End Of The Road For Penang’s Rickshaws
|
|
www.nst.com By Casey Ng “I have nothing but strength for sale”. In this light, the rickshaw, trishaw, taxicab or beca, is more than just an eco-friendly mode of transport. It is also a social statement of poverty.
From Mumbai to Manila, rickshaw pullers are a prominent feature of Asian streets; they are the ones who brave rain and shine to eke a meagre living.
Many of us would remember Patrick Swayze in the movie, City of Joy, which is set against the impoverished section of Calcutta, India. It tells the story of rickshaw puller Hasari Pal and his family’s daily struggles to make ends meet.
Closer to home, the 1955 award-winning movie Penarek Beca, starring Tan Sri P. Ramlee, told the tragic love story of a rich girl and a poor rickshaw puller, depicting class discrimination. It became a hit overnight. The film brought a new sense of pride to rickshaw pullers and many soon followed their hero’s dress sense when plying their trade.
Today, as our quality of life improves, the intimate portrait of the beca, sadly, has become a legacy fighting for survival. While it can still be seen making the rounds in Penang, Malacca and Kota Baru, the beca is slowly turning into a museum showpiece.
The modern beca is a pedal-powered trishaw rather than one that’s pulled by runners. It ferries tourists through narrow lanes, offering them a closer view of the neighbourhood in an unhurried manner.
In busy Georgetown, Penang, the locals describe a ride in a beca as suicidal rather than a joy and those who insist on taking a beca are urged to pick younger riders. Most trishaw-men are well past their prime though in all fairness, with all that workout from daily pedalling, they have a strength that belies their age.
“We have to pay the municipal council an annual licence fee of RM30,” laments Mohd Syed Kamaruddeen, 62, who stops for a breather at Jalan Hutton, Penang. He must also produce a health certificate for the licence renewal.
With the help of tour agents – for a cut of his earnings – Mohd Syed is booked at 7pm to join other trishaw-men at Penang Road to ferry a group of Taiwanese holidaymakers around the city, weather permitting. With less traffic, ferrying passengers at night is safer and cooler too.
Unsure how long he can continue pedalling, Mohd Syed prefers his children to work in factories instead and loathes the idea of them following in his footsteps. Given a choice, he too would prefer to do something else.
In all honesty, with shoestring earnings and occupational hazards, keeping the beca tradition alive doesn’t really do justice to trishaw operators themselves.
With rising standards of living, the beca is on a one-way road to a natural demise. So, while some becas are still around, seek them out and take a ride down memory lane before it reaches the end of the road. |
Back to main page
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
World Islamic Tourism Mart / Malaysia
WITM 2012 InCoMTHU Conference will feature quality and world renown speakers not only from Malaysia but from around the globe. In its 6th Year, the WITM InCoMTHU Conference 2012 will have speakers fro (16/05/2012)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Showing 12 news articles Back
To Top
|
|