KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 — Gabungan Teksi SeMalaysia (GTSM) today filed a complaint with the Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC), claiming there was unhealthy competition between taxi operators and e-hailing service Grab.
GTSM president Kamarudin Mohd Hussain said there was evidence showing manipulation through the Grab app which displayed taxi fares as being higher than usual.
“The MyCC has received our (GTSM) complaint and I have also provided evidence to them for further investigation,” he told reporters after lodging the complaint at Menara Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (SSM) (SSM) here today.
He was accompanied by several other top GTSM members including deputy president Mohamad Yusoff S.Ibrahim.
Kamarudin, however, declined to provide further details regarding the complaint.
Kamarudin said that a similar complaint had been lodged previously, but was ignored.
“Alhamdulillah, after the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government came to power, this complaint was well received by MyCC,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kamarudin also expressed regret and apologised to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on the actions of several taxi drivers who marched out of the hall during Dr Mahathir’s dialogue session with the Langkawi Taxi Driver’s Association on Sunday (Oct 21).
Meanwhile, taxi drivers’ representative Datuk Shamsubahrin Ismail said the Malaysian Public Transport Users Association’s proposal to suspend the licenses and permit of taxi drivers who joined a protest over the matter was uncalled for, as they did not understand the difficulties faced by the taxi drivers.
“It’s easy for people to make such proposals but they do not know what taxi drivers are facing. I’d suggest to them to try and drive a taxi, only then will they know why the taxi drivers are protesting.
“We are actually angry because there has been no action taken to create an equal playing field between e-hailing services and taxi drivers,” he said when contacted.
Taxi driver Zulhasri Osman, 67, said the most important thing was to find a win-win solution for all parties involved. — Bernama
