30 injured as cabbies mob counters for fuel-aid cards

Some thirty taxi drivers were hurt after they were caught in a rush to grab cards for RM800 worth of fuel aid after the initiative was announced by caretaker prime minister Najib Abdul Razak today.

Following the announcement by Najib at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park in Serdang this afternoon, the 1Malaysia Taxi Aid cards were to be distributed by the Land Public Transport Commission (Spad) at 60 counters located outside the hall.

Many of the 10,000 taxi drivers present swarmed the counters despite calls for them to form an orderly queue.

The situation got tense when Spad decided to close the hall's metal shutters and temporarily halted the distribution until the situation became more orderly.

Following this, taxi drivers were seen yelling angry remarks at the police, Spad officials and Rela officers stationed there. An ambulance later arrived at the scene.

Videos shot by those present showed senior citizens and women falling to the floor and on top of each other as the crowd scrambled for the fuel aid cards.

Later, Spad confirmed that 30 taxi drivers suffered light injuries during the pandemonium.

“The drivers involved received immediate treatment whereas one person needed to be brought to the hospital for further treatment. Spad will cover the medical costs for that individual.

“Spad officials, the police and Rela took immediate action to control the situation and by 7 pm the situation was under control.

“The untoward incident happened when a small group failed to follow the rules when they entered the card collection hall,” the commission said in a statement.

The RM53.6 million worth of fuel aid for 67,000 taxi drivers nationwide will allow them to pump RM800 worth of fuel at any Petronas petrol station.

Cabbies blame Spad

While Spad laid the blame on the taxi drivers, cabbies Malaysiakini met felt that the commission should be blamed instead.

Taxi driver Abdul Hamid Daud said Spad had organised the aid distribution process poorly.

“It’s all the fault of the organiser.

“There was no proper planning and this is being done by people who have no experience (in handling crowds). If they had made proper lanes with ropes, people wouldn't have problems queuing up,” he said.

Malaysiakini, however, spotted that fencing had been set up for people to queue, but had been knocked down in the mad rush for the fuel cards.

Meanwhile, Mohd Nizam Mohd, who travelled from Pahang for the event, also blamed the chaos on Spad.

The self-professed Najib supporter was disappointed at how the commotion unfairly reflected on the caretaker prime minister’s image.

“I came here at noon because I really support this event... but Spad did not organise this properly, now Najib’s name is damaged because of this.

“But I will not queue up like this because I have my pride as a Malaysian,” he said.

Taxi driver David Michael lambasted the commission for underestimating the crowd and lamented his loss of earnings for the day.

“My earnings for the day is gone and my time is wasted (as I wait to collect my aid card).

“We thought they would give us cash vouchers today but they are giving us a card for petrol, that is all,” he told Malaysiakini. 

-Mkini