200 Malaysian taxi drivers hold 4-hour protest against Uber and Grab

Two hundred taxi drivers congregated in the town centre of Malaysia's Penang state on Wednesday morning, in a four-hour protest against Uber and Grab apps.

Local papers reported that the drivers stood in front of the Esplanade area in George Town between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., to plead with the government not to legalise the ride-hailing apps that they say are taking business away from them.

The government said last week it was considering drafting the proper legal framework to allow U.S.-based Uber and Singapore-headquartered Grab -- the two most-used ride-hailing apps in Malaysia -- to co-exist with traditional taxis.

The cabinet is expected to approve the services on Wednesday. The ride-hailing apps allow regular cars to ferry passengers, and taxi drivers say this has driven their business down with the new supply of drivers into the market.

One of the drivers told The Star his daily earnings have dropped from RM200 ($50) to RM50 ($12) as a result of people getting into Uber and Grab cars.

Sabah has temporarily banned Uber.

Taxi drivers in Penang have been emboldened in their efforts to shut down the apps, after another Malaysian state, Sabah, decided to temporarily ban Uber earlier this week. The Sabah authorities decided that Uber was a "pirate" cab service, and drivers were unregistered -- and therefore illegal.

The Penang protest follows ongoing reports of violence against Uber and Grab drivers across Malaysia. On Wednesday, the police in Brickfields in the outskirts of the capital of Kuala Lumpur said a Grab driver was accosted by a group of angry taxi drivers during a pickup.

The cabbies dented the Grab driver's car and broke his window, while forcing his passengers to get out of the vehicle.

Last November, 250 taxi drivers in Kuala Lumpur marched in the streets against Uber and Grab.

Neighbouring Indonesia has seen similar anger from the taxi community. A huge mob of 10,000 angry cabbies brought the capital of Jakarta to a standstill in March.

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