A colleague of mine from Shanghai made her maiden voyage to Malaysia yesterday, also her first trip outside of China. She was supposed to catch a taxi from Sheraton Hotel in Subang Jaya to our office in Kelana Jaya this morning. It would have been a relatively straightforward journey - 10 to 15 minutes and no more than 10 Malaysian Ringgits.
Hailing a taxi was a harrowing experience for her. All the taxi drivers whom she hailed not only refused to use the meter, but also insisted on charging her RM25 for the journey! Fortunately, she was clever enough to decline, and promptly called me on my mobile phone for help. Naturally, I obliged her a ride to the office, and thereupon arranged with our company secretary to have a dedicated taxi to ferry to and from work for the remainder of our stay.
To my colleague Grace Ge, I say, "我代表馬來西亞所有的誠實公民向你道歉, 希望今日發生的事件不會破壞到你對馬來西亞的印像" ("On behalf of all the honest citizens of Malaysia, I offer my sincere apologies, and hope that today's incident will not mar your impression of Malaysia").
Malaysia is 45 days shy of its 50th birthday, and yet we are suffering the embarrassment of having our local taxi drivers give our country a bade image with their unscrupulousness and bullying attitude towards foreign visitors. When I think of how honest and professional the taxi drivers in Shanghai are, I feel so ashamed that our country, supposedly just over a decade away from Vision 2020 (our targetted year to officially become a fully-developed nation), is falling behind in terms of integrity and civility.
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