welcome rapid penang!
Post on Mar.02, 2007
hey, whaddya know… my letter was published in malaysiakini. first time it was published. er… that was my first time writing to malaysiakini anyway. haha. well, apart from malaysiakini, i had actually also sent my letter to other media like the star, sun2surf, and even the chinese media like kwong wah, oriental daily. don’t know if my letter will be published in the other media yet. let’s wait and see. btw, read the full, unedited version of what i had written here.
actually how i came about to write the letter was when during our office lunch, i was telling my colleague, joachim xavier, about how i was chased down from the bus i boarded when the drive suddenly decided not to go to my destination. joachim at once said i should write about this experience to the media, and at the same time mentioned that the existing bus companies shouldn’t be allowed to operate once rapid penang takes over. joachim himself, on 26 feb. had a letter in malaysiakini published too where he told the existing bus operators to pack up and leave!
many people had offered their views here and there (writing to media or in their own blogs) regarding the takeover of rapid kl to manage penang’s bus system. some are for it and some are against it. one such person is one of my favourite blogger, ktemoc. in his post, he actually talked more on how our CM, dr koh (that is ‘raja bodek’ to him!) scooped so low as to request rapid KL to take over penang.
ktemoc also pointed out the view of ong, who raised another different issue… not whether rapid kl should take over, or whether rapid kl will do a good job, or whether existing penang buses should stop or continue once rapid penang is here (which was what i raised). ong pointed out that by allowing rapid kl to manage the bus system, it shows the weakness in raja bodek… er… CM dr koh’s government. of course i can’t deny that, that is true indeed but i’m looking more on the bus commuters (like me) side. read my comments on that post of ktemoc.
(if ong read this, i’m sure he will come blazing in with his views… which yes i know contrast mine)
all these talk about penang’s government being weak in requesting rapid kl to take over, and rapid kl ‘ cronies connections’ (UMNO!!), are political. while there are some rakyat who wants to go political, all fine and well… but for the bus commuters like ah chong, samy, ahmad, ah lian, letchumi, faridah and lulai (that is me lah – handle i like to use on the net – a combination of my first name and surname), we had suffered long enough and we don’t give a damn to politics!! i’m keeping my fingers crossed, and be optimistic, that rapid penang will do a good job.
Filed in penang
March 2nd, 2007 on 4:30 AM
Congratulations Lucia. Well done and well written.
lucia: thanks. i have my unedited version up too.
March 2nd, 2007 on 9:01 AM
Wah, that bus driver fella really chased you out har?
lucia: heh. i dramatise a bit lah. well it was sort of consider chased since he shouted so loud "turun! turun!". yep, that was all he did, shouting "turun! turun", and while i linger a bit surprised, he shouted again "turun! turun! semua turun!".
March 2nd, 2007 on 9:50 AM
I live in Selayang, I travelled with RapidKL for the last eighth months. The system is good and most of the buses are new. After only three months, the lack of maintenance start to show in the interior of the buses. They don’t for care for the commuters especially the old and handicap. They look after the bus driver more than the commuters. Such example is at Bandar Utama bus station in Kuala Lumpur. The station has seven bus bays. They don’t park the buses at the bays but park one after another. Commuter have to walk all over the place to look for the bus in the rain. I have highlighted the problem to the rapidKL by email last November 2006 until 1st March 2007 the bays are still not occupied. Thank you
lucia: thanks for sharing. i’m being positive to look on the bright side of rapid penang first.
March 2nd, 2007 on 8:34 PM
Lucia, I agree that Rapid Penang will do a lot of good for Penang, in the short term. But Penang needs MRT, not LRT and Rapid. Rapid would relieve the weakness of the current public transport but in the next few years, the social disaster would arise, expecially when the 2nd bridge is completed.
lucia: what’s the difference between LRT and MRT? and monorail. penang aleady planned to have a monorail. i don’t think LRT or MRT is appropriate for penang since penang is small. well, let’s see how rapid penang would fare first.
March 3rd, 2007 on 6:45 AM
Lucia, I’ve blogged on your article in BolehTalk http://bolehtalk.blogspot.com/2007/03/cry-of-lucia-lai.html and a lead-in to that over at KTemoc Konsiders http://ktemoc.blogspot.com/2007/03/lucia-lai-p-7.html Wah, you are famous lah
lucia: thanks a lot, KT! well not as famous as i would like to be yet.
