Klang Valley Taxi Association chairman Zailani Isa Usuludin slammed Umno Youth member Syed Rosli Jamalullail for a Facebook post in which he allegedly labelled taxi drivers as “sial” (damned).
Zailani said as a leader, Syed Rosli should have had better manners.
“He has no right to lash out to any human being the way he did, or call them by derogatory names.
“But by doing so, he has shown malicious intent to create conflict between taxi drivers and the drivers of e-hailing services.
“If he doesn’t apologise, we will take this matter to court,” Zailani told FMT.
In the Facebook post, Syed Rosli apparently said taxi drivers were from a damned lineage and that the public, including “the Bangladeshis do not want you”.
In another post uploaded on his page on Tuesday, Syed Rosli justified his initial statement by pointing out that taxi drivers were wrong for labelling Uber and GrabCar as illegal or that e-hailing drivers had been feeding their families with illegal incomes.
Commenting on the post, Zailani said the only thing taxi drivers were pushing for was for e-hailing services to be regulated.
Although conceding that some taxi drivers may have made mistakes in the past, he argued that mistakes happened in all other agencies including those under the government’s purview.
“We are not jealous of Uber and GrabCar drivers. In fact, we have met some of them and explained that we just want them to follow the law.
“And presently, there is no law legalising those services, or allowing personal vehicles to be used for commercial purposes.
“The lack of regulation will ultimately affect the drivers, passengers, and also the public,” Zailani said.
E-hailing services, however, were legalised in August this year.
The provision to monitor them was made possible following the passing of the Land Public Transport (Amendment) Bill 2017 and the Commercial Vehicles Licencing Board Act (Amendment) Bill 2017 in the Dewan Rakyat.
Meanwhile, Zailani said he and others from various taxi associations had attempted contacting Syed Rosli but their calls and messages had not been returned.
“So now we have lodged police reports nationwide, asking for action to be taken against him.
“Because what he said can cause outrage and disrupt public peace.
“What would happen if all taxi drivers decided to take to the streets and hold a protest over his statement?”