Why did The Star not publish my letter?

As long term readers will know, I have had quite a few letters published in Malaysian newspapers. I have raised many issues in their pages, usually on various social issues, of some kind. A few weeks ago, I sent The Star (of Malaysia), the letter below. It was never published. The question is: why? The contents are socially helpful and would, if acted on, change Malaysia, for the better. Yet, someone, at The Star, preferred silence on the issue. The letter follows:

Malaysian taxi drivers lack road knowledge.

In London, licensed taxi drivers have to pass a special exam, called The Knowledge. This involves learning 320 routes through London and the location of every single landmark and place of interest within a six mile radius of Charing Cross. A London Black Cab driver never gets lost, never fails to know the way and gets the customer to their destination every time. Malaysian drivers, however, are a rather different breed. Many of them seem to have no knowledge of Kuala Lumpur at all.

Recently, I have become accustomed to taxi drivers not being able to find their way, to a well known location, in Kuala Lumpur – even if they are parked only a couple of kilometres away. I sometimes have to ask four or five drivers, before I can find one who knows the way, even though the road I am asking them to go to, is a main one. It seems that people are starting to drive cabs, without any detailed knowledge of Kuala Lumpur’s roads. This should simply not be allowed.

Sometimes, drivers pretend to know where somewhere is, just to get the fare. However, part way into the journey, it becomes clear that the driver is lost and has no clue where to go. How can this be called a “taxi service”? If Malaysia is ever to be considered a developed country, it must have a developed transport system – and taxis are part of that.

The solution is simple. Taxi drivers in Malaysia, should have to learn, in detail, every road, every route, every landmark and place of interest, in the bounds of the city or area in which they are licensed, before they are ever allowed to drive a cab. Furthermore, if a cab driver gets lost – or pretends to be lost – they should have no right to charge the customer, for the unaccountably long journey. Were these suggestions to be implemented, Malaysia would finally have a taxi service that meets the customers’ needs. Incidentally, it would also leave a much better impression on foreign visitors, who, at present, can only conclude that there is something incompetent about Malaysia’s taxi services. Is that the impression Malaysia wants to give, to the world?

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The elasticity of time and space.

It is a little known fact, that Malaysian taxis are, in fact, time machines. They are able to stretch and compress time and space, at will. All you have to do, to show this, is to book a cab...and then very strange journeys become possible.

The other day, I had the chance to test the time travelling properties of a Malaysian taxi. We made the same journey between the same two end points, in two different taxis, in two different circumstances. The results could not have been more different. On the outward journey, the meter was running. This journey took a LONG time. The total cost for the journey was 11 Ringgits.

Now, here is the interesting part. On the way back, I had to use a "government controlled" pre-paid taxi service. This is a curiously Malaysian inconvenience in which one has to pay for the taxi in advance. The most inconvenient part about this is that, invariably, the fares are much higher than they should be. Somewhere along the line I see "government tax" written all over this service. I was charged 14 Ringgits 50 cents for my pre-paid ticket. Now, imagine my surprise when the return journey took about ONE THIRD of the time of the outward bound journey. When the driver was not working on the meter, but was working for a prepaid amount, he took the shortest route back. That route happened to be three times shorter than the outward journey. However, note it was more expensive than the longer route, owing to the price gouging of the government controlled taxi service.

So, the lesson here is that, often, a Malaysian driver will only take the optimal route if he is on a fixed sum for the journey. If the journey is on a meter he will invent the longest route possible. We "enjoyed" one fine example of this phenomenon once, when we took a cab to a new place we had never been to before. The journey distance was about 17 and a half kilometres. We thought it rather far but had no idea how far it should be - so we duly paid the driver. On our way back, we had a different cab driver. Guess what the journey distance was? Just over four kilometres. We were appalled to see by how much we had been conned.

