KUALA LUMPUR: The government should reintroduce the Dego Ride motorcycle taxi service in support of local products, instead of bringing Gojek in.
This was the opinion of Big Blue Capital (M) Sdn Bhd founder Datuk Shamsubahrin Ismail.
Speaking at a press conference, here, today, Shamsubahrin said allowing a foreign transport system to operate here would only produce many negative effects.
Shamsubahrin said these include foreign currency outflows, as well as the risk of foreign companies closing down and moving out if they were faced with problems.
“At least, we can have some control over local products like the Dego Ride, as opposed to foreign ones.
"Therefore, I feel it is better to support local products that have proven successful," he told reporters, here, today.
The Dego Ride was first introduced in 2016 at fares as low as RM2.50 for the first 3km around the Klang Valley.
However, in January 2017, Deputy Minister of Transport Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi, said his ministry had never issued a license to motorcycle ride-hailing service operators as it was in violation of the country's traffic regulations.
According to Shamsubahrin, he had no objection if the government insisted on introducing Gojek as a means of boosting the income of youth in the country.
"But I only hope no one would pin the blame on others should GoJek cause problems later on, especially with regard to security," he added.