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15 months on, ride gets rougher for Penang’s trishawmen

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Most are homeless and continue to live in their vehicles and depend on goodwill to survive.

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GEORGE TOWN:
Ibrahim Mohamad was a parking attendant for the Penang Island City Council for 12 years at the turn of the century.

Riding a bicycle along major streets here, he would collect 40 sen to 80 sen in parking fees and place handwritten tickets on the windshields. He made about RM1,800 a month, which was hefty by his standards.

Then, in 2014, the handwritten parking chit system was phased out with a coupon system. He and 300 others like him, mostly seniors, lost their jobs.

Ibrahim carried on for a while selling the coupons door to door but gave up as the commissions were small.

He then switched to trishaw pedalling at the World Heritage Site. Returns were handsome, as hundreds of cruise passengers would flock to the city from the Swettenham Pier.

On a good day, he made about RM80 to RM100.

But that all changed again when the MCO kicked in last year. The cruise terminals fell empty and the tourists were no more.

For 15 months now, the single man has been rendered homeless as he was unable to pay RM200 in rent for a room he shares with a few others.

Free Malaysia Today
Trishaw riders Ibrahim Mohamad (foreground) and Azmi Saad at Ah Quee Street, George Town, which they call home.

Today, he and his fellow trishaw rider Azmi Saad, 47, call the empty roads of George Town home.

They shower every other day at a nearby public toilet and their every meal depends on the donations they receive from strangers who see them camping in their trishaws.

This is the reality not for them alone, but for some 300 trishawmen in the tourist belts of George Town and Batu Ferringhi.

Ibrahim said he now slouches as his back hurts from sleeping in the trishaw.

He and Azmi have found refuge at a compound of a Merdeka-era city council flats at Ah Quee Street here, where Urban Life Volunteers, a group that helps the poor, operates.

Despite his problems, his thoughts are with the even less fortunate.

“Never mind us,” Ibrahim said. “What about the 100-odd trishaw folk around town who are homeless? The government must do something to help quickly.”

According to numbers revealed during a state government aid handout last year, there are about 300 trishaw pedallers in Penang.

Free Malaysia Today
St Mark’s School 1971-1974 alumni representative Vijay Xavier handing over a cheque for RM6,200 to Urban Life Volunteers founder Sarah Abdullah. They are flanked by Ibrahim Mohamad and Azmi Saad .

Ibrahim said a recent visit to the social welfare department (JKM) to ask for aid left him shocked. He said one of the requirements for monthly aid was to have a permanent house address.

“Why can’t the JKM people be a little lenient and understand our problems?” he asked.

Earlier, he received some aid from St Mark’s School Butterworth 1971 to 1974 alumni. Vijay Xavier, representing 33 former students, presented a RM6,200 donation to the Uban Life Volunteer group, which is helping homeless trishawmen.

Meanwhile, Persatuan Penarik Beca Pulau Pinang chief Abdul Latiff Mohd said the situation concerning trishawmen was dire.

He said most of the registered 80-odd members of his group were senior citizens and could not find jobs. They did not hope for handouts alone and had been willing to work hard as trishawmen.

“We do not even mind sweeping streets. I have asked the city council. But until now there is no news. How are we going to make even one ringgit when there is no one around during the lockdown?” he said.

The council gives a RM100 a month allowance to registered trishawmen, which is meant to supplement their meagre income, but without a job, the RM100 does not last long.

He said he had asked the city council to raise the amount to RM500, so they can afford rent and have a decent meal. The state government can afford this, he said, as even Melaka trishaw paddlers were given RM400 recently as pandemic aid.

Latiff said that before the pandemic, most trishaw paddlers earned RM1,000 to RM1,300 a month, mostly from foreign tourists. Most charged RM40 to RM60 an hour for a trip around the George Town World Heritage Site.

“Today, no one wants to ride, even for RM3 or RM5. We are literally begging for business. And we have nowhere to go as this beca is our home.”

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