Rent-a-car lecturers

My dad gave me this piece of news from the newspaper and I read in awe that it actually made it to the front page of The Borneo Post on Friday, February 2, 2007:

(FULL NEWS HERE)

Source: The Borneo Post Online

And why the hell I did not even blink when reading this? Obviously, this sewa kereta thingy is not only happening here in Kuching, Sarawak. Heck, I bet all universities (read L-O-C-A-L-U-N-I-V-E-R-S-I-T-Y) are facing the same problem. In fact, I personally do not think that this is a problem at all.

In UUM, not only the lecturers renting out cars to students, some of the students themselves are renting out cars to desperate-to-go-out-but-don't-want-to-take-the-bus students here. The non-lecturer staff also doing the same thing. There was once when I was paying saman for returning overdue books at the library, upon scanning my metric card, a conversation between the staff and me followed:

Staff: Biasanye you pegi airpot pakai apa?
Clare: Tak tentu.
Staff: Nak kete tak?
Clare: Tengok keadaan. Kekadang pakai bas turun KL, pastu balik ikut KLIA.
*[Thinking: What the fuck am I doing here and tell him all that? And how the hell he knows I 'fly' back?]*
Staff: Kalo nak kete you bole call I
Clare: Oh, kete sapu ye?
Staff: *nodding*
Clare: Berape anta gi airpot?
Staff: RM35
Clare: Oh...You ade anta gi Jetty Kuala Perlis tak?
Staff: Ade. Nak gi Langkawi ye?
Clare: Ye. Berapa?
Staff: RM40
Clare: Mahal lah. Ari tu saye pegi pak cik tu charge RM35 je.
Staff: Sape tu?
Clare: Staff library jugak. Dia pakai Waja itam.
Staff: Oh, tu member I.

Then after the fine-paying process was completed, he handed me his handphone number 'just-in-case' I need transportation to the airport.

**(That is exactly how Malay language is spoken in UUM. I only speak like that in UUM, not back home because I don't really like the way Malay is spoken there. Not Bahasa Baku at all - I am patriotic, no? LOL!)

Half an hour later then I realized that he knew where I came from when reading my information in my metric card. *slap myself*

So, this is how the staff and lecturers managed to fish the unsuspecting customers. This is true because we never know when we are in desperate need for a car a.k.a. kereta sapu.

This is a very good business to invest in, better than investing in stock market. You can always gain money from renting out your Kancil. Business is usually at its peak during weekends i.e. Thursday, Friday and Saturday (Weekend in Kedah falls on Friday and Saturday, different time zone though). The rental range from RM5 per hour to RM60 per day, or RM40 for half a day according to your preference.

The condition of the rented Kancil isn't at its best. The fuel meter always purposely points at the 'Empty' sign even after you filled up the petrol. So, you never know how much petrol left in the tank or how much petrol is filled. Therefore, we have to grow some smart brain cells to assume and estimate the amount of petrol to fill based on our destination and also the condition of the Kancil. Some of the Kancil are modified and very fuel-consuming. These Kancil will sure enough end up in my blacklist forever. It takes an hour's journey from UUM to Alor Setar. Usually I pumped only RM15 for the whole to-and-from-and-around trip. The modified Kancil will, of course, consume more petrol.

Summore hor, since the pointer always points to 'Empty' a scene of si huey or mati engine, in short, stranded in the middle of nowhere is so common that we usually laughed our ass off when we drove past these poor chaps! LOL!!!

I have a whole list of handphone numbers of kereta sewa as well as kereta sapu in my phone book. They are all around the campus and off campus, owned by both staff and students. Even so, it is very hard to get a kereta sewa during weekends especially if you call every one of them in such short notice. Based on personal experience, all the kereta sewa is rented out during weekends. So, even if you are in desperate need of a car, you won't get one.

Anyone wanna partnership with me doing kereta-sapu-cum-kereta-sewa business???