth i work with
b) i don't have much money to give em anyway

Pwinncess said...

Oh I knew you wouldn't...

o.O