Face to Face with the Long Arm of the Law

Face to Face with the Long Arm of the Law

(Disclaimer: This is a fictitious story. Any resemblance of this story with the real-life people and events is only a coincidence. The author bears no responsibility to any individual who claims to be part and parcel of the story.)

There was an old guy who goes by the name of Winson Pok.

He liked to take every available situation to his advantage so much so that his circle of friends dwindled year by the year into an exclusive group of only a few friends. Only those who could tolerate his behaviour of being a ‘kiasu’ (the fear of losing) would remain as his friends.

Concerned friends of his were worried that the day would come when not a single soul would like to befriend him if he wouldn't change his behaviour. But Winson couldn't care less. Instead, he would argue his points as if he was presenting a sure-win case in a courtroom like another 'Karpal Singh'.

He said that all the faults were not his as his late father was the one to be blamed for giving him his name. The name by itself had transformed his character into becoming a hard-core kiasu personality, as he would not be submitted easily to failures. He would persist to be a winner as he would still remember the motto of his school, ‘Accomplish or Do Not Begin’.

Being a Singaporean by birth with inherent kiasu culture, his father wanted his son to be an all-time winner at all costs in whatever field he set his foot upon. That was the reason why he was named Winson. As an obedient and filial son he had to fulfil and uphold the wishes and aspirations of his late father.

Winson's kiasu behaviour was reflected in every aspect of his everyday life. Even in the act of driving, he could not forsake this bad attitude. He couldn't tolerate others overtaking him even though his car was an old junk of more than twenty years. He had no patience to queue up in a single file waiting to cross a traffic lights junction. More often than not he would overtake the queue from behind to cross the junction.

Friends had always cautioned him not to commit such an offence but he did not take heed as he believed that his lucky stars would always be on his side.

It is illustrated in the Chinese adage that, “if one frequents a mountainous forest, one would be likely to encounter a tiger.” (上得山多终遇虎) Likewise to break traffic regulations once too often would one be caught one day.

This exactly was what happened to Winson.

One morning he was required to drive his wife to Penang for a shopping trip. On the way, to keep himself occupied, and to kill away the time as well, he started chanting the Chinese sutras like the Great Compassionate Mantra, the Heart Sutra and the Amitabha Sutra.

In the evening at around 4 pm, Winson drove back from Penang. By the time he reached the traffic junction near the Juru Autocity, there was a long queue of traffic. Once again, Winson switched on his kiasu mode. He would not want to queue up.

As soon as he saw the green light appear, he immediately dashed his car forward from behind to overtake the queue in order to go across the junction.

This time luck was not with Winson. Winson Pok was really pok-kai! [ pok-kai, 扑街, means unlucky in the Cantonese dialect] Two traffic policemen were already waiting by the roadside after the junction. One of them signalled Winson to stop his car.

The policeman then came up to Winson and accosted him,"Potong Q?!"

Reluctantly, Winson produced his driving licences; one licence had a photograph attached to it including his personal details while the other one displayed the expiry date of the licence.

After inspecting the documents, yet the policeman asked Winson to produce his identity card.

Having gone through the process of inspection, the policeman returned the documents with an unanticipated question,"Pesara apa?"

Winson was surprised to hear the unexpected question but he was quick enough to respond,"Pesara guru."

Having heard that answer, the policeman let Winson off without issuing him a compound fine for the traffic offence.

Later on, Winson would learn that an error he had made saved him from being slammed with a compound fine. In fact, he had mistakenly produced his pension card instead as one of his driving licences.

From this incident, Winson had learnt his lesson. In future, he would not take the risk of overtaking queues because he resolved to be a law-abiding citizen for the rest of his life. He was aware that he could only be lucky some of the time but not all the time.

As for Winson, a question mark was still dangling at the corner of his mind. He was still wondering whether the luck he had had that evening had anything to do with his chanting of the Sutras on that morning. He would never know the answer. Neither would anybody else.