KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 — Following the decision to allow more economic sectors to operate and ease the financial burdens suffered during the movement control order (MCO), among those who are still suffering are private cabbies.

As many Malaysians decided to remain home despite being allowed to go to work under the conditional movement control order (CMCO), Malay Mail spoke to several taxi drivers who said the scarcity in passengers has been a trend of late now made worst with the stay-home orders that started on March 18.

For Su Ah Hoi, 68, waiting in line at the KL Sentral cabbie stand for customers meant possibly waiting for money to buy his next meal, explaining how business has been almost non-existent since mid-March.

"There are not many people outside and business isn’t that good; nobody wants to go out, there are roadblocks everywhere, so even we (taxi drivers) are scared to go out.

"But, if I stay at home, money won’t be coming in, so I still have to go out and work to get some money,” he said.

When asked if the dangers of getting infected had any effect in discouraging him from going out to work, Su said that ultimately he was the breadwinner and needed to work to put food on the table.

"Even if the situation is dangerous now, you still need money to eat; if you don’t work then you won’t have money to eat,” he exclaimed.

Su, who has been driving his taxi for more than 10-years, explained how he had left his home only a handful of times since the MCO was enforced, explaining he had done so mainly to maintain the upkeep of his taxi’s engine.

Su, who spoke to us early this morning, was unfortunately still anticipating his first customer of the day some three hours later along with a line of other cabbies also waiting for passengers.

Taxi driver Yee Kee Chong speaks to Malay Mail at the Taman Maluri LRT station May 4, 2020. — Picture by Firdaus Latif

Also weighing in were cabbies Yee Kee Chong and Leh Seng Heng, who said they felt today as just like any other working day, despite the enforcement of the CMCO.

For them, waiting for a potential customer could take up to three hours, if they're lucky.

"Well, it's not that we don't want to find any clients, but the truth is there is no passenger, to begin with,” said the duo when met at the Taman Maluri LRT station taxi stand this morning.

According to Yee, they usually earned between RM70 and RM80 daily before the CMCO, with many Malaysians now choosing to confine themselves at home.

"Now we can't even earn RM30 a day!” the 59-year-old exclaimed while pointing towards the line of taxis queuing up at the stand.

Leh also lamented that in a normal working shift from 6am until 6pm, there were only a handful of passengers available.

"Most of our passengers, construction labourers and students have seen a major decreased since the MCO,” he said.