Taxi bodies want changes to Act halted

PETALING JAYA: Taxi drivers are counting on amendments to the Land Public Transport Act being halted at the coming Parliament meeting.
They want the authorities to come up with a holistic solution to the problems faced by the industry.
This was the view expressed by Klang Valley Taxi Drivers Action Committee chairman Zailani Isausuludin at the Malaysian Taxi Drivers Congress today.
Zailani said taxi drivers are against the government's decision to legalise e-hailing service providers Uber and Grab.
He also said all taxi associations nationwide will finally be under one umbrella body soon as its members have agreed to form a union which will look after their welfare.
Zailani said the group will try its best to establish the union this month, with the pro-tem committee comprising representatives from different associations.
"Once we have established the union, our first course of action is to submit a letter to Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri informing her that all the taxi drivers nationwide are against the appointment of former Felda Global Venture Holding Bhd (FGV) chairman Tan Sri Isa Samad as Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) acting chairman.
"We are against the appointment because he is currently under investigation by the authorities," Zailani said when met at the congress today.
Isa was assigned to his new position by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak on June 19, the same day he resigned as FGV chairman.
Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli, who was at the congress, said he will be submitting a motion at the upcoming Parliament meeting to delay the tabling of the amendment to the Land Public Transport Act.
The amendments, once passed, would allow SPAD to regulate the e-hailing service industry.
"In the next meeting, I will be submitting a 14-day motion as a way to delay the government's plan in tabling the amendments because it is important we resolve all the long-standing issues plaguing the taxi industry so that some of these issues will not be passed down to the e-hailing service providers, Uber and Grab."
"At the same time, this would also ensure all problems faced by taxi drivers can be really resolved before any new legislation is tabled and passed," Rafizi said in his speech at the congress.
Some of the long-standing issues faced include insufficient permits or licences issued to taxi drivers who wish to go private, the daily rental and additional charges the group has to pay to taxi companies and the high profit routes like the airport routes they have shared with e-hailing drivers, Rafizi said.