Urgent action on Uber, zero action on rogue taxi drivers… What gives?

That settles it then, the so-called "Rakyat di dahulukan" mantra by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and all his Barisan Nasional colleagues is pure hogwash. Yes, it is hogwash, Mr Prime Minister.

As if there were not enough reasons out there to make a mockery of this message, since the PM came out with it five years ago, the latest cause reeks of pure selfishness, greed and even callousness on the part of the government.

It was reported on Monday that the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), the Road Transport Department (RTD) and the police are going after licensed transport service providers who are facilitating their cars to pick-up customers via the Uber smartphone app, from October 1.

If not anything else, this confirms what people knew all the time, that is, the authorities are in cahoots with rogue taxi drivers as well as the crony-owned taxi companies and coupon-system operators at the airports, transport hubs and large malls.

How else can one look at this new development, if not with such a view and that the authorities are only caring for a few against the best interests of the population at large.

There have been thousands of complaints made against taxi drivers who are over-charging, refusing to use the meters, unwilling to pick up passengers for particular destinations, rude behaviour, threatening passengers, abusing passengers, threatening honest taxi drivers, and the list goes on.

Yet, the rogue taxi drivers at transport hubs like LRT stations, Pudu Sentral (formerly Puduraya) and KL Sentral as well as the KLCC and other tourist areas in downtown KL continue to thrive.

They have grown simply because it has become a "if you can beat 'em, join 'em" scenario in how more taxi drivers, who may have been previously fair-minded, are forced to follow these bad practices knowing that the bad-hats are still out there every day with absolutely no enforcement carried out.

This begs the question, why are SPAD, RTD and the police so diligently following up on the complaints of a taxi drivers' group and some VIPs in Putrajaya, when the thousands of complaints from the public and tourists have not been acted upon.

Even local daily The Star carried out a "sting" just two years ago at Puduraya and other areas in KL where many foreigners tend to be, after Kuala Lumpur was reported to have earned the "worst taxi drivers" tag in some travel websites.

A local journalist with Caucasian features (she's Eurasian), carrying a tape recorder, and with photographers covering from afar, was able to expose at least 10 of these rogue taxi drivers in just one day. It was front-page news, but did anything come of it? Zero, nada, zilch.

Setting the record straight

Uber has met the demand for an honest, professional and, most importantly, convenient service to the public and even to thousands of tourists, who were already registered as customers in their home country and found it to be most useful and trustworthy when they arrive in Kuala Lumpur.

There are a lot of false impressions and outright lies being thrown about by the authorities and the people with vested interests about the service that Uber provides.

Let me set the record straight here.

I had my doubts at first too. But in order to verify and possibly find that it was not as good as it was made out to be, I went to the source and also registered and paid to experience the service first-hand.

It became clear from talking to the main people behind Uber and the drivers of the cars I boarded, that Uber is all above board.

As reported here before, Uber is only a mobile device App, like WhatsApp, Viber, Waze, Soundhound, Angry Birds, etc. Whatever the reason you might use any of these Apps, they are only used on your smartphone or tablet devices.

Uber neither owns nor operates any form of transport services in any of the countries where they have a presence. The same way that Viber and other similar services are also not registered in Malaysia, or in any other country, to provide telecommunications services.

They exist in "the Cloud" to borrow a popular term these days, the virtual world that is out there and present in all our mobile devices.

Uber, like Expedia and Agoda, is just a facilitator in match-making customers (registered users) with the service required.

Until Uber came along, I did not know that there were licensed public transport service providers in Malaysia. These companies own cars which are then leased out, with or without drivers, to private firms, hotels, and also sometimes on a per diem rental.

I always thought businesses and hotels had their own cars, but I suppose for some, it makes sense to outsource such a service. Car rental services have always been around anyhow, be it international marquee brands or local lesser-known operators.

So, the question is: if Uber is helping these local businesses to expand, and at the same time providing a great service to people who want clean, trustworthy and convenient services via these existing public transport service providers, how can it be illegal?

Are hotels, businesses and car rental services in Malaysia mostly operating with cars that are "illegal" as the authorities are claiming? I think not.

Having spoken to the drivers and checking the companies that they are working for, it is all above board, and the drivers have their proper licence for public transport, besides the cars being registered accordingly.

And the authorities also dare to talk about safety and insurance issues. Have you seen the condition of taxis in the Klang Valley?

The irony is that many taxi drivers are also not having the requisite PSV drivers' license, because they are moonlighting and covering for their friends/relative who have the license.

And, by the way, Uber is not banned in Germany anymore, after the courts lifted the ban recently.

Finally, Uber serves a different market – tech savvy people with credit cards and who are willing to register their cards for use online.

There are hundreds of thousands more people who either don't believe in online transactions, have no credit cards, or belong to an older generation who might not be comfortable with apps on smartphones, tablets and iPads.

That would mean that both regular taxi services and Uber can co-exist. Why deprive the rest of us who are willing, from having this alternative transport service.

So, who are the authorities really looking after here? What are their priorities, the public or rogue taxi drivers and cronies? – September 23, 2014.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.

For more on Uber:

Taxi companies want action against Uber for taking their customers

SPAD treads carefully with Uber despite grouses

Reform taxi services instead of going after Uber, SPAD told