Cabbies: Where is the loan?

A group of vexed taxi drivers protest in front of the MIC headquarters claiming that the party promised Tekun loans to them in the run-up to the 13th general election.

KUALA LUMPUR: A group of taxi drivers protested in front of the MIC headquarters this morning claiming that the party has promised Tekun loans to taxi drivers while campaigning for the recent general election.

The Kuala Lumpur Makkal Communication Taxi Drivers Association president K Muthu said the government, through the MIC, has promised Indian taxi drivers RM50 million of loan in the run-up to the general election, which was held in May.

He said the MIC made the promise through its vice-president M Saravanan on April 18 at an event in front of some 7,000 cabbies at the Batu Caves temple grounds.

The Special Secretariat For Empowerment of Indian Entrepreneurs (SEED) was supposed to have collaborated with Tekun Nasional to provide special loans to Indian cabbies to ease their burden.

Saravanan, who is the current Youth and Sports deputy minister, hadsaid the Malaysian Associated Indian Chambers of Commerce (MAICCI) president Kenneth Eswaran and the Tekun Chief Executive Officer Abdul Rahim Hassan have promised to deliver the loan within a week from April 18.

“However, it is already three months. BN and its leaders have failed to deliver,” Muthu told reporters after the protest. The group also handed over a memorandum on the matter to the MIC.

“We are not stupid to fall for this empty promise. We want the government to fulfill its promise to the taxi drivers,” he added.

He also wants MIC to disburse the loan instead of SEED as “SEED is arrogant and not transparent.”

He also urged MIC to look into the alleged fraud involving a private taxi association, which he claimed was “close to SEED.”

Muthu said he has lodged a police report against the said taxi association and SEED on the matter.