SHAH ALAM - A woman had an unexpected encounter when a monkey latched onto her car to 'hitch a ride' and enjoyed a breezy trip for 20 kilometres before being safely removed by the fire department at a nearby fire station.
The bizarre incident unfolded when 52-year-old Salamiah Mupit, was driving home from her office in Kuchai Lama, Kuala Lumpur, with a colleague.
She recounted that the incident, which occurred on Tuesday at around 4pm, started when the monkey suddenly climbed onto her car roof as she was about to exit a junction near her office.
"At first, I thought it had jumped off, but after a few minutes or so, a motorcyclist signalled to me that something was on top of my car.
"I quickly looked back and was quite shocked to see the monkey still on the rear bonnet.
"After a while, it moved to the front bonnet. Some passing motorcyclists tried to shoo it away, but they were unsuccessful,” she told Sinar on Thursday.
Hailing from Perak, Salamiah noted she was worried that the monkey might jump and injure itself and decided to drive slowly, which caused some impatient drivers to honk at her.
She clarified that the monkey's safety and well-being were among her concerns as well, so driving at a slow speed was deemed the safer option.
"I panicked, honestly, but I maintained a speed of around 60 to 80 km/h to prevent it from falling off or suddenly jumping off. If it did jump, at least it would be safer at a slow speed.
"Since my route passed by a fire station, I decided to drive straight to the Taman Tun Dr Ismail Fire and Rescue Station, which was about 20 kilometres away and took nearly an hour to reach.
"Thankfully, when I arrived, the firefighters handled everything using their equipment,” she said.
Commenting on the incident, which went viral on social media, Salamiah admitted she never expected it to gain so much public attention.
"I noticed some road users recording videos during the incident.
"I would also like to apologise to other drivers if my actions seemed dangerous. I had no intention of harming the monkey, I just wanted to ensure it was safe," she stated.
She added that the monkey, fortunately, did not appear scared but instead seemed to be "relaxing" and enjoying the ride while looking around the scenery.
"Maybe the monkey was having fun riding on the car, or perhaps it felt cold, because, in the end, it even peed on my car,” she joked.