Gutsy pixman climbs 1 Sentrum to place Ramadan greeting

KUALA LUMPUR: A Facebook status to wish Muslims a Happy Ramadan would probably have sufficed but not for a gutsy local photographer, who scaled the 1 Sentrum tower in KL Sentral on Sunday afternoon to present his greetings.

The "Spiderman" was later detained by police after reaching the top of the 33-storey tower at about 3pm.

Speaking to The Star on the condition of anonymity, the photographer said his deadly, thrill-seeking hobby began with mountain climbing, but claimed he found scaling skyscrapers safer.

"I'm used too it but mountains are dangerous. Buildings are easier, because their structure is fixed, I can control where I go on it," he said on Monday.

"But what if you fall down?" he was asked, to which he laughingly replied, "Then I die-lah! But I am very confident that will not happen."

The photographer began scaling its ladder-like facade at about 2.30pm.

He said he chose the tower because he had heard some foreigners were planning to scale it too, adding that a Malaysian should be the first to climb it.

He was dressed in sandals, a black shirt and pants, and had no harness or safety equipment with him.

All he carried was a camera, a Malaysian flag and pieces of paper with Ramadan greetings on it.

The crowd at 1 Sentrum looking up at the climber Photo by L.H Teng

"They were written by friends. One said Happy Ramadan, another was a message for Playboy bunny Felixia Yeap, welcoming her to Islam.

“Another friend wrote a message to his three children, wishing them all the best in their exams.

"I was going to take pictures of the messages and wave the flag as a way of wishing people a good fasting month when I reached the top, but I didn't have time," he said.

As he climbed, intricately stepping and hoisting himself up on the horizontal and vertical metal bars, the photographer said he started hearing gasps from a group of taxi drivers below him.

"Then as I got higher the employees inside the building saw me outside their window. They looked so confused! I think they thought I was a maintenance worker or something!

"Then they started coming to the window just to see what I was doing," he said.

When he was halfway through, an auxiliary policeman frantically peered his head out of one of the windows and asking the him to come inside, instead the photographer replied that it would be easier for them to arrest him after he had reached the roof and continued climbing.

A bigger crowd began to gather around the tower as people cheered and clapped when the 26-year-old annexed to the top of the building and waved around the Malaysian flag he had tucked in his pocket.

"After that the police detained me and took me to the Travers police station.

“They treated me nice.

“We chatted about my climb, some took pictures with me and I exchanged contacts with the officers.

"I expected it already," he said, adding that he was questioned and later released at around 3.30am Monday.