When hailing a taxi in Malaysia…
Aug 20th, 2007 by Clare
It is another working day for modern slaves out there. Start your day with the following prayer please, I know many of you need this:“Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I cannot accept, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I have to kill today because they piss me off. Also help me to be careful of the toes that I step on today as they may be connected to the ass that I have to kiss tomorrow. Amen.”
I have always wanted to blog about this particular topic but did not know from which angle should I attack. Fate has it that something in the news today gave me the inspiration to bitch blog about it.
Check this out:
Canadian teen fends off attack by cabbies
KUALA LUMPUR: When the taxi driver he hailed refused to use the meter, a Canadian decided against using the taxi. For doing so, the driver and three others attacked him with batons and bamboo sticks.
Those living and frequented KL will find the situation very familiar. I am not from KL, mind you but I have been living in KL long enough to experience all sorts of Malaysia-Boleh attitude every day! Yes, I am talking about Malaysian taxi drivers here. An ugly encounter with them would traumatize you for life. But you need a few encounters with the unscrupulous taxi drivers to be wiser.
When you hail a taxi, one of these usually takes place:
- At the taxi stand at The Curve
Me: Damansara Perdana
Taxi driver: Sepuluh!
Me: Mahal lah! Takpa lah!And I walked off! That was daylight robbery, man! Even if I take the midnight charge also will not come up to RM10.
- Same situation as No.1
Taxi driver: Lima ringgit!
Me: Takpa lah!And I walked off. 10 meters later, the taxi driver honked at me and waved me over. He switched on the meter as I opened the door. When I reached Damansara Perdana, the meter showed RM2.70 BUT the taxi driver said: “Tiga ringgit boleh(?)” more like a demand than a request. I gave him RM2.70, no more, no less and ran off after saying a polite “Thank you” before he could open his stinky mouth and protested!
- At the taxi stand opposite Kelana Jaya LRT station
Alvin: Damansara Perdana
Taxi driver: [nodded his head and switched on the meter]5 minutes later…
Taxi driver: Boss, you tahu tak charge taxi hari Ahad double!
Alvin: Ye ke?
Taxi driver: Ya, ini pagi I baca paper. Harga NGV naik oh. So taxi charge ini hari semua double.
Alvin: Harga NGV naik?
Taxi driver: Betul boss! I baca paper tiap tiap hari oh!
Me: (thinking) Yeah, right! Paper tahun lepas kah you baca?I smelled something fishy about the Indian taxi driver already.
Alvin: Betul kah?
Taxi driver: Banyak orang tak tau lagi oh. I pun baru bagitau itu saya punya kawan tadi.
Me: (to Alvin) He is cheating lah!
Alvin: I know…When we reached Damansara Perdana, the meter showed RM9.60!!! WTF!!!
Me: (to Alvin) Wei, usually only RM7.00 plus right? His meter run very fast leh!
Alvin: (to me) Never mind, I got his car plate number already!
Alvin: Berapa?
Taxi driver: RM9 tambah RM9, lapan belas!That bastard taxi driver! We googled and read the news for that day, nothing was mentioned about the NGV price increase at all! We had been ROBBED!!!
- At the taxi stand at The Curve at 11.30pm (not midnight YET!)
Alvin: Damansara Perdana
Taxi driver: LapanWe just took the taxi anyway as all the taxi at The Curve area are slaughtering customers as usual. Usually it costs not more than RM3 to get from The Curve to Damansara Perdana and vice versa. Oh, and we noted the plate number of that taxi.
- Hailing a taxi across the road at Damansara Perdana
Me: The Curve
Taxi driver: (shake his head and drove off)
Me: F*CKER!!! @#$%^&*!!!Excuse me? It is your job to fetch me to the place that I wanted to go. And in return, I pay you for that service. It is your responsibility. We, the customer, choose you, not you choose us! Does the pilot of Malaysia Airline choose his passenger? Does the pilot of Air Asia do that as well? It is our rights to choose whether we want to fly with Malaysia Airline or Air Asia, isn’t it? And we do not fly for free, do we?
- Opened the door of a taxi parked somewhere opposite BB Plaza, Bukit Bintang
Alvin: Pudu Raya
Taxi driver: Sepuluh
Alvin: (close the door and walked off)
And the RAREST of them all, the honest taxi driver:
- From situation No.6, another taxi driver happened to drive by and saw us. The Malay man stopped his taxi and waved us over.
Alvin: Pudu Raya
Taxi driver: (switched on his meter) Kenapa? Dia orang tak pergi ke?
Alvin: Pergi. Tapi mereka mau sepuluh ringgit!
Taxi driver: Bodoh punya!
Alvin: Yalah! Bodoh!
