Referring to the recent statement made by the Malaysian Land Public Transport Commission (Spad) that the ride-sharing company Uber needs to obey the law, I strongly agree with the sentiment. However, I do not believe that the solution is to declare it illegal.

The Uber service offers passengers what they want a Malaysian taxi to be; professional, clean, comfortable and for the right price which they are willing to pay for.

Uber in Malaysia has been made a success not by the company’s disregard of any of the government’s laws, but the failures of both Spad and the taxi companies to bring up the industry as a whole.

The commission’s own data shows that it has 61,439 taxis servicing peninsula Malaysia, with 43 percent of these licensed to companies. As such, why is Spad taking out a fledgling company instead of asking them how they have successfully made taxis both affordable and professional when compared to the other companies in Malaysia?

And with due respect, Spad should be backing Uber instead of taxi companies which mistreat their own drivers. Was it not Spad’s goal to discontinue all taxi companies and ensure that all taxis were driven by their respective owners as a long term goal?

In fact, Uber has managed to achieve three out of four of the components in Spad’s Taxi Transformation Plan which is listed on the commission’s own website! It improves their drivers’ livelihood, reduced operational cost and is well-known as a world class taxi system.

This is what Uber has achieved because Spad took too long to dismantle the mechanisms to achieve this goal.

As such, it is unwise to punish a company that has promoted the evolution of the taxi industry in Malaysia.

You do not discredit something that has public support on a grand, international scale. Instead, Spad should be telling taxi companies to bring themselves up to compete on a similar basis.

As for Uber, it needs to ensure that whatever it does is within the current laws, seeing as how the last component is regulatory collaboration. Other than that, keep doing what you are doing, Uber. You have my gratitude and that of many Malaysians who have experienced your first class service.