With the fuel price increase, my friend Robert and I wanted to take a bus to Suria KLCC two Saturdays ago. We wanted to avoid driving there like we always did to save on petrol and the exorbitant parking fees. We stay in Pandan Perdana which is about a 15-minute journey by car from the landmark. We knew that RapidKL buses serving our housing estate were inaccessible but we wanted to try our luck to see if anything has changed since. The following two pictures tell a compelling story that disabled people all over Malaysia are facing.
Photo by Wuan.
Photo by Wuan.
Without an accessible public transport system, most of us are stuck at home watching the world pass by. We have to miss out on educational and employment opportunities. Our social life is limited to people who come to visit us at home which is far and few in between. We are unable to participate effectively in social, cultural, religious and political activities. We are like katak di bawah tempurung (frog living under the coconut shell) not due to our own doing but because our needs are ignored and are often delegated to the lowest of priorities. If nothing is being done to address this issue, disabled people will still be in this deplorable situation when Malaysia becomes a developed nation by 2020 which is just a short 12 years away.