Rais, Your Cabbies Are Crooks And Scumbags

Hantu Laut

I just returned from Taiwan a week ago and was amazed how fast the country had developed since my last visit there some 30 years ago.

What really impressed me is the cleanliness, functionality and efficiency of the towns and cities, the efficient public transport system and the helpfulness of the Taiwanese people. The country is now as clean and as efficient as Japan was. Everything is spic and span, no touts, no hustlers, no prostitutes and transvestites hanging around street corners and taxis are everywhere. 

In the seventies Taiwan was behind Malaysia and Taipei was one of the fleshpot capitals of the world.Today, the GDP per capita is $38,500.00 and the role has reversed, Kuala Lumpur is becoming the fleshpot of Asia joining the likes of Bangkok and Manila.

If you are a visitor to KL try take an early morning jog along Jalan Bukit Bintang, you be surprised at the array of services available even at  6.30 in the morning. You'll be propositioned by pimps, transvestites, prostitutes and purveyors of massage services of all kind. Not that there is anything wrong with that but its shows we are caught in an economic glum and middle income trap.

The one week I was in Taiwan no taxi driver have tried to cheat or take me for a joy ride to pump up the meter as in my own capital city, Kuala Lumpur.

For all said and done, would I go back to Taiwan? No. it's a country with very little history, except for its National Museum, there were nothing much to see and money and modern technology  has scarred its landscape with miles and miles of elevated highways.

Malaysia is still a beautiful country and among all the states, Sabah is the prettiest of them all.

Here, our Minister of Information, Communication and Culture Rais Yatim is talking through his ass saying our cabbies are our nation's social envoys.He said it was necessary to educate some of out taxi drivers and owners to enable them to have good opinion of things.

Well! Mr Yatim I have many bad things to tell you about your cabbies and certainly have no good opinion of these scumbags.

The trouble with our minister, they talked a lot and do very little to make changes. As far as I am concerned the whole taxi fraternity in this country should be overhauled and revamped and every taxi driver must go to a special school to educate them on the correct social etiquette. They must also have firm knowledge of the geography of the city they work in. At the end of the course they should sit for a written and oral examination to test their aptitude. Only those who passed should be issued with a permit to drive a taxi.

The KL taxi drivers are one of the worst in the world, no lack of deplorable disposition, crooked, crude,  and rude,  giving this country a bad name. 

Just a few days ago an American tourist was robbed and raped by a taxi driver . There have been a number of lady passengers raped by KL taxi drivers and till today the government have not done anything to clamp down on this kind of menace to the public by taxi drivers some of whom are drug addicts and sex fiends.

Here, another nut-case, Chairman of SPAD Syed Hamid Albar urged the public to ensure the taxis they boarded exhibited the driver's name card on the dashboard.

These kind of leaders travelled all over the world but keep their eyes shut. 

In most civilised countries the driver's photo, permit number and other details is prominently displayed behind the backrest of the front seat that allows passenger a close and clear view of the tag.

In Malaysia where donkeys are given the job, a small tag is placed on the dashboard which surely makes it hard for the passenger to make out. Most passengers sit at the back.

To Rais Yatim I must say I have had many bad experiences with KL taxi drivers and most if not all are crooks and scumbags much to be loathed.

Kuala Lumpur is becoming crime capital of the world and run by a mayor and a police chief who take no pride in making their city a clean and safe place for visitors. 

Rais and Hamid Albar, don't just talked, do something concrete to change your fucked up cabbies into humans.

Read below what shame they bring to this country.

Tourist, cabbie in bloody brawl over high fare

I Just Met A Very Racist Chinese !

Yesterday, I arrived KLIA from KK and my wife from Phnom Penh, after visiting our daughter and grandchildren there.My wife's plane arrived 20 minutes earlier 
but she said she would wait for me so we can take the same taxi to our hotel.
Read more.

Kuala Lumpur:Urban Sprawl And Crawl

Hantu Laut

I have written a number of articles about Kuala Lumpur as a growing metropolis particularly the mishmash urban development and its horrendous public transportation system.It has one of the worst taxi services in the world and a limping public transportation system.

To add to its woes, productivity in the service industry is still much to be desired compared to other growing economies in the region.

