I was detained!!!

The date ... 31 August 2008. Also the Independence Day for a Malaysian like myself as well as the rest of the 28 million citizens scattered all over the globe. Back home, it's a holiday but here in Abu Dhabi, work goes on as usual.

The time ... approximately quarter past 10am when we heard a loud knock on the door. JJ went to open and was faced by 4 men all dressed in white arabic attire (can't recall what it was called already :p). The spoke rapidly in arabic and blurred JJ immediately directed them to speak to one of our Syrian colleague, Rawad. 2 minutes into that conversation, Rawad turned pale. The men started speaking louder before coming over to the rest of us demanding that we produce our visa.

SHIT!!! They were officers form the Ministry of Labour. My Deputy Project Manager being the man in charge then spoke to them. He showed them his valid visa but the rest of us could only produce our passport. We tried calling our local partner, Ayham and he said he'll be there in 5 minutes. While waiting, the officers were shooting questions at us but we just feign ignorance ... not answering and pretending as if we do not speak English. Haha.

Minutes ticked by and the officers became impatient. We called Ayham again and he said he needed another 5 minutes. Sighhh ... you see what I'm talking about ... when an Arab said 5 minutes ... it's NEVER 5 minutes.

The officer issued a statement saying that within the next 2 minutes, without the presence of our PRO (visa application officer) ... Ayham in this case, we'll all be hauled up and transported to the Ministry of Labour where further action would be taken.

He was true to his words and we were ushered to the awaiting grilled van. Funnily enough, our two other female colleauges were not detained. Only then did Ayham turned up. He produced the necessary documents but the officer would have none of it. Two other employees under our local partner were also detained with us. Rawad was real panicky and was making calls non stop. The other guy, an accountant who shared the similar name as my DPM, Sathish Kumar was doing the same thing. Dialling and talking. Both trying to talk over the other ... it was rather noisy indeed and this pissed off one of 'em officer. He shouted at them to shut up.

We waited in the van for a good 30 minutes at least ... all in good view of passers by. Aiyo ... embarassing man but us Malaysians, Akmal, Cheong, JJ and myself were making light of the situation. We joked about and the officers were ok with us. Don't think that Rawad in his state of nearing mental breakdown appreciated our behaviour then. :p

A 45 minutes drive to the Ministry of Labour near Al Shahama Airport saw us waiting again in the detention van. The Ministry looks really new, so I guess the detention center wasn't ready yet. Ayham and Sathis (my DPM) (both pictured lastly above) followed closely behind. After a while, Rawad and Sathish (the accountant) were told to go inside the building.

Us Malaysians had no choice but to wait inside the van. More jokes followed and we were even cheeky enough to take photos on my mobile (as seen above).

Rawad came back in later and refused to speak to us. He tried to exit the locked van and it was unfortunate that an officer saw that. A few of them came over and gave Rawad a real good tick-off. Apparently Rawad wanted to go make a photocopy of his passport ... siao!

We were soon told to go in to the office where upon a short discussion between Ayham and the officers and producing the necessary paperwork, we were told that everything is in order and that we can leave. *Relief*

Rawad and Sathish the accountant were not so lucky and had to be sent to the Al Shahama Immigration Center for reasons unknown to me.

We drove hurriedly outta that place and had lunch at a nearby petrol kiosk. JJ commented that Coke never tasted so good. I guess the hunger and new found freedom really makes you appreciate the simpler things in life.

We headed back to the villa to recover from the mental torture experienced earlier. A little while later, we got word that Rawad and Sathish had both been released as well.

I guess this experience is another chapter in my life ... a story I can tell my future generations that I was once ironically detained on Independence Day.