It would be disastrous to have tourists come to Malaysia if nothing is done to correct the Third World mentality among our service providers. They will never come again. For instance:
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At KLIA there are touts offering taxi services charging exorbitant amounts upon innocent tourists. Year after year, nothing is done about this. Upon stepping into the arrival hall you'll get harassed by these touts and one just gets the feeling that they are out to rip you off.
KLIA is poorly maintained. The bags take too long to appear and the arrival hall is dark and dingy. Again, a problem with our maintenance attitude. We build palaces but maintenance is like at a dump site.
Ferry services, for example, as highlighted by
Alicia Au's complaint
. Instead of revoking the licences of these recalcitrant operators, the authorities are waiting for a fatal accident to happen before something is done.
Public transportation in KL and its suburbs are disjointed, insufficient, dirty and old. Somehow after all these years, the Klang Valley cannot come up with a systematic transport system which is on time, efficient and linked. Just look at Subang Jaya, there are no proper bus stops and busses stop wherever they fancy.
Snatch thefts and robberies are rampant with only a few of the culprits getting caught. The police need modern and more effective ways to investigate and bring to book criminals.
Our air quality is bad. There are still lots of lorries and busses spewing out smoke in sufficient quantities to make road signs and bridges blackish with soot...
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Our public amenities are appalling with the exception of Plus highway toilets which are well- managed. Tourist areas like for example, waterfall parks and beaches have dirty, smelly and wet toilets. Some even have no water or electricity eg, the Sungai Gabai waterfall in KL. This has been a problem for decades and although there is vast improvement, it is still a far cry from anything civilised.
Our parks and pedestrian walkways are not maintained. Try walking on the pedestrian curb on any street in KL (except Bintang walk, of course) and the suburbs. The tarred sidewalk usually ends in gravel or pot holes with broken curbs. It is not only unsightly, it is dangerous. We have many parks in the suburbs which are not maintained with broken pieces of wood and steel all about. If that doesn't give tourists a fright, I don't know what would.
