Why Do Singaporeans, Keep Asking for Trouble going JB???

ShutterBug SG

Syringe so close that I can't move
S'porean refuses to give JB man 45 cents

Robber then threatens to jab him with HIV-tainted needle

By Lynette Lim

January 19, 2007

IT was well past midnight when a Singaporean couple decided to drive back to Singapore from Johor Baru.

Mr Lim showing the Cashcard he offered the robber and a copy of the police report he made. With him is girlfriend Ms Teo. -- NG XINYAO
On the way, they stopped to get a drink - and clerk Wong Shui Sheng ended up being threatened with a possibly HIV-tainted syringe.

All because he refused to give RM1 (45 cents) to a robber.

Mr Wong, 21, and his girlfriend, Ms Teo Qian Wen, also 21, were saved when a shopkeeper and his friend charged at the man with a metal pole after suspecting something was wrong.

The couple had gone to JB on Friday night for a meal and to top up the petrol in his two-month-old Chery QQ. A few kilometres from the Causeway, Mr Wong wanted to stop by a provision shop.

As the main road was lined with cars, he parked in a small unlit alley nearby. His was the only car in the alley then.

They bought their drinks and returned to the car in three minutes.

After getting in, Mr Wong was about to shut the door when a man held onto it and stopped him from doing so.

It was about 1.45am then.

They had earlier seen the man - who appeared to be in his 40s - coming down a staircase next to the alley.

THREATENED

The couple described the man as short, hunched and wearing dark clothing.

Said Mr Wong: 'He said in Mandarin, 'Excuse me, do you have RM1?'

'I had just over RM1 but I didn't want to give it to him. So I told him I did not have any money left.'

Ms Teo was in the passenger seat next to him.

The man then held a syringe filled with what he claimed to be blood and placed the needle less than 5cm from Mr Wong's right arm.

'He said in Mandarin that he had Aids and that the blood had the HIV virus,' said Mr Wong.

'He wanted to jab me if I did not give him the money.'

Mr Wong panicked and tried to give the man all the money he had - RM1.30. But the man then changed his mind.

He told Mr Wong that he was 'not begging' and that he just wanted money to treat his illness.

'He then asked me to give him $20 to $30. I told him that I did not have any Singapore dollars on me and tried to give him my CashCard instead,' said Mr Wong.

The man rejected it as he 'did not know how to use it'.

Instead, he demanded Mr Wong's handphone (worth about $800), telling Mr Wong to remove his SIM card before handing it over.

Mr Wong refused to give up his expensive phone, claiming that he had no money to buy a new one, but the man told him to 'tell your father to buy one for you since your father is very rich'.

'He probably thinks that all Singaporeans are very rich,' said Mr Wong.

The man refused to let Mr Wong get out from his car to talk outside.

'I wanted to talk outside because my girlfriend was inside the car and I did not want to frighten her further.

'He had already threatened me, claiming that he had a knife in his back pocket and I felt helpless throughout because the syringe was so close and I could not move. I did not know if the blood really had HIV virus, but I did not want to take the risk,' said Mr Wong.

Fortunately for Mr Wong, the shopkeeper knew him and became suspicious when he did not see Mr Wong's white car move.

The shopkeeper moved closer and saw the man holding the syringe.

He then shouted in Malay: 'Hey what are you trying to do to my friend?'

The man then said: 'I'm just asking him for RM1 to buy coffee.'

The shopkeeper did not fall for it and alerted his friend who was in the shop.

The friends confronted the man with a 30cm-long metal bar and overpowered him. They told Mr Wong to make a police report while they held the thief.

Mr Wong and his girlfriend then went to a police station nearby to make a report before driving back to Singapore.

They went back to JB again on Sunday night and heard from the shopkeeper that the man had eventually managed to flee.

Said Ms Teo: 'I have been having nightmares since that night.'

The couple have been making such trips to JB every two or three days for the past two months since Mr Wong got his first car.

They go to buy petrol and to eat at a food centre which serves 'good food'.

'I have read about cases such as this in the newspapers but I never thought it would happen to me,' said Mr Wong.

Despite what happened, Mr Wong said he will not be staying away from JB. But he will take a spanner with him for protection.

ShutterBug SG

Other HIV holdups in JB
January 19, 2007

THIS is not the first time that robbers in Johor Baru have threatened to jab Singaporeans with HIV-tainted blood.

In April 2005, Mr F Z Ho, 28, and his friend, Ms Chow, who was in her 30s, were stopped from driving back to Singapore from a Taman Sentosa food court by a small-built and shabbily dressed man, who held their car door open.

He claimed he was sick and had a liver problem. He demanded RM10 ($4.50).

When Mr Ho told him that he had no money, the man raised a syringe and asked Mr Ho if he could see the needle.

The sight of the needle unnerved them.

Left with no choice, Mr Ho offered the robber all he had - RM50 ($22) and $5.

But the man refused to take all the money. Eventually, he just took the $5 bill and left without another word.

In February 2005, events manager Vincent Lam, 38, said he had a similar experience at the same place.

He was stopped from closing his car door by a man who was described as skinny and shabbily clad.

When Mr Lam told the man that he did not have much and 'to go home', the man's accomplice appeared. The second man held a syringe.

After he gave the robbers all the money he had - RM30 - the two fled.

alexkusu SG

"I never thought it would happen to me"

how cliche.

ShutterBug SG

He had only RM10
January 19, 2007

SINGAPOREAN IT consultant Fareed Hassan, 28, had only RM10 ($4.50) with him when his car was rammed by a robbers' car in Johor around 3am on 6 Jan.

The robbers didn't believe it when he said he had only RM10, he claimed, so they searched him roughly.

When they couldn't find any more money, they beat him with a parang and a steering lock, for about 45 minutes.

The robbers then drove him around before dumping him by the roadside. They fled with his $40,000 car and other valuables worth $3,000.

But not before they returned the RM10 and told him mockingly to 'find your own way home'.

He then made a police report and contacted a relative, who took him home.

tt3 SG

Rolling Eyes

tt3 SG

Rolling Eyes

Pitot SG

QQ also steal.. Laughing

red_amoeba SG

yah...if that's how JB ppl treat us, then we shld stop going. see how they shrivel and die....

we keep getting victimised by nothing more than a threat of HIV syringe, we become a laughing stock....

furb SG

Originally posted by ShutterBug:
But he will take a spanner with him for protection.

Taking a spanner for protection? Laughing People 30 cm long metal bar to overpower the thief, a spanner can do what?

Haiz, needle nowadays more powerful than gun and knife plus a lot cheaper too. What to do HIV no cure, anyone would be scared. Neutral

countdracula SG

my friends often venture into jb and asks me to come along, i only did it once, didn’t like the place and never been to it again….everytime they returned, they will yep about how cheap things are…good grieve, for a couple of bucks (after you offset the time and money for transport and travel) is it worthwhile, hell no….and the risks you take far outweighs the savings….jb is trying to develop the iskandar south johor development project….good luck, it’ll never see much daylight…..floods, violent crimes, racism and kampung politics will see to its demise soon enough…..