Taxis and Foreigners - 9th Sept

I was driving to UM today when I noticed a foreigner (not sure from which part of the world, but he sure looks either American or British) standing at the roadside, hailing a taxi at a traffic light intersection. The taxi driver just waved at him, indicating that he does not want to take him. Observing him through the back-view mirror, he was not feeling dejected, and the foreigner hailed another taxi among the cars in the traffic light queue and again the driver did not want to ferry him to his destination. Mind that both taxis are not ferrying anyone at all. This really did surprise me. If it was only a single car, it would matter less if the other taxi would be willing to take him, but the fact that both taxis is not willing to do so shows a particularly disturbing trend.


I believe it is either that the taxi drivers could not speak English in which would be lots of trouble in communication later or that they're cautious and aware of foreigners. Both reasons doesn't seem to be portraying a good image of the country if a lot of taxi drivers in the country behave the way like the ones I've seen. This shows either the country is still lacking of English speakers or foreigners is assumed to be something that we have to be overly cautious of. Some people may ask: Why didn't you ferry him? Well, it's not that I wouldn't, but I'm going to a specific destination while taxis function is to ferry people around and if say he wants to go to the KLIA airport, how am I reject him if he's already in my car? Wouldn't it be harsh to ask him to get out of my car after being as so kind to volunteer to ferry him?