An Ex-convict, A Victim and a New Friend

Before I forget, I want to wish my cousin-in-law, Chrissy, a very Happy B'day tomorrow. Most likely I won't be updating my blog tomorrow and so I want to wish her a Happy Birthday first. Anyway, I never had the thought of updating my blog today too but I'm going to post something that has happened to me before and since I have nothing to write I'll pull out one of my pieces that I wrote for my church.

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Initially I was prepared to write another article regarding the amount of love of God for us but something happened in one of my days that prompt me to write this piece. In fact, I had written the other article on paper but have yet to type the paper in electronic format. The verses above each paragraph are part of the famous song that Phil Collins wrote and sang, “Another day in paradise”. I was just wondering how to start my new piece and this song came to me and I think it is a good start for my article.

She calls out to the man on the street,
Sir, can you help me?”

It was Sunday and I was on my way to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to pick up Esther as she was coming back from a trip to Taiwan. I had decided to go to KLIA by the way via USJ and had to pass through the toll too. Since it was late Sunday afternoon there was no traffic in sight, bright sunny day, and seemed like a smooth journey. I looked at my watch, it showed 11:45 a.m., still early; she had told me to pick her up at about 1:00 p.m. I came to the toll to pick up a ticket, thanking the operator I continued my journey. As I slowly drove away from the toll, I noticed a person on the left side of the road about 100 meters away. Normally I would just glance and moved on but this guy was doing something that I haven’t seen anyone doing in Malaysia (from my driving experience). He was using his thumb to point at the direction that I was heading. A hitchhiker! That was what my brain interpreted. I looked at my rear-view mirror and both my side mirrors and swerved to the left, towards him.

It’s cold and I’ve nowhere to sleep,
Is there somewhere you can tell me?

I had decided to play safe a bit and wind down the window just a bit to ask a few questions first. As I did that, he came running and stood at my car’s front passenger’s door. He was an Indian ethnic, short, looked about late twenties or early thirties, having a paunch and an angry scar on the left side of his face. No bags, no item carried and probably that the reason why I had decided to pull-over. Before I could open my mouth, he asked me if I was heading south to Johor Baru. I told him ‘No, not that far’ but I told him that I was going to KLIA. I guess I wind down the window a bit too low as his hand just came through my window on my passenger’s side and pulled my door’s lock up. At this moment, I could do two things, I could step on the gas and moved on but that may injure him as his hand may get caught dangling while trying to hold on for his dear life. The other thing that I was thinking of was to wind up the window and would trap his hand. Which I did, and he was caught. I can see the panic in his eyes. I had even unbuckled my seatbelt and prepared myself to engage physically if needed be. I asked him “Where are you going?” in Bahasa and he responded by saying, anywhere south. He said that he was going back to his hometown, Johor Bahru. After a few more questions and the heat from the afternoon sun was killing him, I finally decided to let him in. He came in, thanking me profusely for about 10 minutes while explaining how he was in that situation.



He walks on, doesn’t look back
He pretends he can’t hear her

For the next few minutes this is what I know, he told me that he was standing there for four hours, since eight a.m. He also told me that he had taken a lift to the toll by hitchhiking a lorry and that he had been trying to thumb-lift since then. Most of the cars never even bothered to look at him and some of the other lorry drivers were going at a different direction and some of the lorry drivers were saying that they were not willing to take him as they were afraid. He said that he doesn’t blame them but he was desperate. At first, he was standing at the toll seeking shelter and seeking help but the workers at the toll told him off and went into the sun. All these while we were conversing in Bahasa then he told me that he could speak Chinese. So he then switched languages and started to talk to me in Hokkien (a dialect). I find that pretty amusing, since my Hokkien is worse than my Bahasa, but I still could make out what he was saying (in general).

Starts to whistle as he crosses the street
Seems embarrassed to be there

His full name I cannot remember or able to pronounce well. I know that his surname is Pillai (pronounced as Pee-lay). He is an ex-convict. Yes, I told myself. Here I am, in the middle of nowhere, heading towards KLIA along the highway with an ex-convict, in my car! Then I messaged Florence Lim. I had an incoming message earlier that I had forwarded to her and then I also included the fact that I am sitting with a stranger in my car who is an ex-convict. I asked him which prison he was from and for how long he was there. I asked him in Bahasa and he replied in Bahasa as well and told me he was in Kajang prison and managed to hitch-hiked all the way here. He was released on this same day at six a.m. that morning. He told me that he was in prison for a period of six months. He told me that he was totally sorry for what he had done and had repented.

She calls out to the man on the street
He can see she’s been crying

He mentioned a few times that he was so sorry for what had happened for it was a mistake, he knows it was his fault and promised that he won’t do it again. He told me in a sure voice, almost crying. At that moment, I was thinking and guessing about what he was in for? He couldn’t have killed someone (death sentence or life sentence in Malaysia) so what was he in for? Then I asked boldly what crime he had committed. He told me “assault and battery”. And I was thinking “Great! Assault and batter and he’s here with me!” I think he saw the concerned look on my face and told me about it.