As a simple measure, go to any fast food chains in KL or anywhere in Malaysia, it's normal to wait 10 minutes before you get your food delivered to you, which loses the very essence of a fast food outlet.Some Chinese and Indian hawker's stalls can serve food much faster than franchise chains like KFC and McDonald. People who goes for fast food either go for the price or they are time constrained.

My KL friends used to laugh at me and think I am talking cock when I say KL is becoming a dysfunctional city.Its ostentatious looks tells a different story. You have to be a world traveller to understand whether a city is fully functional or not and Kuala Lumpur is not one of them.Some American and European cities are not much better.

I used to hate Manila,Jakarta and Bangkok with the terrible macet (traffic jam).I used to do day trip to Bangkok and Jakarta before, go early morning flight, finished doing my business and returned same day to Singapore, where I used to live.

Unless, you have been to many other cities of the world you wouldn't have a clue how to rate a city.The World Bank has came up with a report here deriding KL as a poorly planned and inefficient city due to bad and poor planning.

The haphazard urban sprawl has brought with it the big urban crawl.Bumper to bumper traffic is a common sight in KL.The city planners are not forward looking, lack planning skills, or just couldn't care less.In spite of building more roads and flyovers at great costs they have not been able to resolve the problem.

Malaysia, should change its "five-year" plan policy and look at longer term planning.Five years is too short and infrastructures could be quickly overwhelmed.

A good example of poor foresight is the LCCT in Sepang, which is now at bursting point creating great discomfort to travellers, while the bigger KLIA main terminal is grossly under utilised.Arrived anytime during the day, one would not fail to see there are only MAS aircrafts parked on the tarmac.

Malaysian Airports (MAB) is solely to be blamed for the poor traffic, they have failed miserably, to attract foreign airlines to KLIA with their uncompetitive pricing and lack of facilities.KLIA, must be one of the few airports in the world that has no bars where weary travellers can unwind themselves. The travesty! They sell all kind of alcohol beverages in the duty free store and serve the same on the national carrier.Foreign airlines still prefer Singapore and Bangkok as transit stops.With the type of management running the airport KLIA would continue to stay a ghostly airport.Mahathir's dream of taking away business from Singapore would forever stays a dream.

Kuala Lumpur is also the most pedestrians unfriendly city.Try walking along Bukit Bintang and the multitudes of steps ups and downs that make walking a knee-crunching experience, particularly for the elderly. Take a walk at Orchard Road, Singapore and see the vast difference between the two.It tells a lot about the city planners in both cities.Singapore, has also made its roads, streets and buildings handicap friendly.

KL also have poor maintenance culture.I once went to KL Tower to get aerial view of the city and took some photographs.It's such a disgrace, the glass that surrounds the viewing deck were all dirty, stained, probably never been cleaned since the day it was installed, leaving it to the mercy of the elements.

In anticipation of the big urban migration, Kuala Lumpur should have planned and built its mass transit system some 15 years ago.The excuse given before, if I remember well, was because of high water table the mass transit couldn't go underground, which now appears to be completely untrue.

Although it sits on karstic limestone with high water table there are technology that can do the job available more than a decade ago.Bangkok, suffers from the same phenomenon of high water table but have overcome it and now have in place a fully functional underground network.

The Smart Tunnel completed in 2007 using tunnel boring machines (TBM) was an example of such technology.Now, taxpayers would have to pay more building the mass transit, which, I believe, is again being planned haphazardly.

The first attempt, a politically motivated project and an attempt at bumiputras eugenic engineering was a costly disaster.The government eventually have to take over the STAR and PUTRA transit system which is a far cry from being a true mass transit.

The proposed mass transit would be the most expensive project ever undertaken and probably would suffer many rounds of cost overrun..... Malaysian style.... that put money into the wrong pockets.

Most cities in the region have built their mass transit decades ago.

Seoul completed its first Metro line in 1974, Hong Kong in 1979, Singapore 1987 and Bangkok in 2004. Only Jakarta,Manila and Kuala Lumpur do not have a fully functional mass transit.

It tells you something about Malaysia,Indonesia and the Philippines and the quality of leadership.

Oh my God, a Tiramasu costs RM15!

Hantu Laut

What an idiotic comparisons with complete disregard for economic principles.Ignoring the "basket of consumer goods" that define CPI (Consumer Price Index).

