M'sians slam Grab option for Mandarin-speaking driver, Grab says it's a limited test to support tourism

Grab Malaysia recently introduced a feature which gave users the option to book a Mandarin-speaking driver, though it came at a slightly higher price.

However, it sparked public outrage, causing Grab to step up and clarify that the feature was only introduced as part of a limited test.

They also stated that the feature has been put on hold pending further review.

TikTok video on the feature went viral

Nathan Mathivanan, who is the president of the Association for Land Public Transport Transformation (TPAD) in Malaysia, posted a TikTok video on Aug. 5 criticising the feature.

At the time of writing, the video has garnered more than 527k views.

According to The Rakyat Post, in the video, Nathan accused Grab of being discriminatory against other races with the new feature.

He claimed that he had tested the feature twice on separate devices, and kept getting assigned Chinese drivers.

"The price is higher and it's Chinese drivers who get the job... I tested it on another phone and the same thing happened. This is totally called discrimination," he said.

He added that if people do not speak Bahasa Melayu, they can either change the app language to English, or use a language plug-in to help them translate the words instead.

"This is Malaysia. If you don't know Bahasa, what you have to do is change the app language to English.

If you don't know English, I believe you have a language plug-in to automatically translate."

The option to book a GrabCar with a Mandarin-speaking driver appears to cost more than a standard GrabCar.

Reactions by commenters

Several social media users took to the comments to express their views.

The Rakyat Post reported that several users emphasised that having a Mandarin-speaking driver is merely an option and customers have the choice to decide if they would like to pay more for one.

One user commented: "Don't politicise this. It's an advantage if the driver is a Mandarin speaker and gets paid a little more."

Another person also highlighted that someone who speaks Mandarin does not necessarily mean they are Chinese.

With regard to this, a user who claimed to be a Grab driver-partner stated that even though he is Chinese, he does not know how to speak Mandarin and was hence not placed as a "Mandarin-speaking" driver in the Grab app.

Grab clarified that the feature was part of a limited test

After facing backlash, Grab stepped up to clarify the reason for introducing such a feature.

New Straits Times (NST) reported that on Aug. 7, Grab said in a statement that the feature was part of a limited test aimed at supporting Malaysia's tourism growth.

They stated that they had conducted the test in response to a rise in tourist arrivals, citing data which said that 1.4 million tourists from China had visited Malaysia between January and April this year.

"The experiment was crucial in testing the sustainability and demand among tourists, as we work towards introducing support for additional languages."

Grab said that the option to book a Mandarin-speaking Grab driver has been put on hold for the company to review its findings and expressed plans to rollout similar features in the future.

They further added that they will be conducting an internal language proficiency survey within their driver-partner community.

"Once operational, the language-based service will be open for sign-ups to all qualified driver-partners, regardless of background," Grab said.

Malaysia's Land Public Transport Agency issued a statement

Bernama reported that following the incident, Malaysia's Land Public Transport Agency (APAD) issued a statement on Aug. 7 reminding e-hailing service operators to comply with e-hailing licensing and special conditions.

APAD stated that they were aware of the issue with Grab's Mandarin-speaking driver option and claimed that it resulted in an unfair and unjust distribution to drivers.

They added that they took the matter seriously.

They stressed that all e-hailing services are required to comply with licensing conditions and ensure that the booking distribution system is fair and just to drivers.

Top photos via Grab, @nathanmathivanan/TikTok