Let the politicians take public transport

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On Sep 4, 2013

Everyone’s favourite MP, Kinabatangan rep Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin, made a meal of his foot again recently.

Erna Mahyuni, MMO

He tweeted: “Minyak petrol naik,pastinya x memudaratkan rakyat ,kerana yg ada kereta besar ada lah orang2 besar dan berkemampuan,org kg ada x berkereta” (Petrol going up, won’t harm the people, as those with big cars are the well-off who can afford it, not like village folk, some who do not have cars).

Of course that got Twitterjaya up in arms, with the best response being as follows: “Berkereta itu bukan kemampuan, itu keperluan zaman skrg. Berbini dua tu barulah kemampuan” (Having a car is not about whether you can afford one, it is a necessity in these times. While having two wives is all about whether you can afford it).

While Bung perhaps might understand the villagers in his constituency, he might not be able to relate to the struggles of middle-class city folk.

Not many can afford to live near where they work, especially as job situations are much more fluid these days. You can no longer expect to stay in one job for the rest of your life, nor can you be overly picky about your workplace’s location.

Most people just end up driving to work from wherever they stay and not many can afford to uproot their dwelling whenever they change jobs.

You go where the money is — and for you to go there, you need means to travel in the first place. School leavers often have to deal with jobs requiring them to have their own transport when they need jobs so they can buy that means of transport.

But what do our politicians with their fancy cars, drivers, assistants, expense accounts and generous allowances know?

I have a simple suggestion: take away Bung’s cars and drivers. Make him get around the city and his constituency in nothing but public transportation. No calling for a cab, he has to stand on a busy road and try to flag one down in the rain.

Make him face the daily crush of the morning Kommuter trains; feel the angst of passengers waiting for the train to move as it stalls again and again.

Better yet, take away his wallet. Give him the amount of money a dispatch earns in a month and see how far that’ll last him. He will probably be broke in a week, just from paying exorbitant cab fares.