Malaysia is a beautiful country - but it suffers from poor transport infrastructure. One of the poorest aspects of that infrastructure, is the presence of dishonest drivers. There are just too many drivers willing to take a foreigner, like me, on a scenic tour of KL every time we want to pop down the road. Mind you, this is not a uniquely Malaysian problem since I was sometimes cheated in this way, in Singapore, too. Yet, not all drivers are dishonest. It is because of the honest ones that I get the chance to make route comparisons and come to realize when I have been conned...though usually too late to do anything about it.

So, if you are visiting Malaysia, just remember this: the cab you get into might just be a time machine, and the journey length could be anything up to four or five times the correct length. The best bet is to have checked a map first, so that you know where to go and how long it should take. Then make it clear to the driver that you know what's what: only then can you be sure of not being cheated in a Malaysian taxi. Happy travelling!

Another great Singaporean Taxi Driver.

Today, we had another great Singaporean taxi driver experience. It was just the kind of experience that you hope visitors don't run into.

We booked a cab around lunchtime. After about five minutes the phone rang to announce that the cab, SHB 2214 (and one letter I didn't notice...I think a B, on the end, but can't be sure), had arrived. We got our things together and went down after a couple of minutes.

When we got into the cab, my wife noticed that the meter had obviously been running for awhile, since it had clocked beyond the starting point.

"Why has the meter been running, before we got in?", she asked, quietly of the driver who hadn't turned to look at us.

"I can start it when I call you.", he snapped, a little too forcefully.

"No you can't. That's against the rules." I countered, firmly.

"Why you take SO long, huh?", he said, his voice rising even further.

"We sometimes have to wait a long time for a cab.", Syahidah pointed out.

"Never mind sometimes," he began, attacking each word, "I was here early."

"I am not comfortable...", Syahidah began.

"Yes. Let's find another driver who is not such a jerk.", I continued.

We all got out.

I went back home to call another cab. I tried another company, at first -but they had no cabs. So, I had to resort to trying Comfort Delgro again.

The cab booking came through very quickly - as soon as I had put the request in. "SHB 2214..." said the booking service. I recognized his cab number at once. It was very clear what he was doing: he was blocking my desire to get another cab by picking up the booking himself, as soon as it appeared. (I later found out from my wife that he didn't drive away, he just parked up, very near our home, waiting for me to call the cab service.)

This was getting unpleasant. When I called for another cab, he was blocking all other drivers from taking the job, by picking it up himself, despite our argument with him.

I had to call the operator and specifically put in a disrequest for that driver. She cancelled him and gave me another cab. I explained that he had started the meter, in advance, apparently when he called us to say he had arrived. She told me that he wasn't supposed to do that.

In all, it was not a good experience. His actions made us feel harrassed - particularly when he began to interfere with our desire to get another driver. He was rude, aggressive, dishonest - and slightly mad. Sadly, he is not even unique among Singaporean drivers.

I am left to wonder what happens when a complaint is made against a driver. Is anything done, at all? Is there a disciplinary procedure? Observing the number of dishonest or unpleasant drivers on the roads, I rather feel that nothing is being done. As long as the drivers pay the taxi company their daily fee for the cab, I rather think the taxi firm doesn't really care how they behave. At least, there is no evidence of an improvement in taxi driver behaviour over the years.

When I call a cab, I expect an efficient, knowledgeable, polite and helpful driver to turn up. I don't expect a deranged and hostile man to turn up instead.

Would it not be better for the taxi firms to cancel the licenses of all such drivers, once they are identified through customer complaints?

Interestingly, I have never had such unpleasant experiences with taxi drivers in any other country I have visited. By comparison to most nations, Singaporean drivers are just not professional at all. They don't know where they are going - but they sure know how to cheat the customer. It is time for such practices to be outlawed.

As for us: we are gradually being persuaded of the wisdom of having our own car. Then we won't have to bother with irascible, unpleasant, dishonest taxi drivers ever again. At least, that is an answer we can control - and one that doesn't require the taxi firms to think of the customer before their corporate profits (which Singaporean companies just never do.)

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