March 4th, 2007 on 12:39 AM
Hi Lucia, You are becoming famous over your writings on this issue…..The Star wants to talk to you…maybe NST next…. Good on you !
lucia: er… thanks… but the star reporter called me up not to interview me but just to check (clarify) some details in my article.
March 4th, 2007 on 2:20 PM
Hm… they don’t go all the way to their scheduled stop, stick to the route, waited until the bus was full before leaving, are always late, and all the other bullshit? No bus company deserves to survive with all this nonsense they’ve been tossing to their customers/commuters. I’ve lived in Penang for slightly over a year… but never got the "opportunity" to experience the local municipal "service", no thanks to the many stories from my friends and relatives. Maybe I should take a few trips to fully experience what you’ve to put up with.
lucia: yes, you should. one day give up the comfort of driving your own car and experience the bus… but must be at least 7 days and a few times at least during peak hours.
March 4th, 2007 on 3:50 PM
Halo Lucia, I thank you for pointing out that criticising the government (for being weak, for eg) is political -so is tolerating ie keeping mum, over the same weakness. I Many people talk politics whole day but deny to be political -why not come clean with it ?
lucia: yes speaking up (criticising) is political and not speaking up (not criticising) is also political… which i am talking about this bus issue only.
However I agree with you that we should evaluate Rapid Kl on commuters’ interests. That’s why there are groups like Bus Users Group(BUG) and CEPAT around to try to articulate such views. If anyone is interested in knowing the stands of these bus/public transport users please feel free to consult http://www.penangwatch.net
lucia: see, you agree with me on that. that’s why i said i don’t care about the political stuffs right now as i’m looking at it at the point of view of an ordinary rakyat who is a regular bus commuter. we want a change so we are willing to close an eye to the political stuff.
Welcoming one crony bus company to replace another intolerable one seems not so rational from this point of view. Another aspect for you to consider : the weakness of the current bus companies are the software /management -which resulted in ill-maintained hardwares (bus bodies) and services (bus drivers’ hooliganism). How can replacing the buses with new ones save the new buses from similar reckless/politicised management practice -which as a letter above attest, still cling on to the RapidKL -and will most likely afflict RapidPenang ?
lucia: wait a minute… i didn’t know that – that they are just going to replace the bus (new buses)?? i thought when it was said rapid kl is going to take over, they will take over everything -software, hardware, services. for sure the software/management – it is already said rapid kl going to take over. ‘take over’ means manage. ok i’m a little confused now. anyway whatever it is, i am still looking at the bright side of things – that rapid penang will do a good job.
anyway, ong, so what is your solution then? with the existing bus system, you criticise (i did too), with the coming bus system, you criticise (i did too… but i am also closing one eye) – so what should the govt. do? the govt. is at a lost what to do so whatever they do, might earn them criticism anyway, so they resort to… to borrow ktemoc’s word ‘beg’ kl to take over – oh yeah that was what they decided to do – and yet there are criticisms. i do criticise them too and i agree with your view in malaysiakini about it’s shameful that the govt. can’t do anything else, is giving up and letting kl take over, and i agree with wits0 view too in the other thread (KL transportation for penang). however as i said, while i don’t like what the govt. is doing, i’m trying my best to look at the positive side first. just because in kl it started rightly, then go on the wrong foot (like what tet wong wrote) – doesn’t mean that in penang it might go on the wrong foot too. whether it might or it might not remains to be seen – thus i’m looking on the positive side that it might not, whereas you people straight away condemn rapid kl – that they WLL end up like the existing bus service/operation. but of course you are entittled to your view so if this is how you feel, so be it. also understand how i feel.
March 4th, 2007 on 8:58 PM
Lets cross our finger and hope that this time IT WILL make a difference..
lucia: yep, that’s the sprit! that’s what i’m trying to say. while not too happy with the govt’s move, i still have hope. pity are those without hope.
March 5th, 2007 on 12:01 AM
Well, MorpheusX, hope is just about all you and others have
. Good luck! Someone can only imagine he’s a Donald Tsang of Hong Kong too.
lucia: yes, hope is all WE have now… all i have now on the new bus system. what else do i have? to run for CM post, and see if i can do a better job than him? well even if i do… or anyone else (takeover as CM i mean), there will bound to be criticisms since to some people criticisms is all they have. well more power to them then (since to them the criticisms are justified).
March 6th, 2007 on 11:19 AM
I was pleased to read your article in Malaysiakini, even told my friends about it. Well done. I absolutely agree with you: they should just take out the existing bus companies who had their shot and failed miserably.