GRAB DRIVER A YOUTUBE SENSATION
Sabahan shares conversations with passengers on Facebook
THREE years ago, Saulus Ginpun, fondly known as Tumatik, from Kampung Dudar in Kota Belud, moved here to earn a living as an e-hailing driver.
The 29-year-old Dusun man started out as an Uber driver and after a year, switched to Grab.
While driving passengers, he recorded his conversations with them and shared the footage on Facebook.
Little did he know that his videos garnered many likes and views, with Netizens requesting him to post more.
Most of his conversations are humorous, especially when he communicated with foreign tourists in English.
“I am not good in English and I failed the subject in school. When I get foreign tourists, I have no choice but to converse in the language.
“I use words I learnt from primary to secondary schools. I just ‘hantam’ (go with it). Most of the time, they understood what I said. If not, they pretended to understand and responded with ‘ahh okay’,” he told the New Straits Times.
From video-sharing, Saulus found himself becoming a wellknown YouTuber. Everywhere he goes, people will take photographs with him.
The fourth child of 10 siblings has fans from Sarawak and the peninsula.
Apart from locals, Saulus’ passengers include tourists from France, China, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, the United States, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Australia and Russia.
“I find Chinese and Russian tourists the hardest to communicate with, especially when they don’t speak English. My English is bad, but theirs is worse.”
His popularity has earned him endorsement deals with local and international businesses to promote their services, products and tourism.
A non-governmental organisation has engaged him, where he was challenged to send contributions to orphanages in the state within 70 hours.
“I have travelled to most of the districts in Sabah and Labuan.
“One of the purposes of my videos is to promote Sabah’s attractions.”
On whether his passengers were aware of him posting videos of them, he said he installed cameras in his car for safety reasons.
“I respect my passengers. Before they leave the car, I will tell them about the cameras and ask them if it is okay to post the videos. If they say no, I will not post them.”