Written by 3 musketeers. A layman's analysis fits for the rubbish bins.

What is the average cost of living of a person of the same criterion in Kuala Lumpur as compare to a person in New York? Without any doubt the guy in New York is better paid than the one in Kuala Lumpur but would the average living cost be the same?

Ask the Kadazan man in New York?

“Oh my God, a Tiramisu is RM15!”

Since when tiramisu has been in the basket of consumer goods? Surely, if you go to a gourmet shop they can charge you through your nose. Blame yourself if you want to show off but are impecunious.

Why not eat goreng pisang which probably more suited to your Asian palate and won't bleed your heart.

A tiramasu by Secret Recipe only costs RM7.50 in Kota Kinabalu.How could KL be more expensive? Calvin Lee, who ever the person is, must have expensive taste but a shallow pocket.

Anyone who earned less than 1,ooo pounds a month in London must have a miserable life and probably live out of a pigeon hole.The waiter who says he can buy all those luxury items he mentioned on a day's salary must have other side income or got his hand in the till.

“GBP100 can feed two apartments of students for a week,” ??

GBP100 would not be enough for my wife and me to have a decent Chinese dinner at a restaurant in London. Those two apartments (I am not sure which mathematical formula used this term) of students must be eating cockroaches for a week.

Let's ponder the statements below:

He gave the example of clothes where he said he can get a good quality shirt for about AUD100 but would need to spend about RM200 to get similar quality in KL.

At current exchange rate AUD100 = RM316 for the shirt means cheaper in KL.

Wong pointed out that even Asian food could be more affordable for those living in Sydney than KL.

“You pay RM15 for a bowl of soup noodles in KL shopping centres but only AUD10 in Sydney shopping centres,” he said.

At current exchange rate AUD10=RM31.60. KL is still cheaper.RM6.50 in Kota Kinabalu

I would not even want to broach the talk why Gucci, Christine Dior, Prada, Chopard, Piaget and all the haute couture for the haute-bourgeoisies and the highbrows are more expensive in KL.If you want to know ask Farah Khan.The business has made her a very rich lady.

Sabahans with money used those branded products some 40 years ago shopping in Singapore and Hong Kong before you KLites even got a sniff of it.They still do and get better deals.That's why you never get those haute couture shops in Sabah.They would close shop because Sabahans won't buy them.

Exactly, that's what they are, for the moneyed and the highbrows, not for people with shallow pockets who should stay away from those names.Try F.O.S. I shop a lot at F.O.S and never felt ashamed of it.

Why blame the government if you decide to live beyond your means.Why should you be buying branded goods if you can't afford it?

Why don't you just stick to shopping at Sungei Wang Plaza and Giant supermarkets where you can stretch your ringgit a long way and live happy ever after.

Kuala Lumpur A Dismal 48th And The Poorest City.

Hantu Laut

I would think, at least, in the top 20, what a disappointment, to be ranked 48th out of 65 global cities and worst, the poorest city by GDP.

Even Jakarta and the horrible Lagos are ahead of KL in term of GDP ???

Betul kah ini survey?

Well, Mr Prime Minister Najib, put on your thinking cap.

We are not only the poorest capital city but the poorest global city.You see I have always say we need minimum wage and here is a survey that confirmed my fear that KL is a dysfunctional city and our GDP sucks.

Read the article here and the ranking here.

Maybe, I should ask my friend Valentine Willie to set up more art galleries and bring more Cats, Dogs and Broadway to sophisticate the city dwellers.

Did I hear someone said "I (not me, the speaker) came from a cultured background" the other night?

Are KL Cabbies Worse Than Dirty Toilets?

Hantu Laut

This is one rare occassion that I agree with Nazri Aziz, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department.

Yes, I agree the cabbies in Kuala Lumpur are more offensive and worse than dirty toilets and he needs not apologise to this bunch of extortionists.I have personal experience, not once, but on many occasions, the uncouth behaviour and crookedness of KL taxi drivers.They are disgrace to the nation.

A report here shows that in spite the recent increase in taxi fare the KL taxi drivers haven't mend their ways.

At least, dirty toilet only stinks, it doesn't cheat you.

I wrote this more than a year ago on one of my visits to Kuala Lumpur.

