Najib urges gov't to allocate PPR housing units for cabbies

Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak has urged the government to consider providing taxi drivers with People's Housing Project (PPR) units.

According to Najib, this is because taxi drivers often have unstable income, which makes home ownership difficult.

"This is what they are unsatisfied with, aside from their welfare. Particularly housing, because many of them were not considered for PPR housing although they applied.

"I don't think its fair to them because they are hardworking Malaysians. They work for long hours, and they need houses at the lowest possible price because of their unstable incomes.

"In my opinion, the government should consider giving PPR houses to taxi drivers," he said at a press conference in his Kuala Lumpur home.

Najib had earlier met with Big Blue Taxi Facilities founder Shamsubahrin Ismail and several taxi drivers.

During the meeting, he said the taxi drivers conveyed their unhappiness with e-hailing service providers, particularly those who pick up and drop off passengers at KLIA.

"Blue Taxi had voiced their unhappiness towards e-hailing services... (among others) the loose conditions imposed on Grab drivers, that they can wear shorts (while working).

"Aside from that, Grab drivers park their cars in KLIA, although e-hailing vehicles are not supposed to do that," he said.

On Jan 8, the Malaysian E-hailing Service Drivers Association (Mehda) urged the Road Transport Department to clarify its ruling that e-hailing vehicles are not allowed to wait at public spaces – including airports – for passengers.

At the time, Shamsubahrin urged Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd to close down the designated waiting bays for e-hailing services drivers at airports.

Najib today further pledged to go down to the ground and see for himself the problems faced by taxi drivers.

When pointed out that these problems began during his administration, Najib insisted BN had done their best to help taxi drivers, including through an RM5,000 grant to purchase new taxis.

Last November, Transport Minister Anthony Loke reiterated that the government would not give in to their demands for a ban on e-hailing services using private cars, particularly Grab.

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