I refer to the letter Police efficiency or 'revenge' in Bangsar?
The writer is one of the hundreds of thousands if not millions of Malaysians stricken with the unique Malaysian social disease of illegal parking. The writer justifies his act by saying he was ‘parking where everyone normally parks when they want to stop by the ATM to get some cash or in my case, to withdraw money to pay for my taxes (I am a good citizen)’.
If he is a good citizen he would not be parking illegally.
Haphazard and illegal parking is unique to Malaysia. You don't find it in our neighbours, Singapore or Thailand. Of course, the authorities are very efficient in Singapore, thereby arresting this problem in the bud.
In Thailand, I see cars parked behind others in shopping malls but the ‘rule’ there is to leave your handbrake off and the car in neutral gear so that it can be pushed away to ‘free’ the car which is blocked.
Of course, you don't see any of this selfish, irresponsible behaviour in developed countries like Japan, Australia, UK, etc.
I call this illegal parking phenomenon a social disease, where the perpetrators are selfish and lazy. They only want to park as close to their destination as possible.
They do not want to walk any further even if there's a legal parking space there. They feel it's their right to park there and all the person who is blocked has to do is to sound the horn and the perpetrator will come and move the car.
What about the note left on many cars that are blocking others asking the victim to call a number?
These selfish people have no sense of righteousness and they are totally self-centred. I blame this on the education system in Malaysia and the lack of enforcement by the authorities. And do you think this will go away? No.
As long as the authorities are lackadaisical in their enforcement and as long as courtesy and selflessness are not taught to the young in schools, this will continue. Ask any of your foreign friends about what's bad about Malaysia and I'm sure illegal parking will be one of their points.
I have seen victims sounding their car horns for minutes on end and there's no sign of the selfish person coming to move the car. What if there's an emergency?
In addition, illegal or double or triple parking contribute greatly to traffic jams as the moving lane becomes a parking lane due to the selfishness of these thoughtless perpetrators.
To the authorities in Bangsar, I applaud your efficiency and I hope this spreads all around Malaysia. Let's rid the country of this social disease.
The only lesson these selfish perpetrators know is when they are hit where it hurts (the wallet). When they get enough parking tickets, maybe their attitude will change.
To the writer, stop blaming the authorities for picking on Bangsar with it being out of BN hands. Bangsar is only one suburb that makes up the electorate region. What about Petaling Jaya which is many times the size of Bangsar?
I wish the authorities are more efficient there as I'm sick and fed up with these illegal parkers. The writer should be ashamed of him or herself for committing this selfish misdemeanour and then trying to paint a picture of being a good citizen who pays taxes. Millions of others pay their taxes too!
