Gangsters at it again

Unbelieveable. That’s all I could say as I gazed despairingly at the skies above.

We have this funny system of letting “gangsters” manage our car parks. One such case is at the Taman Jaya Light Rail Transit station in Petaling Jaya. See this picture of heavy barriers placed in front of the so-called accessible car parks in front of the station. Link

As there was no indication of whom to call for assistance, I parked at the single yellow line nearby. This guy came along and indicated to me on how to park the car. I knew that this meant he is minding this ‘car parking zone’ and probably wants a tip. I said, “Hey, I am a disabled person.” Just enough gestures and meaning to suggest that ” I am not paying, okay. And how come you are not allowing me to park at the accessible car park”. But I did not exactly say it out. It’s often done with telepathy, and I knew that he was not the boss, but a poor lackey in this not so clear and illegal set-up.

Went to the LRT station and did what I had to do. Came back to my car, and this same guy was hovering about with a wad of parking receipts. I gestulated immediately that I am not paying and pointed to the accessible car par suggesting that I should have been able to park there. And guess what happened afterwards…

His ‘boss’ with a green and yellow uniform came and just before he could speak, I said to him, “How come there are barriers at the accessible car park lots?” He quickly pointed that I was not suppose to park at the yellow line area (where other cars are parked there by the way… but that’s not the point). So, I pointed out that I am suppose to park at the accessible car park anyway, and at that time I was getting quite angry so I did not query about this illegal set-up that they were having, ie what’s up with the car parking receipts then… I knew what the other earlier guy was thinking. He knew that I should have gotten my car parked at the accessible lots and not at the yellow line. That’s why he was hesitant to ask me to pay earlier and had that ‘guilty’ look.

Then I blew my top and said to the boss, ” I am not paying. I should have parked there. I will report this to the local council and Rapid KL (company in charge of the LRT stations)” He replied back, angry too, “Go on. Report then. Those parking lots (the accessible one) you have to pay four ringgit (RM4 = USD 1)”…

I just did not believe what I just heard. “What four ringgit! This is illegal.” But I did not say it out loud. The look of disbelief and disgust said it all. The guy was now fuming and he was ranting at the other guy. He was livid, so I better get the hell out of there!

I have heard similar things before but it happened to me, so I don’t want to get beaten up as I knew, these people are probably ‘gangsters’ making a quick buck, even if he is wearing a uniform!

So of I went thinking of ways and means to eradicate this. But its not going to be easy…

It’s a Culture Thing

Living in a Malaysia awaiting for Disabled Person’s Act to be passed through Parliament, you must have a lot of faith in humanity.

I live in two worlds, one is the world of the future – 20 years a ahead perhaps, and the other is the real world of the present. In the world of the future, I imagine we will have a anti-discrimination law in place and all we need to do is prescribe in our website a guide for transport providers to adher to. Because we have this law, we know we will get things done fast and furious…well, maybe not that fast, but we look forward to being heard and getting things done, with positive actions by the service providers, and everything is in place.

Meeting the needs of disabled passengers is much more than providing a wheelchair space on buses and trains. In fact only a small minority of disabled people are wheelchair users.

People with a wide range of long term health conditions or impairments have rights under the DDA when using buses and trains. This includes deaf people, visually impaired people, someone with a learning disability such as downs syndrome, someone with a mental health condition such as depression, and people with serious heart conditions, or arthritis.

This means that, bus and train companies need to be offering “reasonable adjustments” or positive assistance and help to disabled people so they can use their services fairly and easily. Bus and train companies have to anticipate that disabled people are going to use their services and put plans in place for how they will meet the needs of disabled people generally.

DRC Website

The other world, I mean, the real world is where I have to “ask nicely” for my “privileges” and always refer to my bad leg, so as to solicit sympathy. Yes, another word that they use in Malaysia for disabled people is Warga Istimewa or Special People. If you live in Malaysia, you would know about VIP parking spaces for Very Important People (we won’t go into the social commentary about this or even the rant, maybe some other time…please) at many public and government buildings… so when I drive and find a security guard, I would ask for my accessible parking spot. At the City Hall, its right besides the VIP parking spot, so they would remark sometimes, “You are VIP too!” So, we get privileges as well as VIPs. So what I am getting at, is the significance of being a disabled person, is that we are to be treated as ’special’, so we need to be nice to people and be grateful. Get my drift…

On a hot day and when you are tired, you welcome these ‘privileges’. It’s a totally different culture on disability in Malaysia. If in the UK, that is not on. No way are disabled people going to accept this $%#@*&& patronizing attitude…

So you see, this is a cultural thing. I don’t think its going to be changed overnight and I am not sure if it will in my life time…