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Malaysian man apologises to PJ event space owners, returns plants he thought he ‘rescued’

A screenshot from Awegallerry's CCTV shows the man taking the plants from their premises. — Photo courtesy of Instagram/ Awegallery
A screenshot from Awegallerry's CCTV shows the man taking the plants from their premises. — Photo courtesy of Instagram/ Awegallery

KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 — A Malaysian man who took home a few plants in front of an event space in Petaling Jaya has apologised to its owners and returned them.

This is after owners of the event space, Awegallery in Taman Paramount, posted on their Instagram a couple of screenshots from a CCTV clip showing the man taking the plants along with captions urging him to come clean.

The man, ‘Merwenmerman’, took to his Instagram yesterday to apologise for last Friday’s incident as he thought the plants were abandoned.

According to Merwen, he was in the area to buy food and had stumbled upon the plants that were in bad condition.

“My heart broke into pieces when I saw them laying there hopelessly.

“My first thought was “why sacrifice the plant when shops aren’t operating due to this pandemic?!

“I needed to act fast to help them or they would not survive, judging by the lack of rain in the last few days, and they weren’t in a place where they could receive water even if it rained.

“So, I decided to rescue those plants that I think I can bring back to life,” Merwen captioned his post.

He further clarifies in the post that it was not his intention to steal, but to rescue the plants while also mentioning that he watered the other plants prior to the CCTV’s clip.

Merwen admitted his mistake of taking other people’s belongings and is willing to take full responsibility for his actions.

Awegallery’s owners has since accepted his apologies and commended him for his honesty.

One of the event space’s owners, Dora Ong, told Malay Mail that the plants were being taken care of by their workers.

Ong highlighted that this was not the first time incidents like this have happened as there have been incidents where people have lost plants in the area.

Still, all the owners appreciated Merwen’s gesture.

“I think it takes a lot of courage for a person to apologise and own up to what he has done wrong, that is worth praising.

“It may have taken him a few days to come out front and tell people what he has done but for him to own up to it, I think that is something we should acknowledge and appreciate.”

Ong also said that they will compensate Merwen for the rehabilitating costs when he returns the plants.

A recent update on Awegallery’s Instagram, showed Merwen meeting with Ong to return the plants that he took where both parties exchanged gifts.

“He popped by to return all our plants and on top of that, he even gave us some plants as a gift.

“We also give him a hot latte and a box of pastries from One Half x Ilaika in return.

“A plant lover, he expressed his apology for taking the plants earlier. We exchanged some views on plant nursing and we became friends.”

“Thank you again and definitely through the conversation we could feel his love for the plants. All good and happy ending,” Awegallery wrote in the post.

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