The Cab Driver with a Golden Heart

Aah, there are many cab drivers from hell and then there are as many angelic cab drivers too.

Just when I thought there is no end to this dark tunnel that spotlights - pun intended -everything-that-is-bad-about-our-cab-drivers, all of the sudden I saw a ray of light at the end of it, and it is not a choo-choo train coming at me!

You know, beyond my usual cab driver, David - a Peranakan from Melaka, and his counterpart Sham from Kajang, the two who would share the burden of driving me to KLIA everytime I need to travel, I don't actually trust any one else.

David and Sham, on the other hand, are someone you can depend your life on!

You see, I prefer to take the bus, which would stop at every bus stop; or I would walk, so that I would never be cheated by a cab driver, who would want either a fixed rate, or would take me on a convoluted way to reach my destination, both of which would cause a big hole in my pocket.

While I do think I know most of my way to my destination within KL, sometimes I do not know the path of least resistance or jalan tikus - that's how they would describe it in Jakarta; which may change with time of the day.

So in the end, I am always at their mercy and I would always be on the losing end.

Last November, a friend of mine went to the office and he accidently left his brand new Lenovo computer. He didn't realize it, until he was in the elevator. Upon noticing that he didn't have his computer bag, he immediately went down to the lobby, hoping that the cab driver would have noticed the bag at the back of his cab and was still be around.

An anxious looking Pete, caught on the CCTV looking for the cab. No, he was not with the gal on his right!

But luck was not with him that day. The cab and the cab driver were nowhere to be seen.

Back in the office, Pete was cursing on his luck. It was after all a brand new notebook. But more importantly the computer is his life - well, almost! There was little we could do. There was no info on the cab or the driver's identity, or the company he is with.

The best avenue would be for him to head back to Bandar Tun Razak LRT station where he took the cab. Again, luck was not with him.

Back in the office, someone suggested that he head to office building's maintenance office where they maintain a host of security cameras located at strategic location throughout the building complex.

Scrutinizing the photo of incoming and outgoing cab and the times as denoted on the photo, the maintenance staff shortlisted a couple of photo of a cab which could be the cab Peter might have taken.

Using the time stamp on the security photo, it was concluded, by the building maintenance staff that these are the cab and the cab driver that he left his notebook in, despite Pete's insistence that it was not. Anyway, no one could decipher the registration number of the cab. Mind you, these pics were taken in broad daylight. We managed to decipher the name of the driver as printed on his cab though. We were thinking of getting the FBI's help though!

But Peter had doubt on the shortlisted driver. Apparently he remembers him as being a lot thinner than this driver in the picture above - the above driver is a bit chubbier than he remembers him. And he was sure of this fact as he did have a good conversation with the driver.

Alas, the maintenance staff ignored his view and insisted that based on his analysis of the time, that was the cab Peter had came in.

So Peter was heading nowhere with his (private) investigation. I guess, while engineers are logical thinkers, we need cool mind and resources to crack the codes.

And cool minds we were lacking then.

And someone who is willing to listen to all the evidence and not make up conclusion without hearing all.

After nearly two hours, Peter had practically given up. It was not to be his day. He is beginning to resign to his fate.

Unless a miracle was to happen.

And it did. Suddenly we heard a knock on the door and in came the building security officer with with a man with a skull cap, carrying a black case containing the computer. He was the driver, the one that we had been waiting for.

He looked like an angel walking down the office with the black case; and he had restored my faith in humanity.

I had never seen anyone so relieved in his life - that's Peter of course; and I don't know whether he is going to cry or laugh.

He refused to be photographed; typical of a humble man, but untypical of people in this time and era. I however insisted on his picture, telling him it was only for my blog. While I would be the firstone to complain about bad service, very seldom I am as quick to give credit when one is due.

I want to rectify that.

Thank you sir, for you are an example of a towering Malaysian.

EPILOGUE

In hindsight, after digesting all the facts, I have serious doubt about the use of technology to solve crimes vis-a-vis the above incident. While the high tech stuff provide you with the comfort knowing that something will be captured on camera, it is by no mean, an end to itself.

1. The camera, while it looks like a high resolution, with a low light technology, was not able to identify the cab's registration number. We might need the FBI, or Hollywood to clarify the images! Remember Nurin's tragedy?

2. All the high tech equipment is only as good as the guy who handles them. In this case, the person insisted that the picture he printed out was the cab driver, even if Peter had doubted him based on the size of the person. To me, he's an idiot who thought he knew it all since he handled the camera, despite the 'victim's' insistence that the actual cab driver was a lot thinner.

This is very true too with the authority handling crime cases.

I wonder how competent are our policemen in handling all crime cases. Nurin's case still unsolved; neither is Nini's.