Bersih Cekap Amanah Or Something Like That Lah

i want to relay an incident that happened to me recently. it was about 2 a.m, and i’d just finished watching a midnight movie with my brothers at Mid Valley. as usual, the ‘midnight charge’ touter cabbies were already parked at the South Court, grouping together for a smoke while waiting for people to rip-off.

my brothers and i take cabs ALL the time, and we’ve seen our fair share of rip-off cabbies who charge you a fare that’s triple of what it would usually cost to get you home, so we don’t deign to contribute to the pocket money of such touts. so we walked out to the street to hail a cab as we normally do, while ignoring the touts who were hollering ‘pergi mana? pergi mana?’ (where are you going?) at us.

but one of them actually approached us to ask where we wanted to go, and when we told him where, he quoted us an exorbitant price of RM 40. we shook our heads and said we would only take his cab if he used the meter.

and he said OKAY.

pleasantly surprised, we got into the cab and he drove us off. Tall Brother started telling us in Cantonese that this guy must be up to no good, because he was way too eager to use the meter, which would normally come up to only RM 12. i replied back that he must have rigged his meter, but even so, the price difference probably wouldn’t be too big.

but guess what? by the time we were halfway home, the meter already read RM 30. keep in mind that after midnight, there is an extra 50% charge on whatever is on the meter. we were just watching the meter go up and up and up with raised eyebrows. finally, my brother said, ‘hey bro, why your meter like that?’ and the cabbie gave some stupid reply like his meter was working perfectly well.

then i said, ‘you’re a cheat’.

and that sparked off a HUGE argument between me and the cabbie. we were just YELLING at each other the whole time. he actually had pretty decent english, so it wasnt like we couldn’t communicate. i kept asserting that we KNOW how much it costs because we go home from MV all the time, and it’s never more than RM 15. he had absolutely no defense for himself, so he started attacking us personally, saying things like - ‘you’re rich kids anyway, what’s the fuss over an extra ten bucks here and there? just ask your daddy for the money lah’. and that really got me riled up because this cabbie knows NOTHING about us, but saw it fit to make dumb comments like that when he was blatantly making a living from conning others. so we argued argued and argued and exchanged many vicious remarks, until he finally said -

“okay, if you want to keep accusing me of rigging my meter, let’s bring this to the police station”.

i said, okay let’s go. we will take no shit from conman cabbies who are a disgrace to the entire service industry of the country.

and then guess what he said to me? he LAUGHED, and he said, “think properly before you make such a decision, girl. if we went to the police station, who do you think the police will help? you or me? you ni orang cina saja; aku siapa tau tak?. (you’re only chinese, do you know who i am?)”

i just sat back and said, ‘just drive to the police station’, but deep down inside i knew what he said was true. he would bring us to the station, and then what? was i to lodge a report? i knew without a doubt that we would be put through some nonsense paperwork, and then get jeered at, and then be told to walk home. all this while the cabbie gets a manly round of handshakes and pats on the back from the cops at the station. my report will go nowhere, and that disgusting cabbie will go on to rip off and take advantage of many, many more people.

because the cops let him do it.

so yes, this is not a blog about the scores of rip-off cab drivers in our city that choose to make a dishonest living. this is a blog about the police force of our country, and how they are a no-good, corrupt, unprincipled and lazy force that have SO MUCH to do before they can start calling rightfully calling themselves the keepers of law and peace.

the cabbie eventually didn’t bring us to the police station (*rolls eyes*) because he claimed he didnt want to embarrass us. if he had actually brought us there, the experience wouldnt have been embarrassing, but INFURIATING. i know i only made an assumption on what would happen, but believe me when i say that i’ve witnessed how the cops can be extremely racist and lazy when people go in to make reports, and how oftentimes they help the people on the wrong side without so much as batting an eyelid.

my mother, who was MUGGED a few years back, was laughed at when she went in to make a report. she was told by the police that she had it coming, because it was her fault for carrying so much money around. exact words - “auntie… you punya pasal lah… kenapa nak bawa duit banyak banyak?”. this obviously made my mother very angry, and she told them that as law enforcers, they should be out there trying to prevent more crime cases from happening instead of telling victims of muggers that ‘it’s their fault and that they had it coming’. and then you know what they told her?

