Words can easily be twisted and altered, which is why no one is absolutely safe from getting their words blown out of proportion – and that includes politicians too!
Recently, Dr Mahathir’s (Dr M) words were blown out of proportion by a local newspaper. They had misinterpreted his words by stating that he promised to abolish e-hailing services.
Source: The Star
The newspaper allegedly quoted Dr M saying that Grab “ruins the livelihood” of normal taxi drivers.
Obviously upset by the news, he called out the newspaper and labelled it “fake news” on his Facebook page. He also cleared the air by saying that he promised to revise the act, not abolish e-hailing services entirely. Dr M intends to do that because he wants to make sure that both parties (Grab and taxis) can benefit.
Source: The Sun
He then proceeded to ask his Facebook page followers to spread the message to the masses.
“Please spread this message to the people so that they know how desperate the pro-BN media is,” he wrote.
The message must have gotten around quickly (it got 2k shares in two hours!) because it had somehow caught the attention of Dato’ Sri Najib Razak, who shared his two cents on Dr M’s decision to review the e-hailing services act if Pakatan Harapan (PH) wins.
Source: Astro Awatni
Likewise, he too took to Facebook to express his opinion. An excerpt of his post reads:
“The right approach to e-hailing services is to incorporate their benefits for the people, while at the same time assisting our taxi drivers to embrace new technologies and helping them to buy new vehicles.”
Source: KL Expat & Deal Street Asia
Not only that, he also listed out all initiatives Barisan Nasional (BN) had taken to help taxi drivers make a living and to help the two services to coexist. Amongst the ones he had listed out are;
- The 1Malaysia Taxi Assistance Card
- Automatic approval for BR1M
- TR1MA – insurance funded by the government for taxis registered with SPAD and LPKP Sabah/Sarawak
- The taxi trade-in scheme
- Personal insurance
- RM200 million allocation via Bank Simpanan Nasional for taxi drivers to get loans
- Review of taxi fares
- Taxi Industry Transformation Programme (TITP)
- RM5,000 grant to purchase new vehicles for taxi drivers who want to convert to e-hailing
- Requiring Grab to adhere to the same terms, conditions and regulations as taxis – “to create fair and healthy competition”
Hmm… interesting initiatives!
What do you think of Dr M’s promise and Dato’ Najib’s counter argument? Let us know in the comments below!
Also read: Tun Mahathir Shares Heartfelt Message for Malaysian Youths as GE14 Approaches
