KL cabbies not looking forward to Bersih walk
Norain Saleh & Norsyafinas AhmadPublished: Jun 11, 2011 4:09 AM | Updated: Jun 11, 2011 5:08 AM
Many of Kuala Lumpur’s taxi drivers are unhappy with the upcoming Bersih 2.0 rally for free and fair elections planned for the capital city on July 9.
Many of Kuala Lumpur’s taxi drivers are unhappy with the upcoming Bersih 2.0 rally for free and fair elections planned for the capital city on July 9.
In a Malaysiakini survey around the Bangsar suburb yesterday, the majority of cabbies spoken to voiced unease about the rally that plans to attract thousands to take to the streets to demand for electoral reforms.
The cabbies are worried that expected traffic jams, as seen in the past Bersih rally in 2007, will affect their business.
One driver Ismad Sheikh Abd Tawab (left) said huge rallies often deter customers from travelling, and that will impact his earnings.
“Ordinarily people are willing to take a taxi. But when there are demonstrations, and with the police present, there are obstructions. This disrupts us,” said Ismad, who has worked as a cabbie for a decade.
Ismad, 48, added that a two-hour demonstration alone can cost a cabbie RM40 in earnings.
Anticipating the rally that organisers aimed to be bigger than the last one in November 2007, not only the taxi drivers’s association, but Umno Youth, the hawkers’ association and several NGOs made police reports in Lumpur Lumpur and Putrajaya asking the police to act early against the organisers of the Bersih 2.0 rally.
It was reported the complaints revolved around disruption of peace and of the incomes of taxi drivers and hawkers around the capital.
Unruly public
Another cabbie Rosli Mohamad (right) said that traffic on the day of the planned rally would be aggravated by unruly members of the public.
“I really don’t agree with the rally. The participants just cause traffic jams, and scare the public,” he said.
Rosli, 43, also concurred that his income will be affected, as experienced during past street demonstrations.
“Just take the Hindraf rally in the past... I could not work for a whole day. It’s not that we are not supportive, but if they demonstrate from morning to night, our income is halved,” he said.
Another cabbie, Prabhakaran Velaithian, said he would not risk going into the city as his taxi is rented.
“If I don’t go into the city, I lose the income lah,” he said.
“We will surely lose or make less despite the tiring job. We get no earnings, but still we have to pay rental for the taxi,” said the 48-year-old.
Working harder for their money
Meanwhile Mohd Fazli Abdullah, 55 complained that the demonstrations mean they will have to start work earlier to make up for the loss, and that will be an additional burden.
“Passengers will also complain if they are delayed, especially when the meter keeps running (during a jam),” he said.
He said he would normally look for alternate routes to avoid the jam in such circumstances.
Mohd Fazli (left) earns around RM50 to RM60 a day driving a taxi.
Another cabbie interviewed, Suthagar Subramaniam, explained that while they could always ply other routes, they would still have trouble getting passengers on that day.
“We can’t just stop and pick up passengers anywhere,” he said.
Veteran cabbie Abdul Rahman Lambak was however unperturbed by the impending rally.
“If you are hardworking, you will still get many passengers,” said the 65-year-old.
On May 22, Bersih 2.0, a coalition of NGOs and activists for clean and fair elections announced that it will hold a 'Walk For Democracy' in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, July 9 at 2pm.
Amongst the issues to be raised are the abuse of government funds and institutions during elections campaigning, the general election campaign period that is deemed too short.
These demands add on to those from the first Bersih rally, that called for the use of indelible ink, cleaning up the electoral rolls, abolition of postal votes, and access to government-controlled print and broadcast media for opposition parties.
Joining the rally are opposition parties like PKR, who targets 60,000 supporters, and PAS who says they will mobilise over a million party members nationwide to turn up to hand over a memorandum to the king at the end of the walk.
In a Malaysiakini survey around the Bangsar suburb yesterday, the majority of cabbies spoken to voiced unease about the rally that plans to attract thousands to take to the streets to demand for electoral reforms.
The cabbies are worried that expected traffic jams, as seen in the past Bersih rally in 2007, will affect their business.
One driver Ismad Sheikh Abd Tawab (left) said huge rallies often deter customers from travelling, and that will impact his earnings.“Ordinarily people are willing to take a taxi. But when there are demonstrations, and with the police present, there are obstructions. This disrupts us,” said Ismad, who has worked as a cabbie for a decade.
Ismad, 48, added that a two-hour demonstration alone can cost a cabbie RM40 in earnings.
Anticipating the rally that organisers aimed to be bigger than the last one in November 2007, not only the taxi drivers’s association, but Umno Youth, the hawkers’ association and several NGOs made police reports in Lumpur Lumpur and Putrajaya asking the police to act early against the organisers of the Bersih 2.0 rally.
It was reported the complaints revolved around disruption of peace and of the incomes of taxi drivers and hawkers around the capital.
Unruly public
Another cabbie Rosli Mohamad (right) said that traffic on the day of the planned rally would be aggravated by unruly members of the public.“I really don’t agree with the rally. The participants just cause traffic jams, and scare the public,” he said.
Rosli, 43, also concurred that his income will be affected, as experienced during past street demonstrations.
“Just take the Hindraf rally in the past... I could not work for a whole day. It’s not that we are not supportive, but if they demonstrate from morning to night, our income is halved,” he said.
Another cabbie, Prabhakaran Velaithian, said he would not risk going into the city as his taxi is rented.
“If I don’t go into the city, I lose the income lah,” he said.
“We will surely lose or make less despite the tiring job. We get no earnings, but still we have to pay rental for the taxi,” said the 48-year-old.
Working harder for their money
Meanwhile Mohd Fazli Abdullah, 55 complained that the demonstrations mean they will have to start work earlier to make up for the loss, and that will be an additional burden.“Passengers will also complain if they are delayed, especially when the meter keeps running (during a jam),” he said.
He said he would normally look for alternate routes to avoid the jam in such circumstances.
Mohd Fazli (left) earns around RM50 to RM60 a day driving a taxi.
Another cabbie interviewed, Suthagar Subramaniam, explained that while they could always ply other routes, they would still have trouble getting passengers on that day.
“We can’t just stop and pick up passengers anywhere,” he said.
Veteran cabbie Abdul Rahman Lambak was however unperturbed by the impending rally.
“If you are hardworking, you will still get many passengers,” said the 65-year-old.
On May 22, Bersih 2.0, a coalition of NGOs and activists for clean and fair elections announced that it will hold a 'Walk For Democracy' in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, July 9 at 2pm.Amongst the issues to be raised are the abuse of government funds and institutions during elections campaigning, the general election campaign period that is deemed too short.
These demands add on to those from the first Bersih rally, that called for the use of indelible ink, cleaning up the electoral rolls, abolition of postal votes, and access to government-controlled print and broadcast media for opposition parties.
Joining the rally are opposition parties like PKR, who targets 60,000 supporters, and PAS who says they will mobilise over a million party members nationwide to turn up to hand over a memorandum to the king at the end of the walk.
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