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Gan Ning
Guest
Wednesday November 17, 2010
Retiree risks life to help robbery victim
SEREMBAN: Retiree Tham Wing Chin did not hesitate to put his own life at risk to go after a man who tried to rob a young girl in his neighbourhood. However, the robber attacked him with a large piece of wood, fracturing his right arm and injuring his head, that required stitches. Tham, 68, who lives in a single-storey home near Jalan Lobak here, recounted his experience from his hospital bed to Lobak assemblyman Anthony Loke Siew Fook yesterday.
Brave veteran: Tham recounting his experience from his bed at the Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital in Seremban Tuesday.
“I was at home (on Monday) and heard a girl’s loud screams at 6.45pm,” he said at the Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital here. “I rushed out and saw a man running from a house a few doors away, where the secondary schoolgirl rents a room. “I gave chase to try and catch the man.
He had not hurt the girl but I knew if I let him escape, he might hurt or rob someone else another day.” The former businessman said he almost had the robber cornered at a nearby block of flats when he was attacked. “I could have just stood there and done nothing but as a neighbour, I had to at least try to catch the robber,” he added.
“I was alone and could not fend off his attack. But the pain from my injuries is nothing compared with my disappointment at letting him get away. “If I had not been alone, that robber would have been caught. People these days just turn a blind eye and refuse to help their neighbours. If we keep up this attitude, there is no telling what will happen to our society.”
Tham said there had been frequent snatch thefts and break-ins in the area and he was worried that the robber who escaped would be back. For his efforts, Tham received a good citizen’s award and a cash donation from Loke, who commended Tham for his courage and selflessness in going out of his way to assist someone in need and to help prevent crime.
“What he did was exemplary. He is not a young man but still did not hesitate to go after the robber,” he said, adding that the donation was to help cover Tham’s hospital expenses. Describing Lobak as a crime hotspot, Loke said: “In the past few weeks alone, there have been many cases involving seniors who were attacked or robbed in the vicinity of Lobak and Temiang.
“Many of the victims did not lodge reports in the belief that nothing could be done to help them,” he said, adding that police should take proactive measures such as increasing patrols or setting up a beat base in crime hotspots. Seremban OCPD ACP Saiful Azly Kamaruddin said police were investigating.
