It is getting better

LAST week I wrote about the less than flattering condition of many of our coffee shops. A number of people wrote to me. Most agreed that things could be better but a few felt that I was unduly negative.

“Compared to … (name of country), we are okay.”

I do appreciate that there are places in some countries (I have been to a few) where one has to completely switch off one’s peripheral vision and focus single-mindedly on the fare in front of one’s eyes. However, my point is that we should not compare ourselves with the worst and feel complacent about our situation. Rather, we must emulate the best and strive to achieve the salubrious condition pertaining to such places.

Here, I am not talking about the international chain of cafes found in swanky places and malls. These are outlets where one does not expect much change back from RM10 for a cup of coffee. No, I am referring to that uniquely Sarawakian (or is it Malaysian) phenomenon — the coffee shops where for the price of a java in one of those fancy cafes, one can get a hearty meal and with tea or coffee thrown in. These are the haunts of the common Tom, Dick and Harry (though I have spotted a few Datuks as well). I believe that if we can uplift conditions of these popular places it bodes well for the whole nation.

Thus, I was more than happy to be corrected by one of the readers who wrote with a somewhat theatrical bent, “methinks thou dost protest too much”. He went on to name a few places where one would be proud to bring visitors, foreign or otherwise. So, I spent a rather pleasant week doing ‘research’ on the places he mentioned. He is right, there is a new breed of coffee shops in town.

These are places run by proprietors who do not fit in the mould of one Mr Lim. Mr Lim is the owner of an eating-place I used to frequent. I must say that the food there is good. One day, I noted that the toilets were graded just a ‘C’ by the local council. (Our local council has this scheme where they grade the general hygiene of eateries.)

“It does not matter if our toilet is graded ‘C’ as long as our food is ‘A’,” retorted Mr Lim rather smugly.

No, in these new places they are aiming for an ‘A’ for food and the premises. Here you wouldn’t find those rather stained plastic tables and flimsy chairs, on which a stout person should sit with great care. These brave souls take a gamble in investing a big sum of money to set a new standard. They are like the crew of the Enterprise in the movie ‘Star Trek’ — “to boldly go where no one has gone before”, well, at least where the aforementioned Mr Lim refused to go.

I was told by the owners that it was rather nerve-racking at first. It seemed that people were taken aback by the standard. They were reluctant to come in, thinking that the food might be too pricey, no doubt scarred by their experiences at the mega coffee chains of this world. Some people were not ready in another way. They were not ready to find the toilets spanking clean, decorated with flowers and equipped with air fresheners. The lowlifes among them even took to stealing the flowers and the air fresheners!

Anyway, after the initial shock, the public took to this new breed of coffee shops with gusto. In one of the shops I discovered that during peak hours it is ‘standing room’ only. I was told not to go there on a weekend. It is as bad as Hong Kong on a busy day. (In Hong Kong it is common for the patrons to share tables with complete strangers. So used are the people in that populous region to that state of affairs that they are adept in creating a bubble of privacy around themselves. They can go through an entire meal without uttering a word or making eye contact with their ‘not fellow’ diners.)

There is a happy sequel to this story of success. Noting the success of the pioneers, many copycats took to opening similar businesses nearby and thereby taking the load off the initial shops. This is one instance where I applaud the copycats.

So for those who lament the conditions here (me included), the emergence of this new breed of coffee shops is like a light at the end of a tunnel. If we are talking about lights, one that shines like a beacon, in terms of standard of excellence, is our Immigration Department.

Very often we hear our Ministers talking about establishing a world-class civil service. Well, our Immigration Department is world-class. Ours must be one of the very few in the world where one can get a passport done in two hours!

Such was my pleasant experience last week when I went to renew my passport. But so that you can understand why I wax lyrical about our situation here, let me put it against the background of my recent escapade in another country. I had to extend my visa and was directed to their Immigration Office. It was a very impressive building with many floors.

My driver advised me that it is better to employ the service of touts. Instinctively I refused, thinking that he was in cahoots with them. However, when one of the officers explained to me the procedure, I quickly saw the sense of the driver’s suggestion. Getting any document approved there is like playing a computer game. One has to go through a labyrinth of corridors and rooms, and in each place one has to collect a stamp for the document. I gladly paid one of men to do the running for me. It was quite a sight seeing him zooming up and down the building with a stack of paper and getting the requisite signatures and stamps on each sheet.

So now back to my encounter with our Immigration Department. As I walked from the car park a young man asked me if I needed my passport photo taken. Knowing that the Immigration Department is very particular about the dimension and framing of the photo to be used, I agreed. As I was waiting for the photo to be processed, his colleague asked if I needed any help in filling in the application form. Being someone who is averse to filling in forms and who can hardly read his own writing, I gladly accepted his offer. They trimmed my photos nicely and filled in the blanks in the form, all for the princely sum of RM13.

The passage up to the office was a breeze. My papers went through two counters for checking and re-checking, and then it was to the cashier who said, “Come back in two hours to collect your new passport.”

Two hours? I thought I heard wrongly. I remember in the 70s they used to say something like, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.” I am aware over the years they have improved — cutting down the processing period to four weeks, three weeks, one week, three days and now, two hours! Wow! Talk about continuous improvement and in search of excellence.

Still, some people are never satisfied. When I mentioned to my friend Stanley that one can get one’s passport done in two hours, he said it would be better if they can reduce it to one hour.

“Two hours is a bit awkward. If it is just one hour then I can nip down to the nearest coffee shop, have a meal and a coffee and come back just in time.” (Note: As of Friday, passport renewals via the newly-launched kiosk take just one hour.)

There you are, everything revolves around our famous coffee shops. So, it is important to ensure that they are clean and pleasant.

The writer can be contacted at [email protected].