I can resign, Mahathir tells rude cabbies

(FMT) – An irate Dr Mahathir Mohamad today said he was prepared to step down as prime minister in response to several taxi drivers leaving a dialogue midway, the New Straits Times (NST) reported.

According to the English daily, some taxi drivers refused to accept Mahathir’s explanation on Grab at the dialogue — held in Langkawi — which sparked the walkout.

“If you don’t want me to be prime minister, today I’ll resign. Not a problem for me,” NST quoted the Langkawi MP as saying.

A group of 10 cabbies, the paper reported, behaved rudely and created a commotion as well as used foul language prior to staging their walkout.

The dialogue with the prime minister saw some 200 Langkawi taxi drivers claiming that their livelihood was affected by the e-hailing service, accusing it of “stealing” their customers.

Earlier, Mahathir said Grab would be required to use vehicles approved by the government as well as pay insurance and taxes just like normal taxis in a bid to ensure fair competition.

“I have brought this up in Cabinet. I told the minister (of transport) to fix it but, unfortunately, there has been no progress,” the NST quoted him as saying.

Mahathir also said he too felt it was unfair, but he could not give any assurance that the e-hailing service would be abolished.

“But we can make them equal to taxis,” he said.

Taxi associations had previously urged both the Barisan Nasional administration and the Pakatan Harapan government to ban Grab saying it affected the livelihood of cabbies nationwide.