On Oct 1, at around 2pm, 23-year-old front desk executive Koh Boon Xiang was riding his motorbike to work when he heard a sound that would make any biker’s stomach churn – the grinding of gears and sputtering of an engine.
Not wanting to be late for work, he pushed on. When he reached the underpass at Queensway, he realised he was completely unable to throttle his bike further. So he signalled left, and came to a stop at the road shoulder in the middle of the underpass.
In order not to obstruct the flow of traffic, Koh tried to push his bike towards the nearest bus stop before calling the towing company.
“But the slope was too steep and I wasn’t strong enough to push my bike up the entire slope. Since I was already late for work, I decided to just leave my bike there and call a taxi instead,” said Koh in a Facebook post.
“This was the first time my motorcycle failed me while I was on the road. I didn’t know exactly what to do next, and was quite worried for my own safety, because of the oncoming traffic,” Koh told The Pride.
He was at a complete loss of what to do. Luckily for him, a kind motorcyclist was there to help.
“At one point, I saw a biker, probably around his mid-20s, riding a BMW motorcycle, with his hazard lights flashing, approach me,” said Koh. “He introduced himself as Ahmad Qamarulhazman.”
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According to Koh, Ahmad mentioned that he was riding in the opposite direction when he noticed Koh having trouble. He also told Koh he understood how he must have felt, stranded on the side of the road with no help – because once, when he was a P-plate rider, his bike broke down, too. Only then, no one came to assist him.
“Ahmad then mentioned that he had some tools with him, and would try to help me start my bike – after helping me push it up the slope,” added Koh.
Once the two motorcyclists reached a safer location, Ahmad took out his tools and tried to fix Koh’s bike. But he was unable to locate its problem, or fix it.
“He then apologised to me after he was was unable to help start my bike,” Koh says. “I was like, ‘What?!’ – I was more than grateful for all the help he had already offered!
“While we were chatting, I also found out that it was actually his day off, and he was on the way to the mosque to pray. He made a U-turn just to offer assistance to me – I’m sincerely and truly grateful.”
Even though Ahmad was unable to help Koh get his motorcycle working, Koh remains grateful that he made an effort to offer his assistance.
“I’m thankful there was someone like him on the road to help me – and now that I know how it feels to be helped, I’ll make sure to help others when they are in need, too,” says Koh.