Why ministers' licences not revoked?
Jul 13, 06
Jul 13, 06
The revelation that a majority of ministers in the cabinet have accumulated nearly 1,000 unpaid summonses raises questions as to how the road taxes for their vehicles could be renewed each year.
According to an official at the Road Transportation Department (JPJ), owners of vehicles with outstanding traffic fines cannot renew their road taxes until payments have been made.
It is illegal for motorists to use a vehicle without a current road tax, which must be renewed annually.
When renewing road taxes, information on a road user's unpaid summonses would show in the computer network which is directly linked to the JPJ's mainframe computer.
Motorists are then told to clear their unpaid summons before they can renew their vehicles road tax.
This is, of course, in theory. The reality is quite different, said a motoring expert, who declined to be named.
He said there seem to be some bureaucratic glitches between the police and the JPJ.
"Summonses information must first get to JPJ," he said.
If the police does not send over the information, then a motorist would not have a record. That is why sometimes you could renew your road tax even when you have a backlog of several summonses from years ago. It's because the information has not reached JPJ yet.
According to an official at the Road Transportation Department (JPJ), owners of vehicles with outstanding traffic fines cannot renew their road taxes until payments have been made.
It is illegal for motorists to use a vehicle without a current road tax, which must be renewed annually.
When renewing road taxes, information on a road user's unpaid summonses would show in the computer network which is directly linked to the JPJ's mainframe computer.
Motorists are then told to clear their unpaid summons before they can renew their vehicles road tax.
This is, of course, in theory. The reality is quite different, said a motoring expert, who declined to be named.
He said there seem to be some bureaucratic glitches between the police and the JPJ.
"Summonses information must first get to JPJ," he said.
If the police does not send over the information, then a motorist would not have a record. That is why sometimes you could renew your road tax even when you have a backlog of several summonses from years ago. It's because the information has not reached JPJ yet.
However, the expert said that if a car owner is unlucky enough to be issued a traffic summons by a JPJ officer, it is a "guarantee that the owner would be unable to renew the road tax of the vehicle if the owner does not pay up.
Summonses are usually issued by the police, as JPJ has less manpower.
Demerit points
Another question, although not related to road tax renewal, was why the driving licences of the politicians, or their drivers, were not suspended after having committed dozens of traffic offences.
The JPJ has a road safety demerit system called Kejara. It is a point demerit system whereby if a motorist exceeds 15 points, the user's drivers licence could be suspended for six months.
Summonses are usually issued by the police, as JPJ has less manpower.
Demerit points
Another question, although not related to road tax renewal, was why the driving licences of the politicians, or their drivers, were not suspended after having committed dozens of traffic offences.
The JPJ has a road safety demerit system called Kejara. It is a point demerit system whereby if a motorist exceeds 15 points, the user's drivers licence could be suspended for six months.
Ensuing offences would result in further suspension and finally a permanent cancellation of the drivers licence.
Speeding, the most common offence committed by the ministers, carries demerit points of between 6 and 15 points, depending on the severity of each offence.
"However, for the demerit system to work, police officers would have to fill out forms. It's a complicated system, which of course does not work because you don't see any of the ministers' licences suspended or revoked, said the motoring expert.
Double standards
He also criticised several ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, who claimed that they were not driving their cars when the traffic offences were committed.
"If you look closely at the bottom of the traffic summons, it is stated that if you are not the driver of a vehicle, but someone else was driving your vehicle, then you can fill out the form and direct the police's attention to that particular person. The police would then reissue the summons.
"We can't know for sure whether a minister was behind a wheel or not. But you can't expect people to believe that you had no knowledge of the traffic offences committed in vehicles under their names.
"The only scenario I can imagine is that their aides could be hiding the summonses from them, but it's very unusual as the summonses were not paid for up to seven years," he said.
On why the ministers have been getting away with it for so long, the expert felt it was due to a mix of procrastination, inefficiency and a fear of penalising high-profile politicians.
"The summons are issued to high-profile car owners. You know where their offices are. The police cannot claim that these people cannot be traced.
"They can't say we cannot find them... even if that is the case, you can send a formal notice to their office," he said.
The police said more than RM2.82 billion remain uncollected in traffic summonses issued between 2001 and 2004 to some 9.4 million drivers nationwide.
Malaysiakini has sent a request to the traffic police for an interview last week and has yet to hear from them.
Traffic offences traced to clean ministers
Jul 12, 06
Jul 12, 06
Now you dont see it, now you do... four of the five ministers who apparently had no traffic offences do not have such a clean record after all.
Following a tip-off, their names were cross-checked today against either their current or previous identity card number - this search turned up a varying number of unpaid summonses.
