PUTRAJAYA: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has been given 24 hours to explain his political secretary Tony Pua’s statement on talks to be held between the government and Grab on feeder services to the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) stations.
Big Blue Taxi Facilities Sdn Bhd (Big Blue Taxi) adviser Datuk Shamsubahrin Ismail, the spokesman for the Taxi Drivers Association, also questioned why such a policy statement was issued by Pua and not the minister himself.
“We want to know why only Grab is being chosen and not the 45 Malaysian taxi companies combined?
“If the government only allows Grab, what will happen to the taxi-metered drivers that queue from morning to night at all MRT and LRT (stations),” he said after handing a protest memorandum regarding the matter to the Finance Ministry today.
Shamsubahrin said it was baffling that a policy decision involving the livelihood of taxi drivers was being handled by Tony Pua instead of the minister.
“We give the finance minister 24 hours to meet us. We want to resolve this issue,” he said.
The memorandum was handed to the Treasury’s Corporate and Communication Strategy Division secretary Suhaili Ahmad.
About 200 taxi drivers have gathered in front of the Finance Ministry to protest over the government’s plan to hold talks with e-hailing company Grab to provide complementary transport services to MRT users.
Shamsubahrin warned should the meeting fail to happen before the 24 hours deadline, taxi drivers would hold demonstrations nationwide.
“We had high hopes that things will change for the better for taxi drivers after the 14th general election (GE14). But, it seems that it is worse than before,” he said.
Shamsubahrin was reported to have said last week that the government’s decision to hold talks with Grab was unfair as it showed that the government failed to consider other stakeholders.