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Bolehland TASI KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18, 2008 (AFP) - The ads promoting "Malaysia: Truly Asia" aim to welcome visitors with a warm smile to a prosperous and modern nation, so the taxi fleet branded "the worst in the world" can come as a bit of a shock. ADVERTISEMENT Even the locals are not spared the shabby service of unkempt and hostile drivers behind the wheels of decrepit vehicles who refuse to use the meter, overcharge and pick-and-choose which destinations they will travel to. At the popular KLCC mall under Kuala Lumpur's iconic Petronas Twin Towers is a typical scene, as a gang of cabbies negotiate with a young Norwegian couple just metres from a signboard warning against "taxi touts". "Flat rate, flat rate, no metre," one driver insists as the tourists try to find a cab to take them to their hotel, less than two kilometres (1.2 miles) away. Anxious to escape the baking heat, they agree to pay 25 ringgit (7.22 dollars) for a trip that would have cost less than three ringgit on the meter. "Is it expensive? We don't know, we thought it is normal here," said the woman as they piled in with their shopping bags. More frequent visitors, however, are vocal in their criticism and say that aggressive and unprofessional drivers are tarnishing the nation's image as a squeaky clean and hospitable destination. "I first visited Malaysia in 2006 and I was impressed by everything I saw except for the worst taxi service I have endured," said Kabir Dali, an Indian tourist waiting in vain for a metered taxi at another mall. "I paid a whopping 260 ringgit (74 dollars) from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport to town and was later told that was twice the proper amount." Complaints about taxis are common in many countries, but in Malaysia it has escalated to an outpouring of frustration, on blog sites and in letters to newspapers. In a survey by the local magazine The Expat, some 200 foreigners from 30 countries rated Malaysia the worst among 23 countries in terms of taxi quality, courtesy, availability and expertise. The respondents lashed the fleet as "a source of national shame" and "a serious threat to tourists -- rude bullies and extortionists". Salvation is in sight though, as a number of smaller, up-scale operators enter the market to provide a more expensive but quality taxi service for frustrated visitors and locals. The uniformed drivers, behind the wheels of smart new multi-purpose vehicles and sedans, switch on the meter as a matter of course and do not refuse destinations -- surprising and delighting commuters in the capital. Abdul Razak, operations manager for Dubai-based Citicab which launched here in January, said that even in poorer nations such as Thailand and Indonesia, taxis are smarter and the drivers far more courteous. "I would say it is the worst in this region, undoubtedly. I have travelled to all countries in this region and our company operates taxis in many parts of the world. The situation here is the worst I have seen," he told AFP. "The vehicles are in shabby condition, the driver will take you if he likes your face -- that is, if he agrees with where you want to go for the price he insists on." The government has called on taxi firms to lift their standards, but various campaigns have achieved little, and many blame the lack of enforcement on rampant corruption in the police and bureaucracy. "It is difficult for the roads and traffic department to take stern action," said a security officer at one city mall as he watched the touts swoop. "Taxi operators and the company which hold the licences are all linked to some politician or another," he said. "Drivers here are ruthless because they are unchecked by authorities who are almost non-existent." John Koldowski, from the Pacific Asia Travel Association, said that "less than desirable" taxi drivers have an outsize impact on a nation's image. "The first contact a tourist gets with locals is often during airport transits to hotels and it creates a very, very strong first impression, either be good or bad," he said. "Authorities certainly need to do their jobs and act upon any complaints strongly, quickly and visibly."

Thank god the mother who complain about a 1k bill didn't have a daughter like this http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,...,146904,00.html Caution, broadband lust Man gets $6,000 phone bill because he went overboard By Celine Lim November 06, 2007 DOWNLOADING fever can lead to raised temperatures. Take Mr Zhou Yong Liang for example, who got hot under the collar when he saw he was first billed $12,000 for exceeding his data downloading limit. He had signed up on 13 Sep for SingTel's Broadband on Mobile service, which has a 10GB-limit, for $22.42 a month. Two days later, the service was activated. Mr Zhou checked his email, surfed the internet and downloaded episodes of a TV drama series onto his phone. On 17 Sep, he got a call from SingTel at 10.45am informing him that he had busted the 10GB data limit by 3GB. He was to pay the excess charges of about $12,000 at a bank. Mr Zhou raised his case in the Lianhe Zaobao letters page last month. He said he got a second call at 2.16pm that same day from SingTel. This time, he was told that he would get a 50 per cent discount on the excess charges, bringing the bill down to about $6,000. His account was suspended at about 5pm the same day. A SingTel spokesman said: 'We have contacted Mr Zhou to explain to him the charging scheme of SingTel's Broadband on Mobile service. We have since resolved his matter.' He declined to say how, but added that the account user was happy with the resolution. He said that there have been a 'small handful' of customers who had similar complaints to Mr Zhou. Excess data download costs $3.80 per Mb so 1000Mb, or 1GB, would cost $3,800. That explains why Mr Zhou was charged about $12,000 at first for downloading the additional 3Gb. But that payment scheme applies to those who 'pay-as-you-use' while subscribers with a monthly plan, like Mr Zhou, get a 50 per cent discount off the excess charges. In other words, around $6,000. Singtel monthly subscribers pay 0.19 cents per kilobyte in 2KB blocks for excess data download. The spokesman said that the 10GB download limit is sufficient for the average person's needs. He explained that the service is meant for users to access the Internet 'while on the move' for about 15mins at a time. They can check their email or surf the Internet using their 3.5G phones or devices, which can stream videos, receive TV signals and send large files. BEWARE EXCESSIVE USE But some people use up more gigabytes than others. The spokesman explained that some use their Broadband on Mobile service in place of a modem to download files and videos to their handphone, transmitting the data to their laptops or computers via infrared communication. For example,downloading a five-minute video file would take up about 100MB. Downloading a 50-minute long drama serial would use up around 1GB of data. So downloading about 8hrs of drama would already use up the 10GB download limit for the month. The spokesman added that SingTel is currently working on a feature to alert users of their data usage when they reach 'a certain threshold', which has not been decided upon yet. A similar-priced plan with M1 offers a free 5Gb download limit for a $22.42 monthly fee. Excess data download is charged at $4.28 per GB, up to a maximum of 50Gb. Starhub charges pay-as-you-use customers 1.07cents per kb for excess download charges and 0.32 cents per kb for those on their $5.35 monthly plan. The maximum data charges are capped at $94.16 for both types of customers.

Spotted this car in Tiong Bahru Plaza carpark