We thought our faiths in Taxi drivers were restored when the story about the taxi uncle returning a passenger’s handphone popped up. But it is diminished once again when videos of Penang taxi drivers acting samseng went viral.
The videos were taken by an Uber driver who was ferrying two passengers, who were a couple. The incident took place at a short distance away from the Penang International Airport.
The Uber car, a yellow Myvi had just picked up the couple but they were spotted by airport taxi and limousine drivers. About 10 of those drivers were unhappy that the Uber driver came into their ‘territory’ and ‘stole’ their passengers.
The gangster-like taxi drivers blocked the Uber car in the middle of the road then started harassing the driver and passengers. They yelled, cursed, threatened, banged the car, and even tried to open the doors and windows!
One guy even showed the middle finger at the terrified people in the car. How do you expect people to take your taxi ride like that lah?
From the multiple videos, those unruly men could be heard asking the people in the yellow Myvi to get out of the car. Of course, for the sake of their safety, they did not comply to those rowdy men.
“Bukak pintu! Bukak pintu!” (Open the door! Open the door!) one guy kept repeating as he tried to open the car doors and roughly knocked the windows of the yellow vehicle. The same man even grabbed the wiper of the car when the Myvi tried to escape!
The driver wound down the window just a little bit to hear them speak better, but that was probably a huge mistake.
“Apasal you mau langgar rumah kita?” (Why are you invading our territory?) the man asked.
The man is trying to open the car door
Having just enough of the nonsense, the Uber driver said, “Jom balai sekarang,” (Let’s go to the police station now). But the taxi drivers demanded that the passengers alight first.
“Turun kereta! Jalan kaki pergi balai. Dekat saje.” (Get off the car! Walk to the balai, it is nearby,” the harasser demanded.
Stepping up, the lady passenger strongly insisted that she wanted to go to the police station.
But of course, those terrible men would not let them off so easily.
As the window was partially down, one of the unruly men tried to grab or push the driver’s phone off multiple times. They even put their hands or arms on the window so that the Uber driver could not close his window.
He tried to knock the Uber driver’s phone off
He is blocking the window from being closed
The terrified female passenger called the police and begged for immediate assistance. She described the location, car and situation. The fear could be heard in her voice. As she was reporting to the dispatch, the taxi drivers continued to harass them.
“Encik cepatlah. Sepuluh orang sudah. Sudah ada sepuluh orang.”
Some netizens pointed out that with these sort of behaviour from the taxi drivers, how would any passenger feel safe to take their rides ever again?
Watch the frustrating videos right here:
