Talk to us, not Pakatan, Spad tells cabbies

Less than 24 hours after a a meeting between some 500 taxi drivers with top opposition leaders, the Land Public Transport Comission (Spad) has called on taxi drivers not to politicise their grouses.

"Public transport is a public interest matter. I would like public interest matters to be depoliticised. It is not for the opposition to determine that public transportation is efficient (or otherwise)," said Spad chairperson Syed Hamid Albar.

Syed Hamid said the representatives from the Kuala Lumpur-Selangor Taxi Drivers' Welfare Association which organised a massive gathering at Petaling Jaya yesterday had not met with the comission.

"If they have a problem, come and engage us, we are prepared to listen (but) they have not engaged us yet. We are calling them," he said.

Earlier, Syed Hamid - who had held the home and foreign affairs ministries - said the commission had already conducted a survey on taxi drivers and related industry stakeholders from July 15 to July 27 to find out their grouses.

"We have collected alot of details and we are planning to submit it to the government in September," he said.

Last night, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim addressing a gathering of about 500 taxi drivers in Petaling Jaya and vowed stop issuing taxi permits en-block to companies and issue it direct to individuals instead if the coalition takes overPutrajaya.

Anwar called on the cabbies, however, to act as Pakatan "agents" to spread the word on the need for political change.

He said he hoped that the taxi drivers could help explain policies and and distribute component party organs such as Harakah, Suara Keadilan and Roket to their customers.

The gathering organised by the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor taxi drivers welfare organisation was held to highlight their grievancesand push forward their ten-point demands for better working conditions.

Among the demands are a social security scheme (Socso) for taxi drivers, a pension and special personal housing loan scheme, and a review of their insurance premium rate.

The association also called for a stop to the handing of taxi permits in bulk to companies and an amendment to the taxi renting system to encourage personal ownership of taxi vehicles. - Malaysiakini