Taxi: Dekat saja mau potong sepuluh ringgit. Bodoh!When we reached Pudu Raya, the meter showed RM2.30! And the honest taxi driver got RM3.00!
I don’t mind giving more to taxi drivers who are honest. If they are honest, why not? If they intent rob the daylight out of me, forget it!
I have been wise ever since. If the taxi driver is making an honest living like everyone else, I think there are a lot of generous souls out there will not mind giving them tips. As for the unscrupulous taxi drivers out there, what the hell are you installing and renting the meter in your taxi for if your intention is to slaughter customers in the first place? You might just as well go and fuck yourself operate kereta sapu business then!
I do believe in reward and retribution a.k.a. karma. Therefore, do unto others how you want others to do unto you. And these unscrupulous taxi drivers are thinking that they could get away with murder that easily? I have noted all the plate number of taxis that are not following the law - over-charging and not using meters - and I am going to report them all to LPKP. I’ll have their lisence suspended and put them out of business! *evil laughter* Call me an asshole, but someone has to do the dirty job, no?
So much for the We-shit Malaysia Year! LPKP, are you doing your job? You people haven’t monitored The Curve area…something ought to be done man!
Welcome to Malaysia!
Yeah, welcome to Malaysia!
Still got hope! 
I really dulang all those fellas, that’s why i hate Taxi so much in KL! Rather take bus! But, some taxi drivers are really good! U know, honest and polite sumore!
God bless them honest and polite ones…
that’s the beauty of our country…
Yeah, only in Malaysia…..
Same for me, I’m willing to give RM1 more for the honest driver. Which those robbery ar… Last time ho…
Me: Millennium?
Taxi: Lima belas! (Normally with meter only RM7)
Me: (Close door leave)
Taxi: Eh, kawan, itu biasa la… Sudah malam (10pm, but 5 mins drive only)… (Suddenly all taxi drivers came to me)
Me: (Keep silence)
Tax: Kawan, memang RM15 la… Sudah malam, kita pun susah mau cari makan ni…
Me: (Wave in front of them, bus came)
Cannot la… Government mana ada ambik perhatian nie? Diorang pun main main la…
Smart lah you! Luckily they did not bash you up like the Canadian in the news today hoh…
At least in KL there are still some taxis using meter. Try JB and see. Count yourself lucky if you can get one that charge the ’standard’ quoted rate.
Are you serious? May be you could tell us more about it…
time to invest in a car…
You invest the money, I get the car…no problem…
Hahahah!
Is my comment confusing? Maybe or…haha
Basically, meter is as good as non-existent. Some donkey years ago, they tried to implement. As usual, ‘hangat-hangat tahi ayam’.
They use god-also-got-confused rates. There are certain ’standard’ rates between locations. But, that depends on traffic condition, demand, driver’s mood, passenger’s look, and etc. If one look like a tourist and have no idea of the ’standard’ rate for a particular trip, someone will be very happy (and that person is not you).
Before you go there, always find out the ’standard’ rates for places you wanna go. Even if you don’t know the rate, act confidently. Ask before you board, NOT after you board! If the driver hesitate to answer before you board, you know what he’s up to.
It’s like a real jungle. Not sure if my 2cents still relevant though…haha
Now, I think they toned down a bit. Not as arrogant and aggressive but over-charging continues. This is the only ‘good thing’ when business gone kaput. That place is no longer buzzing like before. Sad to see how JB with so much potential can be mismanaged like that.
Cool! Thanks for sharing!
aiya..typo…first line should be….Maybe hor
without the ‘h’ sounded as not my mistake….haha
In KL, I never take taxi. I would rather take LRT. The trains don’t cheat, do there?
But then hor, there are places that the LRT do not go, like Damansara area…
Hi Clare,
A very interesting topic to talk about. I bet most KL lites know about it and what more to say those foreigners who are cheated alive…. Well, that’s is a very uncommon kinda cases. However, as a Malaysian I am really touched by what was happening to our PEOPLE. I don’t care how much they cheat people. I don’t give a single shit on how they cheat foreigners. But, what do I care is MALAYSIANS especially those taxi drivers out there…are getting out of hands. Their attitudes and actions are trully immoral and it is a shame to have such idiots driving around and slaughtering people alive. Well, LPKP is there all the time but like I told you guys long time ago…there are there but lets pretend that they are not there. This so called authority is nothing but a piece of name with lots of shitty things on it. I guess not only bus drivers who need to go through all this crappy inspections but also those taxi drivers too. Are we still waiting for the next most tragic taxi accident to happen then only we care to check their asses..? Well, it is not me to tell… they know…and they should know that by now. Shameless and inconsiderate people will get their payback one day….
Ramon
Yupe, karma…
Typical Malaysian, only will do something when something tragic happened and lives are lost.