As many of you know, I've had my share of meetings with the police. Some more exciting than others. Sunday was the day when my relationship with the Malaysian police started. I am also hoping it is the day when my relationship with them ended for good!
People around here had been telling us, the newcomers, that in case the police stop us, we should not necessarily take it as a good sign - that they might want money and since we are foreigners we are sure to have them! That we should be polite, not get intimidated, stand our ground, know our rights and not give in!
So when my room mate and I saw 6 police officers hanging around on the road to the train station, we had a "is this good or bad?" moment. They obviously stopped us! And asked for ID. We had photos of our passports with us and driving licences. A Kafkian conversation followed: "why don't you have the passport with you?"; "because we don't want them to get stolen."; "you should at least have a copy"; "we have photos of them"; "how can I know if that's real?"; "how could you know if the copy would be real?"; "you need to have ID with you" - and on, and on, and on...
We stood there for quite a while...Joie and I had already agreed in Spanish (the only language we both speak that they do not understand), the following:
- we are not giving them money!
- we are not getting in the car with them!
- they can walk with us back to the dorm if they want to see our ID!
In the meantime, they kept checking our passport numbers in the databases...Joie checked out ok. I however was "not in the system"! He kept telling me that. I kept telling him that there must be a mistake and kept showing him the photo of my recently obtained visa! He kept telling me I am not in the system. I kept saying that it's not my fault and I am not really sure how I could help the situation now. He kept saying "you are not in the system". If this seems redundant, it's because it was!!
In the end, I think we tired them out! They let us go with the wise advice of carrying copies of our IDs with us...
I dare say that when the presence of police makes you feel more anxious than safe, is not a good thing. I was not necessarily missing that feeling.
To end on a positive note though, I just came back from the neighbourhood Monday food market where I ate EXQUISITE Chinese food, and bought lovely fruit: dragon fruit, lychee, passion fruit, oranges...a feast! I love the market! :)