NAJIB Razak has questioned the Finance Ministry’s announcement that the MRT and LRT feeder bus service will be replaced by cars from ride-sharing firm Grab, pointing out that previously Pakatan Harapan supporters had linked the company to his wife Rosmah Mansor.

The former prime minister in a Facebook post today said that before the 14th general election, supporters of PH had said that Rosmah is the owner of Uber and Grab.

“So, if my wife is the Grab owner, why does PH want to use Grab (now)? Claims that my wife is the owner of Grab and Uber is just another lie by PH to incite public anger against me and my wife,” he said.

He was responding to the government’s announcement that e-hailing company Grab may soon provide transport services for commuters at MRT stations.

Najib said that Uber is a US company and is currently worth US$72 billion (RM300 billion) while Grab is a local company initiated by young Malaysian entrepreneurs during his administration.

“Grab which started as MyTaxi, had successfully competed and replaced Uber in Malaysia and Southeast Asia – an achievement for the country.

“If my wife is the founder and owner of Uber and Grab, then she is the most successful entrepreneur in Malaysia and overseas. Unfortunately, this is not true. My wife has nothing to do with Uber and Grab.”

Najib said that after GE14, he met several taxi drivers and some of them apologised to him for being deceived by this slander because they were competing with Uber and Grab for their livelihood.

“Taxi drivers were told that the PH government would declare Uber and Grab as illegal in Malaysia if they won. That’s why they also help campaign for PH and chided the Barisan Nasional government every time they carry passengers.

“It’s a very cunning tactic by PH to cheat and use taxi drivers and poison the thought of people because PH knows that taxi drivers are meeting many people daily.”

Najib said that he can see that many Malaysians were happy with the e-hailing service during BN’s time, as many Malaysian drivers also earned extra income when they become Grab or Uber drivers.

“As seen in many countries, it is quite difficult to ban Uber and Grab as it only requires a smartphone app.

“At that time, I also needed to balance the needs of Malaysians who benefited from the e-hailing service and the taxi industry’s needs.

“For that, I feel that there should be healthy competition for all services. Our plan was to regulate Uber and Grab while ensuring that the government provided more assistance to taxi drivers so they can also compete together.” – October 13, 2018.