Page 13 - BOOK inside pages as at Aug 8

The Robbery

Chapter 1: The Robbery

IT WAS the night of September 13, 1988, a Tuesday. The
time was 11.50pm. Mr. Tan was at his office in Jalan Ipoh,
about to call it a day. His two bodyguards were with him, as
usual.
Mr. Tan stood at about five feet seven, and was attired in a
long-sleeved shirt and tight long pants. His bodyguards were
also wearing long-sleeved shirts and sports shoes. On first
impression, they looked like businessmen. No one would have
expected that Mr. Tan was a boss in the underworld.
It’s been nearly three decades, and I can’t recall his full
name or that of the triad gang that he was supporting, but
my encounter with Mr. Tan that night would change my life
forever. I have no wish to put him under any stress, but I
hope if he gets to read this book, that he too will find the true
meaning of life. After all, how many more years do we have to
live?
In the underworld, we all knew that Mr. Tan was rich
– filthy rich! From what I can recall, he owned a chain of
hotels and restaurants which he had established using money
gained through his involvement in illegal dealings. He was
a very shrewd businessman, but the wealth he had was
acquired through vice.
According to our boss Li Chai, Mr. Tan had borrowed some
RM150,000 from him. Back in the 80s, this was a lot of money.
I did not know why he had borrowed such a big sum from
Li Chai, but I knew that often Mr. Tan would not pay back a
single sen of borrowings from friends. He had a reputation for
being a bad paymaster. Mr. Tan was in his forties at that time,
and being older than most of us, knew that we were easy prey.
I was 30 years old then; Li Chai was just slightly older than
me.
Li Chai was in the transport business but behind the
scenes, he was involved in illegal businesses as well. He

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BOOK inside pages.indd 13 08/08/2018 05:43 PM