A chat with a cab driver at Bintulu

A cab driver can tell you a lot of stories. It’s part of their job to drive and talk to the people from all walks of life and thus, sometimes you can really have a good conversation or exchange of ideas with the cab drivers. While travelling from Bintulu airport to the hotel, the cab driver really surprised me with his political views and the most daring thing that this guy had said was he hoped that the white-hair could end up like Chen Sui-Bien, the infamous former President of Taiwan who is now jailed for corruptions.

He said the white-hair has made tremendous wealth during his long tenure as a chief minister but the commoners in remote areas of Sarawak are still struggling for bread and butter. As more and more jungles were logged and planted with oil palm, in the way benefiting the businessmen and their political allies, the natives are struggling to cope with the lost of their native lands and livelihoods.

I told him that his dream will never materialize as long as our political landscape remains status-quo and he agreed. He hoped that the present state government could be toppled in the upcoming election, the way he was saying was not without any disgruntles. I laughed and said that it would be highly unlikely as the past few by-elections have shown that the people are now in favor of BN.

The old cab driver sighed and agreed with me somewhat disappointedly as this country has been run by the same government since independence and there is really nothing we could do to those corrupted ones as long as they remain in the government. Unlike Taiwan, when Chen Sui-Bien stepped down as the President, he was prosecuted for corruptions but should Ah Bien remains as president or his party won the presidency, he will still be as free as a bird.

Commoners like us are hoping to elect a government which is fair and just to each and every one but if the same government is ruling a country for too long, or the same leaders are sitting in the positions for too long, there bound to be weak on check and balance and it would breed endless corruption.