Car wash quantity discounts markets in everything

Here’s an offer that a lot of drivers would have a tough time turning down: free sex after nine car washes. [TC: is that such a good offer?]

Police near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, cracked down last week after getting wind of the unique offer from the teaming of a car wash and a massage parlor in the suburb of Sunway Mentari, the Malay Mail reports.

‘Racists!’
Absolutely, and Malaysia is quite explicitly racist in its framework –

‘Growing reaction to presumed Malay supremacy over other races earns disquiet from India and other countries Malaysia’s racial policies look as though they could become an international issue rather than a purely domestic one. The protest organized by the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF) in Kuala Lumpur on November 25 not only drew international attention to the plight of the Malaysian Indian community, it reminded a wider audience, not least an increasingly self-confident Chinese one, of the discrimination faced by nearly half the nation’s population.’

And from an older Time article (talking about protests in 2007, and an appeal to Queen Elizabeth and the British government) –

‘It’s a worry many ethnic Indians share. Making up some 8% of Malaysia’s population (Malays make up about 60 percent, ethnic Chinese about 25 percent), Indians are historically underprivileged compared to other ethnic groups and have long felt discriminated against, particularly by a Malays-first affirmative action policy instituted after independence in 1957. “Our community is backward, our schools are dilapidated. We are the last in the line for jobs, scholarships, health benefits,” says opposition lawmaker Kulasegaran Murugesan, an ethnic Tamil. Hindraf, modeled after right-wing Hindu nationalist groups in India, is winning support by demanding an increased share of Malaysia’s wealth. “For over a decade we have been appealing to the government for help to alleviate our poverty but all our appeals had fell on deaf ears,” says Uthayakumar Ponnusamy, Hindraf’s legal adviser. “The British brought us here, exploited us for 150 years and left us to the mercy of a Malay Muslim government. They should compensate us now.” ‘

At almost seems as if government policy is more responsible for the plight of groups in society than the individuals of that group. I’m sure that the usual group of posters will be able to explain why the Indians in Malaysia are not like the Indians in the U.S., using more of their fascinatingly elastic genetic knowldedge to show how ‘race’ in one country is not the same as ‘race’ in another.

And fascinating fun fact – GMU used to have a very significant number of Malaysian students in the very early 90s. The Malay women, in keeping with being in public at school, wore tudung –

‘Tudong is a Malay word, literally meaning the noun “cover”, which is commonly translated/referred to as veil or headscarf in English.

In Malaysia and Brunei, the tudong is worn in accordance to Islam’s hijab. Usually, the tudong covers the hair while leaving the face exposed. It is part of the standard dress code for office work, school uniforms and formal occasions.’

Strangely, I don’t recall a single word at the time about how threatening all those of Muslim students were, or how GMU was obviously part of the plot to implement sharia law..

malaysiaSeptember 28, 2012 at 1:14 am

From what I remember about Indians in Malaysia is that it was mostly lower-caste Indians that went to Malaysia originally. They worked in low-class professions and had no real opportunity to make it up the ranks until very recently in a very strict system. Alas there might be in exception in law, where Indians are supposedly highly represented by upper-caste Indians.

prior_approvalSeptember 28, 2012 at 1:25 am

Well, that sounds quite similar in outline to how a group of American citizens experienced Jim Crow government for almost a century. Where essentially the same set of government policies led to essentially the same results. Almost as if society, and the rules it applies to groups as defined by that society, plays a larger role in human affairs than anything else.

Back in the 1990’s Muslims had a reputation for being militarily incompetent to a comical degree. Today they’re the world’s most feared military force. How times have changed.

Ted CraigSeptember 27, 2012 at 2:54 pm

This has been the basis for a number of movies that have aired on Cinemax.

deariemeSeptember 27, 2012 at 4:15 pm

Some wives probably are given free sex whether or not they wash the car.

deariemeSeptember 27, 2012 at 4:18 pm

But on a serious note, why do people wash their cars? We live in a dry part of the world but apart from washing the windows and headlamps, and the occasional targeting of bird droppings, we don’t wash, preferring to let the rain do the work.

If that offer were available around here it would do me no good, as it would be impossible to find a hooker who meets my …. specifications.

MDSeptember 27, 2012 at 8:39 pm

Okay, that’s just creepy.

Ranjit SureshSeptember 27, 2012 at 9:07 pm

Anyone who isn’t a 15 year old girl shouldn’t be throwing around words like “creepy”.

MDSeptember 28, 2012 at 12:26 am

Anyone who isn’t 15-year- old girl shouldn’t be throwing around phrases like “throwing around.”

CarelessSeptember 28, 2012 at 6:07 pm

For a fetish, it’s pretty tame.

BillSeptember 27, 2012 at 8:02 pm

Steamy windows?

Nick_LSeptember 27, 2012 at 8:25 pm

Would Ricardo have felt obliged to use this service? I’m assuming that the car washers and the ladies of negotiable virtue are not involved in both activities. Perhaps the writers of Breaking Bad are missing out on a new angle for Walt’s activities.

AndySeptember 27, 2012 at 11:36 pm

So how is this different from Houston?

DavidSeptember 28, 2012 at 4:34 am

Nah, bundling always destroys value.

LFSeptember 28, 2012 at 6:02 am

If the sex was free, then how is that prostitution? If you say that the customers paid for the sex through the nine car washes, does that mean that anyone that bought nine car washes, just to wash their car with no intention of getting “free” sex or even with no knowledge of the free sex offer, is also guilty of soliciting prostitution?