WE saw a body by the roadside when Yip, my colleague, was driving me home in Subang Jaya the other day.
It was past midnight and we were not sure the person, lying with his back towards us, was dead or alive. An overturned motorbike was nearby.
Yip drove his car past the body and said calmly: “Should we stop and have a look?”
“We should stop, he might need help,” I replied.
“We had better be careful. He might play dead,” said Yip who has heard of robbers pretending to be hurt and waiting for victims.
Next, I was imagining a few mean looking men jumping up from behind some bushes with parang if we stop.
“It could be an ambush. Let’s circle around the body and have a look,” I admitted.
So, we drove around the body, very much like vultures circling a carcass. But we were wary and ready for trouble.
The fellow wasn’t moving but there were no blood stains, no visible signs of injury. He could be playing possum.
“There are two helmets around, where’s the other guy,” Yip grunted suspiciously.
“The other fellow could be hiding behind some bushes,” I said, looking around for a stick or a big rock to defend ourselves.
Sun Tzu, that Art of War philosopher, says “know your enemy, know yourself” , and methinks better save yourself before you save others.
However, we couldn’t just leave him there, our conscience wouldn’t let us.
“Let’s call the police, let’s call 999,” said Yip.
At the thought of vehicles with flashing lights and sirens waking up my neighbours in the dead of night and being the considerate person that I am, I said: “Wait, wait, let’s call a security guard nearby.”
Later when a security officer accompanied us to the scene, the body had gone from horizontal to vertical as a stocky youth stood on his feet. Clutching his head with his hand, he said he was having a headache.
The guard asked him whether he had been drinking. Yip and I asked ourselves whether he was on drugs.
I inquired about his residence, and he gave me an address that happened to be on the same road as mine. Disturbingly, I never saw this neighbour before.
As we drove away, letting the security guard help the stranger, I was thinking how once upon a time, folk used to help others in trouble without hesitation.
Now, times have changed, our mindsets have changed. Living with a siege mentality, many of us think twice before helping others. Even when the victims may need first aid.
That is a tragedy, that’s how the world has become.
Chan Wai Kong NST deputy sports editor. He sees life differently after waking up from a coma following a car accident in Vancouver.