Malaysiakini had reported yesterday that these ministers were not among cabinet members who had accumulated unpaid traffic summonses, mainly for speeding.
![]()
However, a check for vehicles registered
under the current IC number of Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin, for example, showed 58 unpaid summonses dating back to April 3, 1999.
His most recent summons was issued on April 17 this year in Kuala Kangsar. He will have to pay RM7,600 after a discount from the maximum compound of RM17,400.
Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor has 17 unpaid summonses from July 9, 1999 to March 19 this year, issued to vehicles registered under his previous IC number. He therefore owes the government RM1,570 from a maximum compound fine of RM5,100.
![]()
![]()
Federal Territories Minister Zulhasnan Rafique (left) and Minister in the Prime Ministers Department Dr Maximus Johnity Ongkili (right) had three unpaid
summons each for vehicles registered under their new IC numbers. However, both paid up their fines this afternoon.
Minister in the Prime Ministers Department Abdullah Md Zain has a clean record for vehicles registered under his current IC number, but a trace could not be made under his previous IC number.
Unable to verify
Up to Monday, 22 ministers were known to be owing at least RM124,850 in 999 unpaid summons.
Malaysiakini was unable verify the summons status of six ministers - Dr Lim Keng Yaik (Energy, Water and Communications); Bernard Giluk Dompok (Prime Ministers Department); Muhyiddin Mohd Yasin (Agriculture and Agro-based Industry); Azmi Khalid (Natural Resources and Environment) Mustapa Mohamed (Higher Education) and Mphd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad (Home).
![]()
The summonses were issued to several vehicles registered under the different ministers and were not confined to the Federal Territory.
Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak told reporters yesterday that he would pay up whatever he owes, and further directed his cabinet colleagues to do the same.
I do not drive, it is others who do and I did not know about it. They also did not tell me. I will settle it, said Najib, was quoted as saying in The Star today.
Police are going after motorists who have yet to settle outstanding fines for traffic offences under Ops Warta IV, which ends on Aug 5.
Following a tip-off, their names were cross-checked today against either their current or previous identity card number - this search turned up a varying number of unpaid summonses.
Malaysiakini had reported yesterday that these ministers were not among cabinet members who had accumulated unpaid traffic summonses, mainly for speeding.
His most recent summons was issued on April 17 this year in Kuala Kangsar. He will have to pay RM7,600 after a discount from the maximum compound of RM17,400.
Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor has 17 unpaid summonses from July 9, 1999 to March 19 this year, issued to vehicles registered under his previous IC number. He therefore owes the government RM1,570 from a maximum compound fine of RM5,100.
Minister in the Prime Ministers Department Abdullah Md Zain has a clean record for vehicles registered under his current IC number, but a trace could not be made under his previous IC number.
Unable to verify
Up to Monday, 22 ministers were known to be owing at least RM124,850 in 999 unpaid summons.
Malaysiakini was unable verify the summons status of six ministers - Dr Lim Keng Yaik (Energy, Water and Communications); Bernard Giluk Dompok (Prime Ministers Department); Muhyiddin Mohd Yasin (Agriculture and Agro-based Industry); Azmi Khalid (Natural Resources and Environment) Mustapa Mohamed (Higher Education) and Mphd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad (Home).
Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak told reporters yesterday that he would pay up whatever he owes, and further directed his cabinet colleagues to do the same.
I do not drive, it is others who do and I did not know about it. They also did not tell me. I will settle it, said Najib, was quoted as saying in The Star today.
Police are going after motorists who have yet to settle outstanding fines for traffic offences under Ops Warta IV, which ends on Aug 5.
Panduan untuk bakal pengantin & sudah berkahwin.. cara utk mengawal kewangan, meningkatkan dana kewangan utk berkahwin & sesudah berkahwin, berbelanja secara berhemah.. insha ALlah
layari laman web>> http://www.maskahwin.com/index.php?ref=delete
untuk keterangan lanjut
New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - 1GB of free storage! __._,_.___
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of Hidayahnet unless sanctioned or approved otherwise.
If your mailbox clogged with mails from Hidayahnet, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest".
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recommended sites:
Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia : http://www.abim.org.my
Jamaah Islah Malaysia : http://www.jim.org.my
Radio Islam Kuliyyah : http://www.kuliyyah.com
Palestinkini Info : http://www.palestinkini.info
Partai Keadilan Sejahtera : http://pk-sejahtera.org
Fiqh Siber : http://al-ahkam.net/
The Muslim Brotherhood : http://ikhwanweb.com
YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
- Visit your group "hidayahnet" on the web.
- To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
- Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
