Friday December 30, 2005

Abusive bunch forces Kepong branch to call in cops

PETALING JAYA: A group of MyKad applicants at the National Registration Department branch in Kepong vented their frustrations on the staff, calling them bodoh (stupid) and creating a din after failing to obtain a queue number at 8am yesterday.

One man in his 50s started the commotion by yelling and using harsh words on the staff. He was upset that he did not get a number despite having queued up since 5am, a department spokesman said.

Other applicants who also failed to get a number joined the man in the verbal abuse while the staff members just kept calm and quiet, she said.

She said there was tension in the room for some time.

“In an attempt to calm them down, one of the five staff members at the branch informed the group that they could still go to other branches which operate longer hours,” she told The Star.

“But they got even angrier and kept demanding that they be given a queue number.”

The spokesman said they had to call in the police to disperse the group.

She said they stopped their verbal abuses and left the place after the police arrived.

“The staff members also explained to them that the MyKad is not new and that the application has been open for several years already. Besides, our branch has only three counters to serve a total of 450 applicants daily, including senior citizens.”

She said these last-minute applicants could have avoided the hassle had they applied for the MyKad earlier.

As for the staff, she said: “They did not even have time for lunch.”

She said the branch operates from 8am to 6pm, but some others opened until midnight.

Stories by BY M. KRISHNAMOORTHY, V.P. SUJATA, CELESTE FONG, EMMELINE TAN and RENITA CHE WAN Pictures by RAJA FAISAL HISHAN, K.T.GOH and ABD RAHMAN EMBONG

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