MAY 18 — Part of the reason I refuse to drive is the existence of Proton. How insidious is it that a government jacks up the prices of cars in the country, just so its citizens are forced to buy the national car?
Though I have managed (through sheer stubbornness) to make do without a car, for many it isn’t an option. Public transport in Malaysia is a joke.
Public transport is horrible in this country partly because of the government’s refusal to concede that public transport should not be run to make profits but to serve the nation. Public transport has many enemies — Proton, short-sighted politicians and sheer stupidity.
Without serviceable public transport, people are forced to pay through their noses for cars that are overpriced pieces of tripe. Yes, Proton, I am looking at you. Perodua makes slightly better cars but let’s face it, for what we pay for cars in this country, people can afford to buy real estate elsewhere.
Not that I have much sympathy for car enthusiasts. Cars shouldn’t be necessities — they should be luxuries. The amount of money an average car owner spends on maintenance, petrol and parking every year boggles my mind. Motorists in this country don’t blink an eye forking out large portions of their earnings just to pay for their car loans or upkeep.
Do you own the car or does the car own you?
I especially laugh at the reasoning I get from people who insist on buying brand new cars and then paying a fifth of their salary each month to the car loans. The sad irony is that many people own cars for work, but so much of what they earn at work goes to their cars.
The simple thing is this, you poor blighters: The government benefits from your suffering. Where do you think the extra money from jacked up prices go? And why do you think politicians fight over APs?
There is also the added benefit of how more Malaysians die from car accidents than terminal diseases. Yes, let them drive unsafe cars so we will have fewer citizens to bother about. Car accidents also provide workshops business and helps Proton sell more cars. Bravo.
But some of you are the problem. One time, I suggested to my date to take a train to an event. He refused, preferring to pay toll, consume petrol, and pay parking fees. I had no qualms wearing evening wear on the train, but he balked at the discomfort of having to walk even a short distance to the station.
You whine, oh drivers, about jams, about tolls, about parking. But you dislike the thought of car pooling. You drive even when you can walk to a nearby shop just because you can. In a five-person household, it is entirely possible for each one to own a car. Just go down to SS2 and you’ll see how ill-equipped our suburbs are to deal with so many cars crowding the narrow roads.
(Aside: I think all those idiots speeding in residential areas should be banned from driving forever. And perhaps lose a toe or two.)
Part of me doesn’t want cars to be cheaper because that would mean even more idiots owning vehicles they have no business driving. But the other part fears for the people risking their lives in these tin cans.
The only solution I can see is for everyone to finally agree that we need to fix public transport. But the problem is that most of the people who use it are the ones with no choice — those too poor to own a car. Even if we have working public transport, my greatest fear is that Malaysians will still refuse to give up driving everywhere. We have made cars status symbols, after all.
For the transport system to change, Malaysians will have to learn to change too. But in a nation enslaved to our air-conditioners and creature comforts, I have little hope of that.
* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.
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