Endoh’s Dungeon

Buying a pack of ciggs takes me only 5 minutes, but this morning it took me 30 minutes. Stepping out of 7-11, my attention to a commotion near the bus-stop. Three men were surrounding another guy, screaming “NO”… “Stay Here!”.

For a while, I thought it was a brawl. I’m particularly alert about such commotions because of my previous job, so curiously I walked up together with one of the 7-11 staffs and find out for ourselves what exactly is going on. There were a lot of pushing and shoving around, I figured at first that the three men were some sort of street bullies.

I asked loudly, “OEI, what’s going on here?”… before one of the three men turned and explained to me. Apparently, this guy they were surrounding wanted to stop by the road-side to head into 7-11. He couldn’t stop in time, and hit their car. It wasn’t a massive bang, just one of those bumper to bumper collision. With all the gesturings, yea I could see the damage done.

While the guy was in 7-11 (before I arrived), the three men returned to their car and the owner saw the damage on his rear bumper. They stood there, waiting for the culprit to appear. However, when the culprit was confronted, they ended up in a heated argument.

Not only the culprit refused to acknowledge his part in the collision, he even punched his fist into the other car. When I stepped closer to him, I could see the dent he inflicted on the other car. At the same time, the smell of alcohol on him was horrendous. It’s an obvious case of drink driving, and when highlighted to him… he attempted to get into his car. That’s when the three men began to surround him, in an attempt to stop him from doing so. And that’s also the part I witnessed.

While I explained to him on the seriousness of abandonment of scene while obviously driving under the influence of alcohol, suddenly he got agitated and threw a punch which thankfully… missed everyone of us. I guess that’s about it, enough of talking and time for our hands to work. The three guys pinned him down, while the 7-11 staff presented us with a rope to tie up his hands behind his back. The 7-11 staff also assisted to call the police, which I did not bother staying on to finish the whole thing off.

We can easily lodge an additional charge against him for assault, but I guess driving under the influence of alcohol will land him in a lot of shit now. That’s good enough to keep this menace off the streets I guess. (Yes, even the gesture of violence can land you with a charge with assault without actually touching the person.)

Before I turned my back and left, I retorted him sarcastically… “Sorry, I don’t think your Christmas this year will be merry anymore!”

With all the publicity and harsh punishment, I guess a lot of people just don’t learn their lessons about drink driving. Sometimes, I wonder is it because we have not done enough public education… or is the punishment for drink driving not severe enough? Not driving while under the influence of alcohol should be - by now - as typical as common sense. Still, not everybody has common sense.

Even if some car owners or bloggers (especially those dead against the government and police for stupid reasons) gonna hate me after this, I will say… please arrest more of them, the more the merrier! If there is someone in the parliament who suggests harsher punishment for drink driving, I will be most glad to raise both my hands and legs in full support. Some would say, am I not afraid of the same law being used on me? What goes around comes around anyway.

Well, I don’t drink and drive. Sometimes, I hitch a ride from my pals or simply, take the taxi. Coming to that, it’s really funny how Singaporeans can spend a shitload of money opening bottle after bottle that can amount to several hundreds, but yet they are unwilling to spend just SGD$30 catching a taxi home. Don’t blame the police for being strict, BLAME YOURSELF!

I am not even talking about killing someone on the street yet… someone who could be the sole bread winner of a low income family, or a loving father to a toddler waiting to explore the world, or a doting husband to a wife he promises to care for and love, or even the only caretaker to a pair of sick parents. If they don’t even care about these people whom they could possibly kill, who cares about them losing their licenses? I don’t give a damn… seriously.

Some Singaporeans just don’t learn! Either they’re stupid… or they’ve got brains growing in their arses!