DR Mahathir Mohamad’s refusal to adapt to the times shows that he does not understand the extent to which technological advancements benefit Malaysians, said Najib Razak.

Bernama reported the caretaker prime minister as saying the 93-year-old opposition leader is disregarding the fact that e-hailing services are essential to the people, following the latter’s pledge to review such services should Pakatan Harapan win the 14th general election.

Najib said Dr Mahathir’s pledge is an attempt to garner votes from taxi drivers.

“For those of you voting for the first time, you probably did not experience the years under Dr Mahathir. This is typical Mahathirism for you – it’s either his way or the highway,” he said on his Facebook and Twitter accounts.

“Just look at what he did to Proton. The national carmaker could have been a top multinational carmaker that is profitable and one that Malaysians can be proud of.

“Instead, it constantly needed government assistance and taxpayers’ money to compete.

“Do we want to go back to the old days, or do we want to move forward, as a nation, to greater heights?”

The Barisan Nasional chairman said the right approach to handling issues related to e-hailing services is to first recognise how they benefit the people, and at the same time, taxi drivers must be given support and aid so that they embrace new forms of technology and can buy new vehicles.

He added that the government has announced that all e-hailing and hire-car drivers are required to adhere to the same terms, conditions and regulations as taxi drivers, to ensure fair and healthy competition. – April 30, 2018.