Former deputy minister Ahmad Maslan has been touched by the plight of taxi drivers in Langkawi, who are reportedly struggling to make ends meet.

“How pitiful (kesian),” he tweeted in response to an Utusan Online report which noted how one driver only made RM10 from morning to evening.

“Taxi drivers elsewhere in the country do not earn much as well,” he added.

Therefore, the former deputy minister emphasised the need for a “win-win” formula between taxis and e-hailing services.

He said this was to ensure that the interest of all quarters are protected and nobody feels oppressed due to the new government's policies.

Ahmad Maslan also tweeted a photograph of the Utusan report, which featured the quotes of two taxi drivers.

Kesian pemandu teksi di #Langkawi. Ada yg dapat hanya rm10 sehari. Yg di tempat lain seluruh negara pun bukan dapat banyak rezeki. Mesti ada formula “win-win”, menang-menang dgn pihak2 berkaitan spt #Grab agar nasib semua terbela & tidaklah rasa tertindas dgn dasar2 #PH yg ada. pic.twitter.com/sNj3A0pAP5

— Ahmad Maslan (@ahmadmaslan) October 24, 2018

One of them, Senapi Mustapa said: “From morning until 4pm, only a single passenger. Fortunately, I got RM10. Before this, (there were instances), not even a single cent.”

The other driver, Ahmad Sidek Ani, trained his guns on the Pakatan Harapan government.

“After winning (the general election) and becoming government, they have abandoned all their promises and the plight of taxi drivers,” he added.

Meanwhile, PicknGo Sdn Bhd director Valerie Chan was quoted as stating that the taxi industry served as a source of income for 67,000 people.

Taxi drivers landed in the spotlight after several of them staged a walkout during a dialogue with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Langkawi.

They were reportedly upset over Mahathir's comment that Putrajaya would seek a mechanism to level the playing field between taxis and e-hailing services, instead of an outright ban of the latter.

Following this, former minister Zainuddin Maidin called on the government to pull the plug on taxi service.