You Don’t Net The Touts at the Roadblocks

The taxi touts at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) must be laughing themselves silly the past three weeks.

Instead of hauling up the touts at the airport arrival hall (Level 3), officers from the Commercial Vehicle and Licensing Board (CVLB), the General Operations Force and Road Transport Department (RTD) have been setting up roadblocks.

The roadblocks were mounted since June 8 at three points controlling exits from the KLIA and the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) from 6.30pm to midnight.

Their operation to date has netted 124 hotel limousines and tour vans. These are now impounded for 30 days.

Taking an average of three passengers per vehicle, we can estimate that about 400 tourists and Malaysians  have been stopped in their hotel limos.

They were asked to show their passports on a lonely road in the night and sent back to the KLIA, with the advice to buy coupons and ride with the Airport Limo.

Not a very good impression for a first time visitor. While the action inconvenienced tourists, the bigger damage is to the image of Malaysia.

Describing the situation, Raja Shamir Raja Arif, chairman of the Persatuan Kebajikan Pemandu KLIA (drivers' welfare association), said the officers at the roadblocks would ask the worried passengers to show their passports.

"They would also ask the hotel limo driver for the list of  passengers, the group's itinerary, and the voucher for the hotel limousine," he told Cars, Bikes & Trucks.

"Most of the drivers were able to supply the information.

"If they were tourists, one of the officers would speak in English and tell the tourists 'You are now using an illegal car. You only can use the Airport Limo'."

For many of the tourists, the hotel transfer was included in their tour package which has been pre-paid. Sometimes, the tourists didn't have local currency to buy the airport limo coupon.

To their credit, the RTD officers would drive the seized limo and return the tourists to the arrival hall with the advice to go to the money changer and "buy the ticket for the Airport Limo".

"For the first week of the road block operations, we didn't get too worried because we were doing a legitimate business but when it went on to the second week, it started to hurt," said Raja Shamir.

"It became apparent that the roadblocks were becoming more a harassment and intimidation of the hotel limos than it was to catch the touts."

One of his members made an appointment to meet the MCA's Datuk Michael Chong. A group from the association led by Raja Shamir went to his office.

"What's the matter?" asked Chong.

"KLIA drivers? Come in, come in. One of you sit next to me and tell me the problem."

Ever the man of action, Chong listened, asked a few questions to clarify points and then promptly contacted the Ministry of Transport for an appointment to meet RTD director-general Datuk Solah Mat Hassan last Thursday.

Raja Shamir and his delegation turned up punctually for the meeting where they were greeted by Solah and his officials, Chong and representatives from the CVLB and one from the Tourism Ministry.

"We don't know what they want at the roadblocks," said Raja Shamir.

According to Raja Shamir, the officers were asking "impossible" questions.

"We are not police officers who know everything of every passenger and where they want to go. We are just drivers and operators of hotel limousines," he said.

"We suggested to Datuk Solah that instead of seizing their limousines, RTD officers issue summons to hotel limo drivers if they are suspected of  cheating tourists.

"If we Malaysians have an internal problem, we shouldn't drag these unfortunate tourists into it.

"Let the limousine driver continue his journey, but issue him a summons to clear himself in court.

"Seizing the vehicle on the grounds that it is operating beyond its pangkalan as detailed in the CVLB permit is an archaic law that should be changed."

The CVLB issues permits for commercial vehicles on condition that they are parked in a depot. This is applicable for heavy commercial vehicles like trucks and buses of 16 tonnes and above.

For the hire and drive as well as chauffeured limousines, the condition is that these vehicles must operate from a base, usually a hotel.

This is to minimise the abuse of the tax-free status of these premium vehicles, usually Mercedes-Benz E240s.

"We think that the problem of cheating of tourists starts with the touts at the KLIA," said Raja Shamir.

"This is a police problem and something that can be effectively controlled.

"If they can catch Mat Selamat (the JI operative who escaped from custody in Singapore), they can't catch touts?"

Solah admitted that some RTD officers went beyond their scope of duty by asking hotel limo passengers for passports and said he would ask the CVLB to get to the bottom of the matter of the pangkalan (depot) for hotel limousines.

"Another thing about this pangkalan is that the operator may have a two-year contract, say with Hilton Hotel."

Then after two years, the contract is terminated. So what happens to the operator? He has a loan to service, the limousines to operate and drivers to pay.

"This issue of pangkalan is something that must be liberalised. We suggest that the hotel limo operator's office address be listed as the pangkalan," said Raja Shamir.

"We also suggested that tourism police or the Tourism Department officers assist at the roadblocks.

"These tourism-trained officers should be the ones to liaise with the tourists. They can explain to the tourist that the roadblock is a routine operation to catch taxi cheats.

"The tourist police can assist by explaining how some tourists are  overcharged, and how some taxis 'hijack' hotel guests at the airport.

"If we do the roadblock smoothly, we can even make the tourist feel more secure rather than make him feel like a sucker for having chosen Malaysia as his holiday destination."

Throughout the meeting with Solah, the Tourism Ministry's representative just kept smiling to himself and said nothing.

Solah has scheduled a meeting this Tuesday where the issues brought up by the association will be addressed by the departments involved.

Hopefully, the Tourism Department will send someone who can contribute to the discussion.