Cabbie says Bersih good for business

“I wish I could cope,” a taxi driver tells our reporter.

KUALA LUMPUR: Business was brisk for some taxi drivers in the city on June 9, according to one of them.

A cabbie who drove a FMT reporter from Jalan Tun Sambanthan to Bangsar during the Bersih rally said he, like many others in the business, was not able to cope with the day’s demand for taxis.

“Too many people are hailing taxis today; I wish I could cope and earn lots of money,” he said, requesting that he be identified only as “Abang Din”.

“But the police are spoiling it by closing roads into the city centre. So I can only pick up passengers going to locations that are not blocked.”

Our reporter referred to earlier reports quoting a spokesman for the Kuala Lumpur Taxi Drivers’ Association as saying that business would be bad on July 9. Pak Din said the spokesman probably represented “only two or three drivers” who were either unduly worried or wanted to show that they supported the government.

Business also seemed to be good for restaurants. One restaurant owner told our reporter with a smile: “There are a lot of hungry people today, much much more than the usual Saturday crowd.”