Passer-by witnesses heartless behaviour
Bochap uncle makes her blood boil
Got handphone, but won't call police
Got water, but won't share with victims
By Celine Lim
February 22, 2008
TWO men lay dying in the backseat of a car that had crashed down a
slope at Old Upper Thomson Road while their two friends screamed
for help.
(From left) Miss Atika, with friends Abdul Razak Juma'in, Ain Idris
and Syaiful. Pictures: JONATHAN CHOO, LIANHE WANBAO
Above, at the side of the road, a neatly-dressed man stood and
gawked at the carnage.
Despite the severity of the situation, he did not lift a finger
to dial 999, let alone clamber down the slope to help the
distressed victims.
At one point, he even stopped his female companion from getting
water for the victims.
This ugly side of Singaporeans came to light recently after a
passer-by revealed what she and her friends witnessed when they
stopped to help the victims of the accident on 29 Jan.
Student Atika Abdul Razak, 21, recalled how she had asked the
man, who was holding a handphone, if he had called for help.
His response: 'No, you call, lah.'
It made her blood boil even as she quickly dialled 999.
To add insult to injury, the man told her as he walked off:
'Haiyah, not to worry, it's a small accident only. Anyway, the
ambulance (you called for) is on the way.'
The 'small accident' claimed two lives and it's now a moot point
whether they might have survived if the man had been less callous
and called for help immediately.
Frontseat passenger Tan Han Leng, 20, who survived the accident,
corroborated Miss Atika's account of what happened that
night.
The car that the four polytechnic friends were in was badly wrecked
in the crash.
After being discharged from hospital, he told The New Paper that
the couple who were first on the scene did not help them.
'The woman actually wanted to get water for us, but the man told
her to leave us alone and just drove off,' MrTan said.
He added that he was too traumatised to keep track of the
sequence of events, but estimated that at least 15 minutes had
passed after the crash before the police were called.
Mr Tan and the driver managed to climb out of the Mitsubishi
Lancer by themselves after it crashed.
Their friends, David Li, 18, and Mervin Teo, 20, who were not
wearing seatbelts, later died from their injuries.
The driver was arrested and later released on bail. The police
are investigating the case as causing death by a negligent act.
CRASHED AND FLIPPED
The four polytechnic students had gone to the former grand prix
race track along Old Upper Thomson Road for a spin in their car,
but it skidded at the bend known as 'The Snakes', went down a
slope, crashed into a wall of trees and flipped on its side.
Miss Atika and her three friends were on their way home on two
motorcycles when they heard the victims shouting for help.
Miss Atika, who was riding pillion, said: 'We saw a car lying on
its side in the ditch and two guys, all bloody and sweaty, were on
top of it shouting for help.'
She said of the bochap (don't care) bystander: 'The uncle was
just standing there by the side of the road despite their shouts,
so I gathered he was not doing anything to help.
'I asked if he had called for help and he said, 'No'. So I told
him to call the police while I called for an ambulance.'
She said the man, who looked to be in his late 50s, wore a white
short-sleeved shirt and black tailored pants.
It is not known if the man had witnessed the accident or how
long he had been there before the others arrived.
He then walked away with his handphone to his ear while his
companion, a woman who looked to be in her late 20s, emerged from
the car to take a look.
Miss Atika said: 'I heard the woman ask him why there was so
much blood.'
When the man returned, Miss Atika asked him if he had called the
police.
'When he said, 'No, you call, lah',' I got mad because he's
older so he should know what to do, but he didn't care.
'He had arrived before us and if he had called even a few
minutes earlier, it could have made a difference.'
She then called the police herself and the couple drove off soon
after.
Her words tumbling out in anger, Miss Atika said: 'His attitude
was, like, it's not his problem.
'But when someone is in trouble, it's common decency to help. It
won't kill you to spend half an hour or an hour to help.'
She said her friends had faced similar apathy when they were
injured in road accidents.
'Our friends said they were bleeding, but no one stopped to
help.'
She added that after the couple left, two or three passing cars
slowed down and their occupants wound the windows down to see what
had happened, but none stopped to help.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and the police
confirmed that Miss Atika had called to report the accident around
11.40 that night.
While waiting for help to arrive, Miss Atika's boyfriend, Mr
Abdul Razak Juma'in, 20, and a friend, Mr Saiful Azhar, 21,
scrambled down the slope to check on the injured.
She said Mr Tan was panic-stricken and asked them to help get
his two friends out of the car.
'He went back inside the car and tried to lift one friend up to
my friends.
'But the passenger was too heavy. They tried for almost five
minutes before I shouted that it was best not to touch the injured
person in case he had broken bones.'
Mr Abdul Razak said he saw 'bubbles' coming out of Mr Teo's
lips.
They then helped Mr Tan and the driver, who seemed to be in
shock, up the slope to await help.
Miss Atika and her friends remained with the two men, while a
team of SCDF officers went to the aid of the backseat
passengers.
She said: 'Both boys were in pretty bad shape. We had to comfort
Han Leng as he was hysterical and crying.
'He kept saying his friends didn't deserve this, and why didn't
they wear seatbelts? He was bleeding badly from his cuts, but he
didn't care.'
The four friends left after the last crash victim was extricated
from the car by the SCDF.
They were 'shocked and sad' to read about the Mr Teo and Mr Li's
deaths in the newspapers later.
Miss Atika contacted The New Paper to try to get in touch with
the two survivors to offer her condolences.
She said: 'We are truly sorry that their two friends didn't make
it... they will always be in our prayers.'
When contacted, Mr Tan conveyed his thanks to his rescuers for
their concern, but declined to meet them as he did not want to be
reminded of the accident.
