COULDN’T CARE LESS: Passers-by look at Tan but refuse to help.
GEORGE TOWN: Failure to render help to a 60-year-old snatch theft victim, who subsequently died, has caused an uproar among the people, as reported by the Malay Mail.
Widow Tan Kim Chuan was walking to a bus stop at Rifle Range Flats at 6am on Tuesday to go to town when a motorcyclist came from behind and grabbed her handbag, causing her to fall and knock her head against the road.
She lay on the road near Block J for about seven minutes before help finally arrived.
Tan, who had no children, died at 3pm the same day.
CCTV footage showed that people walked past her but did not help.
MAS Kargo worker C. Saravana Kumar said he had just returned home from work when his grandmother told him a woman was lying on the road.
“A neighbour who also saw the woman told me he didn’t want to help because she may have broken limbs,” Saravana, a father of three, said.
“He said he was scared to do anything. So I quickly went down and pulled her aside. She was not conscious and she vomited when I moved her.
“I am sad after I heard she died. If people had helped her immediately and called the ambulance, she may still be alive.”
Padang Tembak Village Security and Development Committee (JKKK) chairman Loh Eng Kim, 49, said he was angry that no one had called for an ambulance.
“I heard someone say they did not help because they would be questioned by the police,” he said.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said he felt sad that no one had rendered help to Tan.
“I watched the CCTV footage and saw that she had asked for help but people walked past her. I am both sad and angry about this.”
Lim urged the people to be more sensitive to the needs of others.
He said he would ask state environment, health and caring society welfare committee chairman Phee Boon Poh to investigate.
Lim also said police would be provided with the video footage so that the number plate of the snatch thief’s motorcycle could be enhanced.
Tan is believed to have just moved into the flats two weeks ago. Post-mortem reports revealed she died of internal bleeding in the brain.