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In Malaysia, Taxi Trouble

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Earlier in May in Malaysia, a taxi driver with tinted windows allegedly raped a 17-year-old passenger. He was recently arrested, but a “newspaper noted that women were [still] arming themselves with self-defense products and reluctant to board empty buses. Community leaders and non-governmental organisations yesterday demanded that the authorities do something to better protect passengers.”  Seven women in another area were also allegedly raped by a man posing as a taxi driver who has since been arrested.

The taxi incidents are part of the larger problem of sexual harassment and assault on public transportation feared by many women in Malaysia.

“Selangor Community Awareness Association member and lawyer Honey Tan, said they wanted such attacks to stop and said one of the most common things to happen to women was sexual harassment on public transportation….

Subang Jaya assemblyperson Hannah Yeoh said she felt the Home Ministry should allocate more resources to crime prevention as she claimed many women were afraid to go out these days.”

Many countries have taxi services where women are the drivers for women passengers precisely because of these types of terrible incidents. While such a measure is surely a relief to worried and fearful female passengers, I think it is merely a band aid and doesn’t fix the real problem. Your thoughts?

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Taxi "Terror" in Australia

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According to Star News in Australia in an article with the classy title “Taxi terror prompts a warning for women,”

“A young woman said she was forced to flee a taxi and hide in the early hours of Sunday morning after the driver became aggressive when she rejected his sleazy advances.”

She filed a report with the police and the taxi company. The police chief said he,

“was unaware of her allegations but urged taxi passengers to remain vigilant. ‘The best thing to do is not to travel alone at night and don’t get in the front seat at any time.'”

Photo from ABC News
Photo from ABC News

How realistic is it for everyone to not take a taxi by oneself? Instead of saying something about how the police force would do all they could to investigate the allegations and/or pass new measures to make sure passengers are safe with taxi drivers, he focused on putting the responsibility for safety unfairly and sometimes unrealistically in the hands of the passengers. Not helpful!

The taxi company’s response was a bit more helpful. Peter Valentine said they will investigate the woman’s allegation and that the taxi company is currently in discussions about installing scanners to facilitate “safe city taxi ranks.” Much more helpful than telling people to not ride in taxis alone.

A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about women taxi drivers and women-only taxi services and discovered that in Brisbane, Australia, there are women-driven cabs for women passengers precisely because of male drivers harassing female passengers. I’m not a proponent of women-only forms of public transportation as a long-term solution because ultimately men’s harassing behavior must end, but I am curious to find out how the women only taxi service is going.

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Taxi “Terror” in Australia

By

According to Star News in Australia in an article with the classy title “Taxi terror prompts a warning for women,”

“A young woman said she was forced to flee a taxi and hide in the early hours of Sunday morning after the driver became aggressive when she rejected his sleazy advances.”

She filed a report with the police and the taxi company. The police chief said he,

“was unaware of her allegations but urged taxi passengers to remain vigilant. ‘The best thing to do is not to travel alone at night and don’t get in the front seat at any time.'”

Photo from ABC News
Photo from ABC News

How realistic is it for everyone to not take a taxi by oneself? Instead of saying something about how the police force would do all they could to investigate the allegations and/or pass new measures to make sure passengers are safe with taxi drivers, he focused on putting the responsibility for safety unfairly and sometimes unrealistically in the hands of the passengers. Not helpful!

The taxi company’s response was a bit more helpful. Peter Valentine said they will investigate the woman’s allegation and that the taxi company is currently in discussions about installing scanners to facilitate “safe city taxi ranks.” Much more helpful than telling people to not ride in taxis alone.

A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about women taxi drivers and women-only taxi services and discovered that in Brisbane, Australia, there are women-driven cabs for women passengers precisely because of male drivers harassing female passengers. I’m not a proponent of women-only forms of public transportation as a long-term solution because ultimately men’s harassing behavior must end, but I am curious to find out how the women only taxi service is going.

Share