they told her to ‘balik tongsan’. (go back to china)

my aunt who was robbed by a cab driver, and another aunt and another cousin who were victims of snatch theft received similar treatment when they went in to lodge a report. i’m sure many of you have faced the same things too. and it’s not just the chinese and indians and dan lain lains who’re affected by the inefficiencies of our police, but even malays who go in to lodge reports are treated with laziness and pure indifference. so this is something that’s beyond racism. it is simply a total lack of concern and sense of duty.

i truly and wholly believe that the duty and responsibility of the police is to take care of the people of Malaysia. that means everyone from the top brass right down to the commoners on the streets. but what happens in a corrupt and insecure government regime is that even the law enforcers (along with the judiciary!) are crafted out to be on their side, even if this means going against the people and harming them if necessary. case in point - Hindraf rallies and all subsequent police vs people events. i was so nauseated when i saw videos of the police dragging and beating innocent people up, and then later on in the newspapers read how some oh-so-valiant cop sustained some minor arm and head injury in the line of duty while ‘attempting to disperse illegal and violent rioters’. and not to mention the Hindraf supporters who are currently being charged for attempted murder against a cop.

PLEASE LAH OKAY. what is it about the PDRM badge and some fancy uniform that gives them the right to attack civilians - who are merely VOICING THEIR RIGHTS - and injure them, and then get off scot free for it? i think our police seriously need to start thinking about the principles behind their job and to reassess who they really should be protecting.

even on the social scale, i will be completely honest in saying that i dont trust our police officers at all. they dont make me feel safe, and i dont feel like they will help me in a situation of danger or need. and i’m very VERY sure i’m not alone in saying this. how many of you have been stopped by cops on the road and then asked for bribes? (i have a lovely story of a friend who was driving a couple of indian friends in the car : they were all stopped at a roadblock on the day of the huge Hindraf rally, and were ASKED FOR A BRIBE if they ‘didnt want any trouble’. wtf?? they were just going to Bangsar for banana leaf rice for goodness’ sake!!!) how many of you have lodged a report only to have your situation made light of by the very people who are supposed to be taking your case seriously and trying their very best to solve it? how many of you would worry that our cops would punch you in the face if you tried to argue with them? how many of you girls have had your legs leered at lecherously by male cops from the windows of their patrol cars?

i’ll tell you what my very worst experience with the cops are. someone very, very close to me was detained for 10 days in the lock-up two years ago in a huge mix-up. we visited her almost every day at Pudu Jail, bringing food and toiletries because omg you CANNOT IMAGINE what the conditions of the lock-ups are like. but we weren’t allowed to bring her the food and other stuff unless we bribed the wardens and the cops stationed there. and that is a HUGE amount of money if everyone there wants RM 50 minimum. a few times we actually did give them the money out of desperation, but we later found out that the stuff never reached her. they just fucking threw it away because they couldnt be bothered to send someone to search for her cell and pass her the stuff.

because we cant be parting with thousands of dollars just to see our friend every day, we later formulated a better idea. we brought buckets of KFC to the lock-up as bribe, just so long as they passed a few pieces to our friend during mealtimes. oh but of course they neglected to do this. when we confronted them the next day, they flatly told us there simply wasnt enough KFC to go around. they also said that there’s nothing that we can do anyway if they didnt pass on the food, because OOH, it is ILLEGAL for outsiders to pass things to people inside the lock-up! wow suddenly all this concern with the law eh.

this episode really opened my eyes to the blatant corruption that takes place in our police force. even when we went to Bukit Aman to try to sort out the paperwork, we were met with inquiry after inquiry as to ‘what we were willing to do’ to get our friend out of the lock-up. it was disgusting, it really was. when our friend was finally released from the lock-up after the whole mess was sorted out, i quietly told the rudest cop there that i would report everything that he and the other officers had said and done. he laughed and said, ‘report only lah. who would you report to?’ and it’s true. who do i report to? the cops? the ACA? no wonder he laughed.

more and more of my friends are studying abroad and never coming back. why? i ask them, and they tell me it’s because they can’t stand Malaysia anymore. they’re all going to Singapore and Australia. i remember one time in Melbourne when i was about eight years old and walking around St Kilda’s alone, a lovely police officer came up to me and asked if i was lost, where my parents were, if i had come out alone, what my name was. when i went back to my parents, the first thing i said was, ‘why in Malaysia dont have police wan?’

i suppose they’re all just too busy with their long tea breaks and going around to illegal businesses collecting handsome bribes from the taikors, to be seen out on the streets preventing crime and righting wrongs. after all, why work up a sweat catching criminals when you can have karipap, eh?

Comments December 8th, 2007