Traffic in KL City

By Jam and Butter

This evening, I will leave home at 5.30 and will be grateful if we can make it for dinner at home by 7.45. That means it will take me 135 minutes to travel the same distance. 

And I have been doing this for years. Everyday, from Monday to Friday, except when it’s a public holiday or when we are on vacation.

The reason I spend so much time on the road is because of the chaotic traffic condition, with or without the presence of the police.

Sometimes, the police are there to ensure that there is a clear lane for an approaching convoy of outriders and police cars and other cars and other people on motorbikes who will not hesitate to kick your car if you do not stop. And you must stop at the extreme either end of the road. These people are on a do-or-die mission to accompany a person who needs to get from Point A to Point B. And you ignore their orders at your own risk.

Someone somewhere has determined that the person who needs to get from Point A to Point B requires priority over every other motorist on the road along the route.

Like what happened this morning.

I drove into Jalan Sultan Ismail at 8.20. Just then, I heard the blare of police siren. The sole outrider was directing traffic to clear a path for an approaching vehicle. The morning rush-hour traffic had to come to a complete standstill so that the person in the vehicle led by this outrider could get from Point A to Point B. As the vehicle drove past, I noticed a small sign above the vehicle number plate. It was a car paid for by Malaysian taxpayers meant for the exclusive use by a person elected by Malaysian voters. I thought: how lucky that person was in the car. Here I am, nudging along slowly with the traffic everyday so my wife can reach her office and earn an income. If not, how on earth was she to contribute funds for Felda through EPF and finance this person’s lifestyle through the taxes she has to pay?

I feel truly sorry for my fellow rakyat who are forced to use their own means of transportation to get to work and back. Public transportation in Malaysia (and probably Zimbabwe) is not designed for the comfort and convenience of the public. Infrastructure for the public, like a continuous five-foot way away from mat rempit bag-snatchers, is not yet a feature considered by the planners.

Just tune in to the radio station and listen to the daily traffic report. From Penang right down to the south in Johor, there is traffic jam somewhere and everyday. Sometimes, it’s because of an accident that had caused a 3km-jam. Sometimes it’s a 3-car pile up that is causing a bumper-to-bumper crawl. This is an everyday part of our life.

Nearly everybody who travel by car to work don’t work on Saturdays. So, why is the Star warning the rakyat to expect traffic jams this Saturday? Whatt do the police hope to achieve with the road blocks on Saturday? Perhaps the police will be there to carry out the orders of the elected govt. They are to ensure as much inconvenience to the rakyat so you will be discouraged from sitting in your car in a jam dressed in your yellow t-shirts.

I remember during the 50s, there were road blocks everywhere set up by the police to check and remove food carried in the car. This was their strategy to starve the communists. However, if you have children in the car, the police would allow a reasonable amount to be carried as they know children needed to eat and there was no R&R along the way between Taiping and Ipoh. The police were fair, reasonable and polite.

If you have endured traffic jams all your life or are willing to spend 5 hours to travel to your kampung once a year, what is so scary about a traffic jam that is about to happen a second time (hopefully that’s all it takes to bring about changes in our country) in your life?