More drastic amendments to Road Transport Act?

By Rahmah Ghazali - Free Malaysia Today

KUALA LUMPUR: The Transport Ministry is expected to table amendments to the Road Transport Act at the next Parliament session, a move seen by some as giving the government a tighter grip on taxpayers' money.

The Consumer Association of Subang and Shah Alam (Cassa) is of the view that the proposed changes to the act is too drastic and would not be welcome by consumers.

Citing an example, its president, Jacob George, said the redefining of roads, which categorises all types of roads under the ministry, will eventually “affect the people”.

According to him, roads built by the government are usually taken care of by the federal government, and roads in villages and estates come under the jurisdiction of the local government.

“With the new amendments, automatically, the people in the villages who use motorcycles without licence can all be picked up, charged and penalised,” said George.

He added that the amendments would propose a fine of RM3,000 or jail terms of up to 20 years for several traffic offences.

“If it is true, it is draconian; even if the fine is RM300, we have a situation where most Malaysians cannot afford to pay due to the high cost of goods and essentials,” he said.

George also said the people, especially in the villages, would feel the pinch each time there is a funeral or a wedding function at their homes.

“Usually, we will tell our immediate neighbours or local councils (to close the roads). Under the proposed new law, if you put up obstacles on the roads for wedding, you can be taken to court.

“This is not reflecting what laws should be,” he said, adding that it could create possible backlash from the people, come the next general election.

Privacy at risk

George also said the amendments would allow more power to the ministry, its director-general and the Road Transport Department (RTD).

“We cannot give more power to RTD officers, especially when it allows them to enter someone’s premises,” he said.

In particular, added George, people’s privacy would be put at risk when the government is proposing to have smart chips installed in their registration number plates.

“When the police take a photo of someone’s car, they would pick up the entire data of that person because it will be on the system called an automated enforcement system.

“We don’t have privacy laws in this country and this system can be manipulated and misused by third parties,” said George.

And logistically, he said, it would be impossible for all the 25 million vehicles in the country to have the smart chips installed.

“Each registration plate would cost around RM150 and this is not cheap. You can’t force everybody to change their number plates,” he added.

However, he said, it would be acceptable if the chips were a standard in the new vehicles that are going to be rolled out.

George also claimed that only two companies would be awarded with the selling of such registration plates. This would tantamount to monopoly, he said.

“Malaysians are against monopoly. We are against any contracts given without the consensus of the people… they are not bringing the consumers into the loop to discuss,” he said.

BN backbenchers club against amendments

Although the amendments were proposed by the federal government, George however praised the Barisan Nasional backenchers club (BNBBC) for not supporting it.

“Even our friends in the BNBBC were upset and urged the ministry to re-look at the amendments,” he said.

“We have the full support of the BNBBC and they agreed that our concerns are legitimate and expressed their dissatisfaction with the proposed amendments,” he added.

According to him, Cassa and BNBBC have had a “quiet meeting” in Parliament about a month ago and agreed that the government should “scrap” the amendments.

“There would be a severe backlash from the people and the government would be forced to eat humble pie.

“The moment you touch people’s pockets and privacy, people would be upset,” George said, adding that the BNBBC had raised the matter with Transport Minister Kong Cho Ha.