PETALING JAYA: Nothing can stop a diehard fan. He woke up as early as anyone else to get his hands on the latest Harry Potter book, but disabled Melvin Tong in his stroller had to endure the ugly side of Malaysians when the Borders bookstore here opened its shutters.
With the crowd outside not organised in queues, Melvin, 22, had to fight off shoving and pushing fans trying to get to the front of the line.
As soon as the shutters opened at 7.01am, the crowd surged under the shutters “commando” style with some parents egging their children on.
The lack of courtesy led to yelling and threats. The management finally let Melvin in with intervention from an anonymous bystander.
Melvin, his twin brother Kelvin and friend Goh Kel Li had waited in line since 5.30am but only got the book at 7.45am. They even had to catch a cab when their car broke down on their way to the bookstore.
Despite the earlier drama, Melvin good-naturedly posed for the cameras and granted a short interview. “I’m a huge fan of Harry Potter and I hope that J.K. Rowling would have a Book 8, but I guess that all good things must come to an end,” said Melvin, whose favourite character is Harry.
“My favourite characters are Fred and George Weasley because we have something in common; we’re all twins!” quipped his twin brother Kelvin.
Borders general manager Janice Yong said:
“Many people came to buy their Book 7 here because of the little community environment. It’s the Harry Potter experience,” adding that this meant many fans would come dressed in robes, Dementor costumes and Hogwarts school uniforms.
Meanwhile at the Kinokuniya Bookstore in Suria KLCC, the rush for free copies of the book for the first 13 people too turned nasty as people discovered even more hardcore fans ahead of them.
“The main entrance of KLCC only opens at 5.15AM and when we went in, we were shocked to find 10 people already ahead. Somehow, by some miracle they had managed to get in earlier. I don’t think it’s fair,” said New Sin Yew, 20.
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