Can cut one..
Written on 4/23/2004 08:05:00 pm by sikapitan
This is a continuation of the last entry on Malaysian drivers.
Thanks to Mumtaz for his view on Malaysian drivers. In summary, he believes that Malaysian drivers are less skilled than their european counterpart. I trust his judgement since he used to live in UK. Even during my holiday to London, i noticed the different style of driving as compared to Malaysia. 1st of all, not many Londoners drive. Their public transportation is pretty reliable. Second, pedestrian is always right. Thirdly, they really know their cars, or at least how to use them.
Compare with Malaysia. Almost every household in an urban area has at least one motor vehicle. And almost everyone who have cars use it to commute on a daily basis. Thus, the ratio of drivers as compared to European countries are more. I can see during the now-infamous subang jams that no one is car-pooling (including me). Everyone drives here in Malaysia, from makciks wearing white pullovers to avoid sunburn to young punks in their souped up Beemers. Say the average is 1 bad driver out of 10. In Europe, maybe there's like 10,000 commuters thus there'll be 1000 bad drivers. But here in KL, there's like 100000 cars, so there would be 10000 bad drivers (forgive me, maths ain't my fav subject).
Most importantly, and i know i'm going to offend the patriots amongst my readers, we are a selfish lot. The kiasu element is inherent i think in our genetic make-up. We might be the most tolerant of people in the comfort of our home (takper, guna jer gelas tuh etc2) but on the road, we behave like the most daring of daredevils (lanciao lu nak potong wa etc2). Issit because when we are on the road we vent out our frustation? Maybe that 'ah ma' cutting you off is merely letting off steam? We control ourselves in front of others to the point of breaking up, so we decide to let it go on the road. We think only of ourselves, thus everything seems important only when it's related to us. That is why my mom never lets anyone cut her lane, eventhough she's stuck in a jam and another car won't make much difference. Or someone just turning without signalling, and even worse signalling but not turning! Weird. iT'S not like they don't know how to signal, they just refuse to do so. That's why i have to digress with Mumtaz on this particular point. It's not the skill that counts. It's the attitude.
Oh yeah, it pisses me off when a new model of my car comes along. It wasn't long ago when i was still chasing the bodykits and rims but now it's utterly pointless. Arghh. Yeap, i'm kiasu too.
On a sadder note, America's new policy for the Israel-Palestine conflict has done more harm than good. Supporting assasinations of terrorist leaders might seem the only way to eradicate suicide bombing. But it must be remembered that every day, new wannabe martyrs are born, and leaders can be replaced.The emphasis should be on achieving peace, without both sides losing out too much. Stubborn though these people may be, but i believe that if a concertrated global effort can be work out to seek peaceful settlement, both parties would be willing to compromise. I feel that the basis, or at least claimed, of resentment amongst the muslim community towards america is the longstanding israel issue. If this could be settled, one major reason for terrorism would be eliminated.
To Asmui: YEap, mmg best gila.
To Lopez: Tak tau la. Everytime i go, theRE'll be parking space. It's like MAGIC!
To Bojed: Ladies, avoid this perverted dude:) Guys, ajak dia main futsal!
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