‘Are You Running A Communist Law Now?’ Shouts An Elderly PMD Rider At MTP Session

2019-11-12 , 1:00 pm

The word ‘PMD’ has been making headlines repeatedly over the past year and more.

At first, it was causing accidents involving collisions with pedestrians which often resulted in fatal consequences.

And just last week, something big finally happened – the ban of PMDs on footpaths.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you’d definitely have heard of it by now. If needed, you could catch up with the article linked above.

The Great PMD Ban of 2019

By now, I’m sure it’s clear that this new law has been incredibly divisive.

While at first members of the public (which the majority are comprised of normal pedestrians) were elated about this, eventually the PMD riders have made themselves very vocal about their side of the issue as well.

This ban was costing them their livelihood.

As many riders are actually deliverymen for food delivery services such as GrabFood, Foodpanda, and Deliveroo, PMDs are a form of reliable and convenient transport for them.

While many could easily switch to motorcycles or bicycles as an alternative, there are also a notable amount who may not be able to do so due to financial or physical limitations.

With the government taking heavy fire over this, they’ve decided to host Meet-the-People sessions to facilitate communication with the public.

“Are you running a communist law now?”

One particular session at Jurong became pretty heated as delivery riders banded together to voice their concerns aggressively towards the Jurong GRC’s MP Ang Wei Neng.

Five minutes of the session was recorded and uploaded on Facebook which showed many powerful lines from the highly agitated riders.

One middle-aged man at the start of the video was yelling furiously at the MP over how they’ve taken away their freedom and that the riders have been turned into enemies within their own country.

He then accused the government of running a communist law by infringing upon their freedom.

At this point, even the other riders present urged for the man to calm down.

“We don’t owe them anything! We are not their slaves!”

Another younger man then took over, claiming that despite the government’s efforts to enforce the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), members of the public have been breaching it.

“Many of your members of public were breaching it by taking photos and videos of all PMD riders!” He was stating firmly. “Is it fair for us?”

He also went on to question “Is this an offence?” by spreading their images/videos on websites such as Facebook and STOMP.

He then stated the members of public were the ones antagonising them now, and that they “don’t owe them anything”.

“We have served the country, we have contributed to the nation, yet we never get back any benefits from the government.” He said, to which he got an applause from the zealous crowd.

“A win-win situation”

The MP then took over briefly, stating that he will “take these feedback into consideration”.

The man in a black blazer standing beside him, who appears to be a representative for the riders, also tried to appease the crowd by being a voice of reason.

Another rider from the crowd yelled: “The topic is – we don’t want to ban! Legalise back!”

Getting visible more distressed by the moment, the representative stated: “I know! But we must find a win-win situation, we cannot also give [the MPs] a hard time right?”

The crowd seemed hardly pleased with it, and another rider also said, “They can do it overnight, they can change it overnight as well.”

Here’s where I have to say: bills are not passed overnight.

What’s your stance?

The video goes on for a short while more, but the main points of the riders’ concerns include the $7 million grant and a possible 6-month probation period.

If you wish, you can watch the video here:

All the budak Jurong Vs pay and pay

Posted by Siao Kai on Monday, 11 November 2019

I’ve got to say – it’s really not easy to be in the shoes of the government.

Heated and unconstructive insults do no good and so I’m glad that most of the concerns voiced in the video are somewhat relevant and reasonable.

A complete ban definitely does a lot of bad for riders but it’s up to the government to find that “win-win situation” for now.

What’s your stance on the PMD ban?