Faced with an imminent crackdown on its services by the Road Transport Department (JPJ) on October 1, mobile app-powered ridesharing service Uber is going on a charm offensive to get Malaysians to petition the authorities to allow it to keep operating.
In a post published today on the company’s official blog written by Chan Park, Uber’s head of expansion for Asia Pacific (except China), Uber made an appeal to Malaysians to exercise their power of choice, and to appeal the authorities – namely the JPJ and the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) – to relent on their crackdown on what Uber deems to be services that fully comply with Malaysian law.
Park also takes care to draw out the lines in this debate – which he frames as being one between Uber and its innovative open-source approach to public transportation, and the established taxi cab industry. Park also notes that Malaysians are keen on having Uber as a transportation choice, and that traditional taxi services are in dire need of reform – not protection against new business models.
Uber supporters are asked to spread the hashtag #ChooseUberMY on their social networks, and to post this message in particular, aimed directly at the powers that be:
“I #chooseUberMY for a safe and affordable ride. @KP_JPJ, @JPJ_Malaysiaand @aduanSPAD should too”
There’s no telling if an appeal of this sort this late in the game will be enough to get Uber back in the Federal Government’s good graces, or if the Malaysian taxi cab industry will win out.
See Also:
SPAD warns Uber to comply with Malaysian law
JPJ to begin crackdown on Uber next month
Uber accuses JPJ of protecting ‘unreliable taxi drivers’
Reader Interactions