An American tourist, Charles Edwards Stokes and his local partner, Rosnani Yahya are demanding immediate compensation from Eagle Coach Ekspress for losing two of their bags during a bus trip on May 30.
Their bags fell off the coach after the bus driver failed to properly latch the door of the luggage compartment during their trip from Shah Alam to Johor Bahru. Stokes and Rosnani lost a laptop, digital cameras, clothes and valuables worth RM5000.
The couple resorted to getting the assistance of Seputeh MP Teresa Kok after the bus company was less than cooperative in resolving their claims.
Rosnani and Stokes showed picture of an anonymous man with the missing laptop
The company’s staffs first refused to reveal its office telephone number, later the company’s manager Misnan was unable to be reached via phone despite several attempts, Stokes claimed.
“When we finally met him at his office on July 21, he was surprised to see us still inside the country,” Stokes recalled. He alleged that Misnan promised on the day to settle their compensations within four days, but that failed to materialize.
When the couple confronted him again on August 9, the manager said he will pay in stages.
“He is trying his luck that we will go off soon so he can live happily after,” Stokes claimed.
Police no help
In an interesting twist, a person with the missing laptop connected online via Skype with a friend of Rosnani. The friend, knowing that the laptop was lost, took a picture via Skype. When asked the person claimed that he was working at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
However, despite lodging two police reports in Skudai and Shah Alam, the police refused to follow the lead and track down the person in the picture.
“They said they don’t know what Skype is and don’t know what they should do,” said Rosnani.
“(The policeman) told us to go KLIA to investigate ourselves,”
The man is believed to be a staff of KLIA
Shah Alam district police officer ACP Nor Azam Jamaludin, when contacted, said the luggage is believed to have been drop between Sepang and KLIA during the bus trip. He promised to liaise with Sepang police station to locate the anonymous man.
However, he admitted that police might require assistance from Malaysia Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) as they do not have expertise in the field yet.
Meanwhile, the bus driver of the trip, who only wishes to be known Mus, said he already done his best to search for the missing luggage when he realized the drop halfway through the journey.
He also blamed the couple for not keeping their valuables with them in the bus.
Eagle Ekspress’s manager Misnan, was unable to be reached for comment at press time.
CJMY
