Sorry, saya tak Rela (buka pintu).
When I was 17, my (then) boyfriend drove me to a quiet spot by the sea to talk under a bed of stars. The area was peaceful and secluded from the hustle and bustle of the city…no lights, no cars, no other moonlighting couples… We had the whole place to ourselves. We sat in his car listening to our favorite songs, starring out at the moon enjoying the moment.
Suddenly a ray of light pierced the darkness and a loud rapping on the door ruptured the calmness of the night. Three Malay men wearing yellow berets and uniforms crept up from behind the vehicle and were now shinning their torchlight at us, demanding we open the car door. We were in the middle of no where and I refused as we did not recognize their uniforms. When I asked for their ID, one of them pointed to his badge and shouted “Kamu tak kena Rela?!! Buka pintu sekarang!!!”
When I relented, they then aggressively demanded for our IC’s which we gave through a tiny slit in the window. A fourth guy without uniform soon joined the pack. This fourth guy told us that unless we opened the door, we were not going to get our IC back. At this point I became adamant on not giving in to these people. I told them to keep our IC’s and we could all drive to the closest police station. I made it clear that there was no way in hell we were getting out of the car in a dark secluded place. They eventually gave us back our IC and told us to be on our way.
If there’s one thing I learnt about living in Malaysia, it is never to trust a uniformed person. Especially if it’s harder to buy a pack of cigarettes then it is to buy a Rela uniform.