The Go-Jek driver who uploaded a video last week showing a very difficult passenger has gained the support and sympathy of many in Singapore. There is now a petition on change.org to prevent him from losing his license to drive private hire vehicles (PDVL), which has been signed by over 60,000 people.
For the sake of clarity, the petition is not necessarily a fundraiser for the driver, Kamaruzzaman Abdul Latiff, but merely a vehicle for public support. People have the option to merely sign and share the petition, and not give a donation to Kamaruzzaman.
The anonymous persons behind the petition clarified this because the driver himself posted on Facebook, “I was told someone is collecting a $4 donation of behalf of me. (Please…) stop donating as I’m not aware of this and never asked (for) any donations or asked someone to do it for me.”
However, since Kamaruzzaman has three children and is the only one employed in his family, the people who started the petition thought it a wise move to chip in for financial support. But since they never asked Kamaruzzaman before starting this, they wrote an apology to the Go-Jek driver. “We truly apologized to Abang and other parties who are affected by this petition as Abang was never personally informed beforehand by our team prior to this petition when it was first put up to reach for public support.”
The petition reads, “Please do not chip any cash amount if you have doubts on how Change.org operates. We, the starters of this petition do not collect any funds for any individual or organizations, not even pocketing any money chipped in upon signing this petition.
You can choose to skip the payment part and continue to sign the petition like how most of the signers did. This is not a monetary donation move but will act as an appeal to LTA to not revoke Abang’s PDVL. There is no reason why any monetary donation should be involved in this case as Abang is still fit and healthy to earn a decent living for his family. There is no bank account number or card details attached to this petition. If u have donated any amount please revert to Change.org as our main and only purpose is to email LTA our petition once we have enough signatures.”
The goal of the petitioners is to reach 100,000 signatures.
While Go-Jek has assured Kamaruzzaman that no action will be taken against him stemming from the incident, he could be faced with sanctions from the LTA.
According to the petition, “Under LTA regulations, PHVs are not allowed to have inward facing cameras and recording devices and Abang has breached the Road Traffic Act too by uploading the video of the altercation and sharing his conversation with the passenger publicly.
According to existing laws, Abang can be docked 21 demerit points and fined $500 for sharing the video publicly which will automatically disqualify him from driving Go-Jek.”
Kamaruzzaman met with the LTA on Thursday morning, February 7. He said that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has allowed him to continue to drive for the ride-hailing firm, and that his interview with the Authority ‘went well.’
Read related: LTA summons Go-Jek driver who went viral for taking passenger ‘hostage’
https://theindependent.sg.sg/lta-summons-go-jek-driver-who-went-viral-for-taking-passenger-hostage/