KUALA LUMPUR – Police have come under pressure online to investigate a netizen’s claim that food paid for and ordered by a flood victim for her family was consumed by officers at a cop tent instead.
The account of the alleged incident has gone viral after Twitter user @AndreaReetika shared screengrabs of her cousin Vaishnavi’s Instagram story detailing the cops’ actions at Taman Sri Muda, one of the worst-hit flood areas in Shah Alam.
The post has since garnered nearly 21,000 retweets and 11,100 likes at press time.
My cousin, from Taman Sri Muda had to walk all the way to the police tent for an hour to get her food she ordered.
— andreasaurus (@AndreaReetika) December 22, 2021
The police men ate it all.
Her family and her has not eaten for a day.
Shameful people.
#KitaJagaKita #DaruratBanjir pic.twitter.com/t6SEAICY8P
“My cousin, from Taman Sri Muda, had to walk all the way to the police tent for an hour to get the food she had ordered. The policemen ate it all.
“Her family and her (sic) have not eaten for a day. Shameful people,” Andrea tweeted, along with the hashtags of #KitaJagaKita and #DaruratBanjir.
The tweet featured an Instagram story by Vaishnavi (@shadymatherzz) where she described how police officers had already finished the food she had ordered, despite there being a receipt from GrabFood attached to the plastic bag.
“They just put all the trash inside (the plastic bag) and stared at me,” she said, adding that she was then told to go home as it was “unsafe”.
“The authorities are eating our money and making us look like fools here. Only volunteers are helping those who need help.
“I had to walk back home for another hour to find food elsewhere,” she lamented in the post.
When contacted, Vaishnavi declined to comment further on the matter as she was preoccupied with the post-flood cleaning of her home and was conserving the battery on her phone as electricity supply to her housing area was still unstable. She directed the query to Andrea.
Responding to certain users who questioned why Vaishnavi had ordered food through Grab instead of finding other means, Andrea said that her cousin was only doing whatever she could to feed her family.
“My cousin’s home is in an area where not much supplies were given, and her home was already flooded up to the first floor. The Grab rider said that he could not enter the housing area as it was too dangerous.
“Nonetheless, she decided to brave the one-hour walk to pick up the food as her family had not eaten since the day before,” Andrea told The Vibes, adding that her 27-year-old cousin was staying with her elderly parents.
The incident has drawn much criticism from the public, with many condemning the alleged actions of the cops while calling on police to look into the matter.
Kecik atau besar nilai dia ini tetap mencuri. Mesti dalam @PDRMsia ada anggota yang prihatin tentang pegawai bermasalah. Tak payah cover untuk diorang. Fight them. Ramai anggota yang baik. So yang buat hal macam ni yang harus dikenakan tindakan. Mencuri tu. Curi. Tau https://t.co/aUm4t2WEcE
— Haniff Hamzah (@Haniff_hamzah) December 23, 2021
“Whether the value is big or small, this is still stealing. There must be officers within @PDRMsia who are concerned about problematic members. There is no need to ‘cover’ for them. Fight them.
“There are many good officers, so action must be taken against those who cause problems such as this. Take note, stealing is still stealing,” Era radio host Haniff Hamzah said in a tweet.
: hello @PDRMsia this is disgusting and so humiliating please clean up anggota perangai sampah! @PDRMsia https://t.co/3SDSfbyFO1
— Farizan Jaffar (@FarizanJaffar) December 22, 2021
“Hello @PDRMsia this is disgusting and so humiliating. Please clean up the officers with such trashy behaviour!” Twitter user Farizan slammed the force.
Besides offering to help Vaishnavi, netizens were also quick to point out the depressing irony of the entire situation.
Can we send this cousin food with their name on it? Kesian makanan kena curi polis. Nak report kat siapa. https://t.co/D6JbUrPeZQ
— Saranikka (@mynikkaname) December 22, 2021
“Can we send this cousin food with their name on it? Pity her because her food was stolen by the police. Who does she report the matter to?” Twitter user Saranikka questioned. – The Vibes, December 23, 2021
