Malaysian Romeo & Juliet try to beat MCO, end up in high-speed chase with police

Alor Gajah—Love is challenging at any time, but love in the time of corona(virus) poses challenges no one has ever dreamed of.

A young Malaysian couple attempted to flout the country’s MCO (Movement Control Order) with a clandestine meeting at night, which caused a “Fast and the Furious” style police chase after the couple tried to beat a red light on Sunday (Apr 12) at around 7 o’clock in the evening.

The young man, age 25, and his girlfriend, who is 19, drew the attention of patrol officers  while on daring escapade. When the police told them to pull over, the driver of the car decided to speed up instead, causing the police to chase after them.

News reports sat the police tried to catch the pair, who drove a full 15 kilometers from the town of Rembia to Taman Angkasa Nuri. The couple most likely would have tried to go further, but had to stop after the car ran out of fuel. They were arrested by the police immediately after the car stopped.

The high-speed chase can be seen in this video, which was uploaded on Facebook on Apri 14.

The Star Online quotes Alor Gajah OCPD Supt Arshad Abu as saying, “My men ordered the couple to pull over after they committed a traffic offence by beating the traffic light.

However, they fled and a high speed chase ensued.” 

The police chief added that while the man has a prior police record related to a drug offence, the woman has no previous offences. He said the man told the police that he wanted to spend time with his girlfriend after not having seen her for some time due to Malaysia’s MCO.

In effect, the Romeo and Juliet turned fast and furious car chase had been because of a “date.”

According to Supt Arshad, the couple spent four days in jail starting from Monday (Apr 13), and that the incident is currently under investigation under Rule 11(1) of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures Within the Infected Local Areas) Regulations 2020.

Malaysia’s MCO was implemented in the middle of last month, in an attempt to curb the rising number of cases of Covid-19. And while it was supposed to be for only two weeks, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has pushed it back twice already, with its lifting now scheduled to take place on April 28.

He announced in an address on April 10, “This is in line with WHO’s (World Health Organization) views requesting countries not to end movement control prematurely. As has happened in a few countries, the pandemic spreads again when the movement control ends.

We must be prepared for this situation for a few months. It might continue until we are truly sure we have overcome the spread of this pandemic 100 per cent.”

Malaysia currently has 5,182 confirmed coronavirus cases. While 84 people have died from Covid-19, 2,766 people have recovered from the infection. —/TISG

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