M’sian man working in S’pore returns wallet with S$400 to fellow foreign worker

Malaysian working in Singapore returns wallet containing S$400 to fellow foreign worker

A Malaysian man working in Singapore drew praise recently after he returned a wallet containing more than S$400 and a work permit.

He had posted about the wallet online, and once its rightful owner was found, had refused any monetary reward.

Upon the owner’s insistence, he eventually accepted a nominal sum, which he said he’ll use to buy a cup of tea.

Malaysian found wallet with more than S$400 at Changi Business Park

Last Wednesday (21 Feb), Zimmy Peter Bagang was at Changi Business Park and about to head home to Johor Bahru (JB) when a shiny object on a bench caught his eye.

Upon closer inspection, he realised it was the zip of a wallet. He opened it to find S$482.50 worth of cash.

In an interview with mStar, Mr Zimmy said he stashed the wallet in his backpack as he was in a rush to get home.

Later that night, he reopened the wallet to find out who the owner might be, and found a work permit.

The next morning, he posted his find in the ‘Malaysia-Singapore Border Crossers (MSBC)’ Facebook group, believing it was the fastest way to find the wallet’s owner.

A little more than half an hour later, a friend of the wallet’s owner had gotten in touch with him.

Malaysian was able to return wallet containing S$400 to owner within same day of posting

Subsequently, Mr Zimmy got the owner’s phone number from his friend and began liaising with him.

By 4.15pm that same day, he had successfully met up with Mr Wang, the wallet’s owner, and returned his possession to him.

In a follow-up post shared in the aforementioned Facebook group, Mr Zimmy thanked all netizens involved in helping to locate the owner.

He also shared that Mr Wang had offered him “some amount of money” as a gesture of appreciation.

While Mr Zimmy declined, Mr Wang was insistent.

In the end, Mr Zimmy relented and agreed to accept two coins — a nominal sum that came up to S$2.

“Enough for me to buy (teh) tarik.” he wrote.

Netizens praised his good deed, with many giving him the thumbs up and wishing others were more like him.

Not the first time Malaysian has helped others find their lost items

As it turns out, this was not the first time Mr Zimmy had helped reunite a wallet with its owner.

A look at his previous posts in the Facebook group reveals that he found yet another wallet in March last year at Woodlands Checkpoint.

According to mStar, he was able to find the owner and pass it back to him a few hours after posting.

A few months after that, he came across someone’s Autopass Card at the Woodlands Checkpoint LTA Office.

However, it is unclear if he managed to get the card back to its rightful owner.

Reflecting on this recent wallet incident, he says his hope is for everyone to be honest and responsible in returning lost items to their owners as quickly as possible.

“Life is a mystery. If we do a good deed for others today, others may do the same for us the day after tomorrow.” he said.

Read more: 12-year-old girl gets lost in Geylang after missing bus stop, man helps her board correct ride home

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Featured image adapted from Malaysia-Singapore Border Crossers(MSBC) on Facebook and Zimmy Bin Peter Bagang on Facebook.