The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has issued a 12-month conditional warning to Mr Kamaruzzaman Abdul Latiff – the Go-Jek driver who was involved in the Go-Jek “hostage situation” video that went viral on social media, earlier this year.
The viral video captures an exchange between Mr Kamaruzzaman and an irate passenger in his private-hire vehicle. The passenger accused him of taking her “hostage”. In the video, she is indignant that the driver did not bypass an ERP point as he ferried her to her destination and picks a fight with him.
When Mr Kamaruzzaman stands up for himself and says that he will take her to the nearest police station to settle the matter, the passenger becomes even more irate and accuses the driver of being “rogue and dangerous” and of taking her hostage, before calling someone on her phone who demands that the driver drop her off.
When Mr Kamaruzzaman pulls up to an AETOS auxilliary police officer to ask directions to the nearest police station, the passenger screams that she is a hostage and is shocked that the car is auto-locked. When she finally gets out of the vehicle, the passenger demands: “Is it because I’m Chinese?”
The video of the encounter quickly went viral and support poured forth for 49-year-old Mr Kamaruzzaman. The LTA, however, has given him a warning for his “unauthorised recording” and for the disclosure of the clip involving the passenger and himself.
A spokesperson representing the statutory board, that is under the Transport Ministry, said today (8 May): “LTA would like to remind all taxi drivers and private-hire car drivers that they are not allowed to make recordings within their vehicles without LTA’s approval or disclose recordings to unauthorised personnel. This is to ensure commuter privacy, safety and protection of personal data.”
The conditional warning means that Mr Kamaruzzaman must maintain a clean record for the next 12 months. His license, however, will not be revoked since the demerit points he earned did not cross the threshold for license revocation under the Vocational Licence Demerit Points System.-/TISG
https://theindependent.sg.sg/is-it-because-im-chinese-hilarious-go-jek-hostage-situation-continues-viral-streak-and-spawns-memes-galore/