Hello ! I Live Here Before:A Taste Of KL Taxi Driver's Hospitality

Hantu Laut

A hazy view of downtown KL from KL Tower


In spite of the sky scraping towers and gleaming high rise buildings and ultra modern and civilised looking city, there is an ugly side to this city that most locals were probably not aware of, or chose to ignore.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that KL has one of the worst taxi drivers in the world, even taxi drivers in some less-developed countries are far better mannered than this bunch of loathsome morons.

Be they Malay, Indian or Chinese, they all behaved the same way.The few good ones have become the exception. Cheating, intimidation and rudeness had become trademarks of the profession.

The ill-mannered, crooked and loathsome taxi drivers of Kuala Lumpur would never ceased to cheat, offend and insult you. 

Cheating, refusal to use the meter and rudeness are rampant and well organised.Their intimidating behaviour not only offensive to tourists but also to out of town Malaysian like me. If you looked foreign they think you are a tourist and fair game for ripping-off.

As frontliners they have given the country a scary image and this 'Truly Asian' nation where being polite is part of the culture, is not what it  supposedly is as in Tourism Malaysia's commercial.




In KL if you hail a taxi the driver would first asked you where your are going and would than decide whether to take you, or not, or quote an exorbitant fare to discourage or try cheat you.

If he does take you than the 'Teksi Bermeter' sign atop his car become meaningless, he would not switch on his meter and would try to haggle price with you and more often than not you are the loser.

There are some who would switch on the meter and take you on a joy ride before delivering you to your destination.That's what happened to my wife and I a couple of days ago.

We boarded a taxi at Sungei Wang Plaza and asked the driver to take us to our apartment at the Ascott near Mandarin Oriental Hotel, a good walking distance if one dare attempt a walk in the blazing afternoon sun. Instead of going straight down Jalan Tun Ismail my crooked taxi driver thinking we are foreign tourists decided to turn into the jammed Jalan Bukit Bintang.

Realising what he was trying to do I asked him in Malay why he took this road instead of going straight down Sultan Ismail and turned right into Jalan P.Ramlee which was much nearer.... his answer was he wouldn't be able to make a turn to our place from Tun Ismail. I almost shouted you bloody moron! You think I am a fool! I decided to keep my silence and see what he does next.

Upon sensing my annoyance he decided to turn into a back lane, the infamous red light 'lorong' (lane) of Bukit Bintang that connects with Jalam Imbi.

The idiot had taken us full circle back to where we first started at Jalan Sultan Ismail and went straight down to Jalan P.Ramlee and finally on to Jalan Pinang to our apartment.He did exactly what he should have done in the first place.

Three days earlier my daughter, her husband and two of my grandchildren came over from Phnom Penh to join us for a family holiday and wanted to take a taxi from Modesto at Jalan P.Ramlee to KLCC, which is a five-minute walk, but since it was raining they decided to take a cab.

If there is anything more absurd and one that can make your blood boil is the sheer uncalled for rudeness and uncouth behaviour.The driver wanted RM20 for the short journey but my daughter refused to board his taxi. Guess what come next? He made a scene shouting at the top of his voice and giving some vulgar signs at my daughter.

One evening my wife and I was going to dinner at one of the restaurants at Starhill and instead of driving the car loaned to us by my brother-in-law, we decided it would be more convenient to take a cab and asked the doorman to get us one.We boarded the taxi having forgotten our previous experience. The driver told us it's RM15 and that quickly brought me to my senses and this time I actually shouted at the driver to stop for us to disembark.He unhappily reduced the price to RM5. We weren't ready what come next.The reduced fare turned into reckless driving trying to intimidate us with violent swinging of the vehicle whizzing through traffic to ensure us a most uncomfortable ride. I almost wanted to break the bastard's neck, if only I could without getting into trouble with the law.

The government minister advising passengers to note down details of errant taxi drivers and asking them to lodge report is as many have found out, a waste of time, nothing will come out of it.

Refusal to allow increase in taxi fare which taxi drivers have been asking for repeatedly but denied by the authority was the reason for the nasty and crooked behaviour of taxi drivers and in retaliation taxi drivers gang-up to show their displeasure by fleecing their passengers.

Across the causeway a taxi driver could face serious action including losing his licence if he refused to stop (except changing shift) to pick up passengers.

There, the government not only talked business, they also meant business.