Most dialogues are unproductive and some regressive

agency will be made accountable for the industry they are supposed to regulate and promote.

One case is the taxi industry, which everyone seems to know well but even the most knowledgeable are confused.

For example, many critics claimed that the underlying problem is taxi drivers paying RM50 a day for rental, which could be solved by issuing individual permits.

But no one asked taxi drivers, complaining of RM50 rental a day, why did they voluntarily pay several thousand ringgit as a deposit to take delivery of a taxi from a company and commit to repay the loan for the taxi under a rental-purchase scheme similar to a hire-purchase agreement? The rental of a taxi permit is actually RM20 a day or less.

For those who do not wish to rent or are unable to qualify for an individual permit, they could easily use a private car and get passengers using one or more of the 10 e-hailing apps operating in Malaysia.

This is particularly applicable in taxfree Langkawi where private cars are much cheaper without excise duty and many taxi drivers have switched to getting more passengers using Grab. Only the stubborn and those insisting on charging higher or fixed fares continue to drive taxis.

A few days ago, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad held a dialogue session with 200 taxi drivers in Langkawi. A small group of 10 cabbies behaved in a rude manner and uttered harsh words and made noise before staging a walkout while Mahathir was giving an explanation on the issue of e-hailing.

I have conducted training for thousands of working adults, including over a thousand taxi drivers.

No group should be stereotyped, including taxi drivers, as they comprise the good, bad and ugly.

The vocal ones do not represent the majority of taxi drivers, and many cabbies have switched to e-hailing to run more trips and earn higher income.