PENANG — It pays to be on time. Arriving late to claim her prize in a lucky draw event, a Malaysian woman missed the chance to win a BMW car.

Unwilling to let the opportunity slide, she then kicked up a fuss with the event’s organisers in front of the crowd, as seen on footage online.  

The incident, which took place on Tuesday (Dec 19) at a carnival at the Pavilion Bandar Perda in Penang, was captured in a video by TikTok user “Hang.pi.mana”.

In the video, a middle-aged woman is seen hurrying towards the stage with what appears to be a lucky draw ticket in her hand. The two hosts can be heard repeatedly telling the woman that her win has been forfeited but she continues to approach them. 

An argument then ensues in front of the crowd.

One of the hosts Fariz Azri Choii, who was also the online personality and entrepreneur behind the giveaway, said: “We’ve been calling your number for a long time. We can’t (give you the prize), sister.”

The hosts had called out the winning number several times and waited for about 10 minutes before deciding to disqualify the winner for failing to show up, Malaysia's Chinese newspaper Sin Chew Daily reported.

The woman can be seen in the video defiantly shaking her head and showing her winning ticket to the hosts in protest.

The crowd then begins to jeer at her, expressing agreement that the grand prize — a BMW 3 Series F30 — should no longer be awarded to her.   

Despite this, she continues to insist that the car is hers to claim, prompting Mr Fariz to offer her RM1,000 (S$286) instead as a consolation prize.

She rejects his offer. 

Officers from the Malaysian Volunteer Corps Department (RELA) are seen stepping in as the situation escalates further.

WOMAN BROKE THE RULES

The hosts continued to calmly reason with the woman and upon speaking with her further, discovered that she is the mother of one of the carnival’s participating merchants.

The rules of the lucky draw stated that immediate family members of carnival merchants were prohibited from taking part. The woman’s win was thereby automatically rendered void.

Despite this, Mr Fariz apologised and repeated his offer of RM1,000.

It is unclear from the TikTok video how the issue was resolved.

Some viewers expressed sympathy for the woman, saying that it was just “not her luck”.

One user quipped: “Seven generations of her descendants will talk about how she almost won a BMW F30.”

Other online users criticised the woman for acting out and claimed that she should be thankful for even receiving the consolation money.

One said: “You violated the rules but still want to wail over there.”

Another wrote: “Even receiving RM1,000 is considered a blessing. This woman does not know how to be grateful.”

A handful of people, however, questioned why the prize was forfeited if her number had already been announced as the winner.

To address the chatter online, Mr Fariz released a TikTok video on Wednesday to explain the rationale behind the decision and emphasised that the situation with the woman had been resolved amicably.