She’s got blisters on the soles of her feet
Can’t walk but she’s trying

He told me that he had done a small project for an employer. So he worked and managed to complete the job for this employer but this employer said that he has no money to pay him and could never pay him. Feeling cheated, he demanded for his payment but again the employer refused and told him that he has no money. Mr. Pillai was poor and needed the money but the employer asked him to “get lost”. In rage, he took a stone/rock and struck his employer on the head. Mr. Pillai was charged, tried and put in prison for six months. A victim, in my opinion, bullied, exploited by the rich. Six months he was there in prison. He told me he repented. I was thinking, if I were in his shoes, what would I have done? Such a thing happened to him and he repented? Would you or would I do the same? I gave a quick thought that he was probably repenting for his anger that he couldn’t control. Would you? Would I? Repent? Near in tears he told me his story. I would take his words because he has no reason to lie to me, stranger, and in tears. The same “no reason to lie” to tell me that he is an ex-convict to convince me even more to drive him south.

Oh Lord, is there nothing more anybody can do
Oh Lord, there must be something you can say

He continued his story and told me about his scar on his face, a mean looking streak across his left side of his face. He told me that when he was with his employer, there were, in the room was not just the two of them but with a few others of his employer’s hired hands. They took a thing (he couldn’t recall what it was) and hit his face with it and so it became a permanent scar on his face when it healed. The others overpowered him and took him to the police station to have him charged. A victim. The word keeps repeating in my mind and now a victim with a record. Would anyone want to hire an ex-con? A bully and a victim situation. I then proceeded on to ask him about his family if he has one. He told me he has one wife with three kids, all under ten years of age. I couldn’t remember all the three children’s age but one of which is four. His wife is working as a cleaner and is expecting him home soon. Mr. Pillai had subtly asked me for a bit of money by saying that he would like to go home soon and was wondering if he could buy some spices for his wife or something for his family. I didn’t know what to do. I had with me fifty Ringgit and was saving it for the next five days. I told him of my situation in which he was nearly in tears, again.

You can tell from the lines on her face
You can see that she’s been there

During the journey, I was also sending SMS to Florence now and then as I drove and chat, just taking steps to prevent one of those things that may have, could have happen. Just in case. But along the journey, it came to my senses that this Mr. Pillai, must be hungry as well as tired. He was standing out there in the hot sun for a long time, plus he left the prison since six. I had doubt that he was given a last meal for him in prison. So I had decided to stop at a halfway point. Halfway between KLIA and the toll there happens to have a stopping station for motorist to stretch out their legs, buy food, etc for the rest of the journey. You know what I’m talking about. I told him that I would like to stop there for a drink and wondering if he wants something to eat too. I don’t mind spending some money for him on food and so I offered. He said thank you and yes he would like to accept the offer. He also said that he would like to be left there and would try to look for a ride from there since there would be plenty of drivers stopping there. I felt a sense of relief and a sense of pity that I am sort of abandoning him. Who else would help him? Who else would be kind enough to send him closer to his home, to his wife and kids?

Probably been moved on from every place
Cos she didn’t fit in there

So I kept my word and parked my car at the halfway point. I told him to follow me to purchase the items. I tried to lead the way, and when I looked back, he wasn’t there. He stayed near my car. I was wondering if he was ashamed or whether I would look for help or anything like that of a sort. Anyway, I bought a drink for myself and I bought him a bottle of water and bread for him too. I have also decided to give him ten Ringgit, just a little something. Would that be enough? Enough to get him home in Johor? I think not but that’s all I can afford. I went back to my car and yet again he was standing in the hot sun. I then handed him the drink, bread and money and he was almost in tears for the third time and he didn’t look at me in the eye and there were no words from his mouth. He accepted my offering, shaking his head a little bit. He and I shook hands, a simple wave goodbye and we went our separate ways. As I reversed my car out of the parking lot, I saw him sitting in the shade in the eating/resting area. Drinking the water that I gave, with his head drooped down, sad face and an angry scar was the last image of Mr. Pillai that I remembered. I also remembered that he told me that God would bless me for what I have done for him, what kindness I have shown to him when he was sitting next to me a few minutes before our final stop. I stepped on my car’s accelerator and head towards my destination. Praying for him as I go and I was wondering if what I gave was enough.

Oh think twice, it’s another day for
You and me in paradise

I have no intention to write this article to show how good a Samaritan I am. I just want to share some of the ugliness of the world that you and I are familiar with, had and/or experiencing now. I have written this article to show how ugly the world is and we are called to use whatever means possible through the usage of goodness to help reduce the ugliness. I will not debate whether or not God had compelled me to go to him or I was lucky or God was protecting me all the while and compelled him to ask me to drop him at the halfway point. But I believe this much, in my heart I believed that God was smiling (to me or at the situation it does not matter) and Mr. Pillai and I was part of the cause of that smile. Whatever happened to Mr. Pillai? As far as I know, only God knows. He is just another nobody in the eyes of many with an exception, perhaps, in the eyes of his family. Until now, whenever I recalled this incident, my heart feels heavy. Not only wondering what is happening to Mr. Pillai but remembering the ugliness of human nature. We are called to be light and salt of the world. Perhaps it could start by how we see each other.

Oh think twice, it’s just another day for you,
You and me in paradise

(Note: Though many people may not want to pick up a stranger and even I do not encourage it myself, it was a spontaneous act that I would not normally do or if I didn’t have the time or if I was with somebody.)