this is kinda old stuff.
One after another eye, blinking open, I got up from my bed to welcome a long awaited day. Homecoming! I know it sounds exaggerated as I was just going back to my hometown in the ever-raining town of Taiping, Perak for a short study break from my university in Melaka. Even though I'm most probably going to spend the next 4 days at home studying for my final exams, the thought of meeting the survivors of the grueling STPM examinations and overseas-based friends back home got me overjoyed. To heighten up my excitement, it was also Hari Raya Haji and I was looking forward to taste my friends’ mouth-lingering rendangs and ketupats. I quickly got myself prepared and all geared up for the day.
The plan was set: I am supposed to board a bus from Melaka to Kuala Lumpur, and continue my journey from to Taiping with another bus. The journey to Kuala Lumpur was good and I dozed off, tired. Upon reaching Pudu Raya, I searched for bus counters selling tickets to Taiping. To my astonishment, all the tickets to Taiping were sold out! I approached a lady at one of the counters to confirm my misfortune. With a sour-faced face and a silent ‘no’, she turned back, continuing to look for other ticket buyers. As I was leaving, I saw her grabbing her walkie-talkie. Suddenly she started shouting “Taiping,Taiping!!” marking the availability of the ticket. Happy that my prayers were answered, I quickly returned and bought the ticket which was extravagantly more expensive than usual, but my temptations were irresistible and left with no choice anyway. She further convinced me that it was a double-decker bus with first class coach, which added to my enthusiasm in boarding the bus. I spent the next 2 hours at McD’s to kill time while waiting for the bus. Finally, I went to the actual platform to board my bus. I was redirected by a bus broker to another, who took me to the bus. To my horror, he explained to me that the bus was full. “How can that be possible, Bang, I came exactly 10 minutes early and I have the ticket? It can’t be…” “Sabar Dik, the counter people are simply selling the ticket without counting them,” he said with his strong Indonesian accent. Feeling cheated, I continued asking questions as I was surprised this was happening as it is a prominent bus company. Anger cells morphed to the top of my head and I felt that my consumerism rights were being exploited, and myself, victimized. His irrelevant reasons about festive-day error and constant finger pointing at the human-sandwiched bus didn’t convince me. Besides me, there were other people in the same boat as I am, too. The bus driver gave me a Hobson’s choice in the end, “sit on the stairs till you get back home or board another bus.”
With my thinking tools somewhat rusted at that moment, I decided to give in and be happy with what I get…And voila! My first experience on a double-decker first class coach, and I’m sitting on the stairs! Upon boarding the bus, I saw the bus driver, the broker and the ticket collector swapping money with each other, which I assumed as commission. They were laughing and often mentioned their fortune for the day. It made me all boiling as I realized that I was conned all-along! Everybody gets commission in their cheating game. I kept myself shut till I got home. Throughout the journey, there were down-pouring rain and multiple loads of accidents every here and there. Sigh... the highway could be so dangerous during festive days. Be careful on the road, people!
As I got home, I kept thinking about what happened today. Why is this happening, especially in our country? We are being taken advantage of, because nobody dares to voice themselves and question on their rights, or simply don’t care at all. I beg to differ! It might be a small problem, but a problem remains a problem unless something is done. Letting corrupt individuals born and grow in numbers sporadically is a sin. Mind you, this is not a matter of bruised ego, it’s all about consumerism. Unless Malaysians start to value it or do something about it, this lingering problem is just going to swell and like we have already knew, consequences hurt. I
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