Grabcar is a great contribution to the mobility of the travelling public 24/7 for great convenience.

Grabcar is a great contribution to the mobility of the travelling public 24/7 for great convenience.

But a great tragedy had happened to the e-hailing service in the double festive seasons of Ramadan and Kaamatan when a driver was killed by two passengers in the darkness of night.

Was the motive really robbery when only RM80 was reported to have changed hands when the hard working driver from Kota Belud worked extra hours to earn more for the festive season?  The alleged murderers could have known that their identities were recorded in Grab system for the trip.  So there is consolation at the least that they could be tracked and arrested by the Police within days after the tragedy.

Was the crime really committed by a local and a PTI as reported?  I would believe they are both foreigners including project IC holder who are out to destroy Sabah relatively peaceful society for such a grievous and heinous crime.  Foreign tourists always using e-hailing service could be taken aback for such security tragedy. So what is the Government doing about the outsiders out-number the locals now in Sabah?

Whatever happened has tremendous adverse impact on the e-hailing service as it is mooted that very few drivers would work at night hence the travelling consumers could face problems getting grabcars.

E-hailing service had only come to Sabah for a few years with the pioneer Uber and since then Grab has taken over Uber allowing Grab to dominate the market for sometimes since 2018 with latest entries of lesser known groups such as MyCar and Boride.

There are so many bright sides for e-hailing service in Sabah and please don’t let a fatal accident or incident of murder to curtail its contribution to mobility at all hours.

There maybe a few thousand Gradcar drivers in Kota Kinabalu including lady drivers earning well for some months already.  It is so convenient to get a driver within a few minutes except inevitable cancellations of bookings at times and also arriving at various destinations at fair prices without the worry of finding parkings with cash and pre-paid arrangement online. 

Another great attraction is that the drivers can also choose the hours of works whilst also attending to family needs and also decide how much they want to make daily.

Another great characteristic of e-hailing service is that it does cement the public relationship of multi religious and racial community when the drivers and the passengers are from any groups in Sabah and always a great chance to share their views in the short and long trips. It does help to mitigate any “discrimination” of sort in this complex society.  We have a great chance to mix well in the society.

Also the  drivers do posture themselves well with all sort of good conversations as the drivers are of various age groups and a variety of status in society including many professionals and very experienced retired people trying to earn good money to help with family rising expenses.  This is indeed a plus sign for community advancement if we compare with the existing taxi service which is a sunset industry.

Another advantage to the travelling consumers is that they can enjoy the brief comfort of freshly minted factory scented cars and various luxurious posh ones normally out of reach to most people.

From my experience many drivers also come from Sarawak and outlying towns in Sabah including Sandakan and Tawau coming to Kota Kinabalu to find better income opportunities when part time services are also available.

With the first fatal tragedy possibly committed by drugs addicts and illegal foreigners, it is hoped that the authorities and operators take measures to rid the root causes of danger or harm hence mitigate scenarios of very bad behaviour of such consumers in our midst.  There are other unreported minor cases of non payments of fares.

Joshua Y C Kong  31/5/2019