Some 250 taxi drivers today gathered at Padang Merbok in Kuala Lumpur to protest against the Land Public Transport Commission (Spad) and urge the government to ban the “Uberteksi” and “Grabcar” applications.

They came from around the Klang Valley and had gathered since 10am, chanting " Hidup teksi " and carrying placards with the mesages “Say no to Uber” and “Mr PM please help us”.

Some of them were honking their cars and blowing vuvuzuelas.

Also seen at the protest was PAS central committee member Nasaruddin Tantawi.

The organisers are targeting 10,000 taxi drivers from around the Klang Valley to participate in the five-hour protest, scheduled to start at noon and end at 5pm.

By 11am, around 300 drivers had arrived, and they will be marching towards Parliament to submit two memorandums of protests.

According to their spokesperson, the memorandums will be submitted to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Opposition Leader Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Around 500 drivers arrived along Jalan Parlimen at around 11.35am but were stopped by the police and told to wait about 100 metres from the Parliament gate.

Klang Valley Taxi Drivers Association coordinator Kamaruddin Mohd Hussain said the rally was organised to uphold the drivers’ welfare, claiming that Spad had failed in its role to do so.

“Spad has failed to respond to the government’s call to implement certain moves that will protect the drivers’ economic welfare.

“(Spad chairman) Syed Hamid Albar often gave the excuse that it is beyond their power to eradicate private cars and Uber that have badly affected taxi drivers’ income,” said Kamaruddin.

‘Seeking Najib’s sympathy’

According to Kamaruddin, the rally was also held to seek sympathy from Najib, urging him to pay more attention to their problems.

“Today we stand under the sun and maybe soon, the rain, not to go against the government or play up issues of politics or race,” said Kamaruddin who stressed that the drivers just wanted to show their unhappiness with Spad.

He added that the drivers will also respect orders from the police for them not to hold the protest at KLCC, Dataran Merdeka or Bukit Bintang.

While Kamaruddin expressed disappointment that no BN representative had received their memorandum, Wan Azizah had came out of Parliament to meet them at around noon, along with PKR vice-president Tian Chua and PAS central committee member Nasaruddin Hassan.

Wan Azizah, who noted that the drivers are being burdened by the payment for permit to rent their taxi, said: “We believe that this charge must be abolished in order for the drivers to compete with Uber and GrabCar.”

Nasaruddin, meanwhile, stressed that the government has a duty to listen to the grouses of taxi drivers, including to ban any other services found to have disrupted their operations.

“We already have the Teksi 1Malaysia. Why can’t it be strengthened? Why do we need other companies?” asked the Temerloh MP.

‘Bigger protest planned’

At around 1.50pm, Kamaruddin warned that the government can expect a bigger protest on KL’s main roads next week, if it fails to respond to their demands.

Asked whether they will be blocking the roads, he said: “That is for sure.”

“We are giving the government one week to respond. If they fail, we will hold a meeting and maybe plan another rally to be called Peaceful Rally 2,” he said.

The organisers had initially targeted 10,000 taxi drivers to participate in the five-hour protest, starting at noon, but they dispersed peacefully at around 3pm after failing to meet with any representative from the government.