The Star Online: Nation
The Star Online: Nation |
- Most cabbies are a menace, laments public
- Mid-Autumn festivity takes on nostalgic mood
- Couple comes home to tragedy
| Most cabbies are a menace, laments public Posted: PETALING JAYA: When it comes to common courtesy, many taxi drivers in the Klang Valley have much to catch up on. Passengers and tourists have to put up with their attitudes, besides their overcharging and refusal to use the meters. A Thai tourist, who wished to be known as Kate, 22, found out the hard way during her trip here, lamenting that there "were also elements of sexual harassment". "They consider all Thai women to be prostitutes. It's in the way the cabbies talk and act," she told The Star. Kate said getting a polite taxi driver "depended on one's luck". Student K. Kamles, 22, said some cabbies refused to take him to where he wanted to go. "They're especially like that in front of shopping malls," he said while waiting for a taxi outside 1Utama Shopping Centre. "You get a lot of them who don't want to go where you want to. And, on top of it, they're very rude," he added. Mauritian student Beeday Urvashi, 20, said taxi drivers who knew she wasn't local tended to exploit this. "They would take the longest route," she said. Metered Taxi Drivers Task Force chairman Amran Jan agreed that the industry suffered from "bad apples who needed to be removed". "We have dignity and don't want to be seen as gangsters," he said. "If the authorities want to clean us up, we fully support it." He said the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) needed to control who could become taxi drivers, and that occasional classes alone were not enough. "You can't just have a one-week programme and fix everything in a few days," he said. SPAD chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar was reported recently as saying that the commission was looking into conducting courtesy training and safety programmes for cabbies. |
| Mid-Autumn festivity takes on nostalgic mood Posted: GEORGE TOWN: It was Shanghai-revisited, with many coming in the funky styles of the 1950s and 60s — turned-up collars, drain-pipe pants, pointed black shoes, polka-dotted skirts and hair-sprayed hairdos. They danced the cha-cha, a-go-go and the tango. They were hot and they looked cool. This was Beach Street, in the middle of the city's business district, and they were celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival against a backdrop of old Shanghai. "Shanghai, in the middle of the 20th century, saw a cultural change with a unique fusion of East and West," said Adelyn Lim, managing director of CreatiVision, the event's organiser. "This change affected literature, music, visual arts, martial arts and cuisine among the Chinese. And, it even spread to Penang," she said. "So, we felt it would be nostalgic to bring back the era as we celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival." Chinese drum beats heralded the opening of the festival by Penang Municipal Council president Datuk Patahiyah Ismail at 3pm yesterday. Chinese craft from a time long past, with artisans working on woodcarving, printmaking, Chinese origami and basket weaving, could be seen in one enclave. In another, there were Chinese cultural dances and shows. Hundreds of lanterns lit up at sunset, illuminating the vibrant street while "Tango in Shanghai" raged on the street, with flash mob dancers leading the way. Programmes lined up included Golden Old Shanghai Musical Performance, Cheong Sam Fashion Show, creative mooncake-making competition, mooncake-eating competition, Chinese martial arts demonstration and golden oldies karaoke performance. At the Chinese arts and craft pavilion, visitors were awed as artisans demonstrated rarely seen works of art. About 50 classic cars were parked in nearby Downing Street for visitors to admire. The one-day event attracted an estimated 70,000 people. |
| Posted: JOHOR BARU: Thinking that their children were fast asleep and safe at home, a couple went grocery shopping only to return to find that their house has been razed by fire and their youngest child died in it. Marakar Pekar, 45, and Masirah Berutu, 34, left Muhammad Iskandar, four, and Siti Aishah, seven, sleeping in the living hall at about 12.30am yesterday to buy vegetables and fish at the Pandan wholesale market here. Marakar said he received a phone call from a neighbour at around 1.30am, saying that their house was on fire. "I rushed home to find the police and fire and rescue department personnel outside my house trying to break open the gate," he said. Marakar said he then rushed into the house, looking for his children but found it difficult to locate them because the house was filled with smoke. "I used a torchlight and went searching throughout the house," he said. "I found them inside the toilet in the master bedroom," he said. Both the children had fainted. Marakar rushed them to a nearby clinic in a police patrol car but the doctors told him that his son had died due to smoke inhalation. Witness Mohd Nor Saufi Salekun, 29, said he returned from a wedding when he heard screams from the children. "It all happened so fast and there was nothing much that we could do because the house was locked," he said. Nusajaya OCPD Supt Nor Hashim Mohamed said police were investigating the cause of the fire. |
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