BUKIT MERTAJAM: A group of tour bus operators today lodged a police report against five federal ministries for “failing” to help them during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Northern Coalition of Tour Bus Operators’ chief Ahmad Ruslan Abdul Latiff said the government rubbed salt into their wounds when Budget 2021 ignored their pleas for help, especially in having their loan repayment moratoriums extended.
This led them to lodge a report against the finance, transport, tourism and culture, domestic trade and consumer affairs and the housing and local government ministries today.
Ahmad Ruslan said the police report was made to “get the attention” of the government after their repeated pleas for help over the past few months were ignored.
He said one of the requests was for the government to take over debts raked up by bus operators in buying buses and financing their operations through credit companies.
Ruslan said not all bus operators got their loans from banks.
He said their main problem was settling insurance premiums for the buses as they now had zero income.
He said this had caused many of them to sell their buses in order to pay up, with some being declared bankrupt. He claimed at least 1,200 buses in the northern region had been sold off to date.
“In our predicament, we are now forced to wash plates, sell burgers and make cakes to put food on the table,” he claimed.
He said his group had given Putrajaya an ultimatum to urgently attend to their problems or they would protest next Monday.
Operator Aziz Zainal Abidin, an owner of eight tour buses, said he had to pay RM72,000 in insurance premiums and didn’t have the money to do so. - FMT
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