Singapore – We know how safety has become an issue for passengers of public transportation based on the incidents in the past. However, we still cannot be too quick to assume because there are still plenty of honest drivers out there. On January 31, 2019, a Go-Jek driver uploaded a video of his passenger, a woman, who was accusing him of kidnapping her when in fact he was only taking an alternative route.
Kamaruzzaman Bin Abdul Latiff showed everyone a glimpse of some of the types of passengers PHV drivers has to put up with.
This is his story, which he uploaded with a video recording of the encounter:
Just because the driver took a route with ERP, she started accusing him of kidnapping her and cheating her of her money. This made Kamaruzzaman record the incident.
The video started out with him deciding to take her to the nearest police station so that things could be settled civilly. The woman was also recording the driver on her phone while saying that he was cheating her. The driver responded that he did ask her to give him specific directions as to what route to take but she didn’t even know the way. She just kept saying that the route she normally took did not have any ERP gates hence her accusation that he was cheating her of her money.
Kamaruzzaman even said that he just wanted the trip to end and will not take her money and she could claim a refund from Go-Jek. From there, she became quiet and engrossed on her phone. The driver suggested for her to take a bus because it is cheaper. The woman then made a call and hid from the camera view. The driver asked why she was hiding if she had done nothing wrong, to which she replied “I’m not wrong. You don’t have the right to video me!”. But she was also taking a video of the driver so he just threw the accusation back at her.
During her call, she mentioned that the driver was taking her to Toa Payoh police station and that “he is a rogue and dangerous person.” The driver laughed and repeated “rogue and dangerous”. He just replied that he has got video footage as proof that he was not a dangerous driver.
The woman let the driver talk to the caller in which the latter made it known that he had the passenger’s location locked on his phone in case anything would happen to her. The driver repeated that he had proof that he was not driving dangerously while the caller kept trying to cut the conversation. Here, the driver said, “Never mind, I don’t want to talk to you, I don’t even know who you are. I am now going to the police station to settle everything.” The caller replied, “Listen to me, you have no right to take her hostage.” The driver, who seemed to be the only one thinking straight, said, “I am not taking her hostage. If I was taking her hostage, I would not be going to the police station.”
When they arrived at a place thought to be the police station, the woman rolled down her window and started shouting, “Sir, can you help me. He’s taking hostage of me!” The driver calmly talked to the police who said that they were not in a police station but gave him directions.
The woman tried to get out of the car but was shocked when the doors were locked. She kept shouting, “He locked the door! He locked the door!” while trying to get out, then demanded the driver to “Unlock the door NOW!” She added, “He’s taking hostage of me, unlock the door now!” Once out, she shouted some more and asked the driver if he was crazy. After repeating a few more times that he locked the door, Kamaruzzaman replied that the car had auto-lock. The police also tried calming her down and repeated that it was only auto-lock. The driver said that he never touched her to which the woman replied, “You didn’t touch me but you locked the door and you took me hostage!” It was the police’s turn to try and explain, “No, listen, it was not hostage, it was auto-lock.”
After a few more tries of trying to explain to the distressed woman what was happening, she asked, “Is it because I’m Chinese?”
Watch the 7-minute video here:
After few day of thinking. I guess i better to let it out. Pax accuse me of kidnapping her just bcoz of E.R.P….. i have already make police report & report to gojek. Be care to all phv driver. Blk 251 Bishan St 22 to 1 Coleman St @ 7.10am …..how to avoid ERP? She keep telling that i trying to cheat her. I ask her tell me if she know how to avoid ERP but she cant direct me to where should i go to avoid ERP.
Posted by Kamaruzzaman Bin Abdul Latiff on Thursday, 31 January 2019
Netizens, passengers and drivers alike are unanimously shaking their heads at the whole incident with some giving her the award for best actress.
Some of the comments can be seen below:
Countless memes have also been created because of this:
An update was given by Kamaruzzaman via the ROADS.sg Facebook page:
Update: “Ok, when I reached AETOS STATION she was making a lot of noise till Cisco officer talks to her. She quickly hails a cab (Trancab) trying to get away but stop by Cisco officer. They ask her for particular but she refuses to give them. So Cisco advice me to make a report as they will also have their own report and tell me I can come over if I need any help from them.”- Kamaruzzaman