LANGKAWI: Somewhat upset by the action of several taxi drivers who took to leaving a dialogue midway, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he was prepared to resign as Prime Minister.
Stating the fact that he had retired before, the prime minister who was attending a dialogue session with Langkawi taxi drivers, here, today, remarked that the reason for his comeback was because many had asked for his help to fix the country.
During the dialogue session, some taxi drivers had refused to accept Dr Mahathir's explanation on Grab, leading to them walking out of the session while it was still taking place.
"If you don't want me to be Prime Minister, today I resign. Not a problem for me," he said.
The small group of 10 cabbies behaved in a rude manner as they uttered harsh words and made noise before staging their walkout while Dr Mahathir was giving an explanation on the issue of e-hailing.
The session saw the attendance of some 200 Langkawi taxi drivers who claimed that their livelihood was affected as Grab had been 'stealing' their customers.
Earlier, Dr Mahathir said Grab would be asked to use vehicles approved by the government as well as pay insurance and taxes just like normal taxis in a bid to ensure fair competition.
"I have brought this up in Cabinet... I told the minister (Transport) to fix it, but unfortunately, there has been no progress.
"I will try again... I too feel it is unfair. This matter has my attention but I cannot give my assurance that Grab will be abolished, but we can make them equal like taxis," he said.