She had been in Singapore visiting her cousin and thought it would be a good idea to go alone on a short trip to Kuala Lumpur (KL) to catch in the sights and sounds.
But the New York-based artist and designer Mónica Torrejón Majluf, who had always been told that Singapore is the safest city in the world, never imagined that perception to be shattered on a private coach ride back here.
Last Sunday (May 29), Ms Majluf, 41, took to Facebook to give her account of how she said she was held against her will, touched as well as kissed by the coach driver, who had earlier told her that she was “cute”.
Ms Majluf said that she was the only passenger on board the bus at the time, when it had already reached Singapore in the wee hours of morning after the five-hour journey.
She was seated at the back of the coach and went toward the front to let the driver know when he asked where she wanted to be dropped off.
She wrote: “He then stopped the bus, and asked if I was alone…(He) followed me to the back where I was sitting and said to me ‘You sleep here, in bus with me’.”
Initially, she thought that he was “an innocent old man trying to be funny or sweet” but his persistence led her to push him away after he allegedly touched her and tried to kiss her.
AsiaOne contacted Ms Majluf and she agreed to an e-mail interview as she had already left Singapore for the United States.
She told AsiaOne that she had been in Japan to participate in an art fair in Tokyo, and decided to extend her trip in Southeast Asia to include a stopover in Singapore to visit her cousin.
Ms Majluf travelled on two separate private coaches – switching coaches along the way – from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. The buses were from two transport companies – KKKL Travel & Tours, and Delima Singapore.
She said she chose to engage the services of KKKL Travel & Tours because of the proximity of the pick-up and drop-off points to her cousin’s home.
Ms Majluf said that she boarded the first coach at The 5 Elements Hotel in KL and was told that she would be the only passenger on the coach. But along the way, another woman got on the coach.
When the coach reached the Singapore checkpoint, she was told to disembark and transfer to a second coach but not given a reason for this. This coach came from Delima Singapore.
At this point, the woman got off the coach and “around four Asian men” hopped on. The men later alighted in the city area, leaving Ms Majluf as the only passenger on the coach.
According to Ms Majluf, that was when the coach driver asked if she was alone and started to assault her.
Explaining how she ended up in the situation, Ms Majluf said: “The driver refused to drop me off where he was supposed to or where I asked initially. I kept saying ‘I want to get off here’, (but) he ignored my request several times.”
It was only after the assault, and after she had managed to take photos of the driver with her mobile phone, that the driver relented and dropped her off in Geylang. He then hurriedly sped off in the coach, said Ms Majluf.
She did not make a police report immediately after the incident.
She said: “Unfortunately, I was leaving Singapore the next day and wasn’t able to file a police report online due to the fact that they require a Singapore ID, which as a tourist I do not have.”
When AsiaOne contacted KKKL Travel & Tours, which is based in Johor Bahru, an employee acknowledged the incident involving Ms Majluf and the bus driver.
The employee who only identified herself as Ms Nurul, 25, did not want to comment further, saying that she had to wait for her director’s permission in order to release details of the case.
No one answered when AsiaOne repeatedly called Delima Singapore on its mainline on Friday (June 3) afternoon.
On KKKL Travel & Tours’ Facebook page, the company issued an apology and said that the reason for Ms Majluf’s coach transfer during her journey was due to a “mechanical problem” that the first coach had encountered.
They also said that the coach driver in question was not an employee of the company.
Similarly, Delima Singapore said on its Facebook page that the driver has been “suspended for internal investigation” and that they will release the results of their investigation “in due course”.
Both companies also claimed to have advised “the related party” of the necessary action to take.
Ms Majluf said: “I felt safe throughout every other country and this ended up happening in Singapore. I was shocked.”
stephluo@sph.com.sg
