Dr M: I can quit if you want

LANGKAWI: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, seeing a group of disruptive taxi drivers walk out over their dissatisfaction with the Grab e-hailing service, said it would be “no problem for him if he were to resign today as Prime Minister”.

The meeting with members of a taxi drivers association turned chaotic when some 10 of them shouted offensive words and walked out of the room in Dewan Kencana here.

This came about as Dr Mahathir was telling them that he would continue to find the best way possible to resolve the issue.

After about two minutes and the situation had calmed down, Dr Mahathir said that as the Prime Minister, he was trying to help.

“If (you) don’t believe that I can (help), do it yourself. See what happens. I want to help but if you don’t help me, I cannot help.

“It’s not that I want to be a Prime Minister. I have retired but people call me back, that’s why I came. If you don’t want me to be the Prime Minister, I can resign today. It’s no problem for me,” he added.

Taxi drivers around the country have increasingly been unhappy about Grab, claiming that the e-hailing service was putting a dent to their business.

On Oct 17, a group of disgruntled taxi drivers held a protest in front of the Finance Ministry over the same issue. — Bernama