Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on February 13, 2023 - February 19, 2023

Effective Feb 10, Malaysian owners of private vehicles will no longer need to display their road tax on the windscreen nor carry a physical copy of their driving licence. All that is required now is the digital version of the road tax and licence.

The move by the government — which forms part of the transport ministry’s efforts to digitise the Road Transport Department’s (JPJ) services and provide solutions to ease the difficulties faced by the public — is a step in the right direction as many can now avoid the long queues at the JPJ office.

Drivers can also save on fees to third parties for delivery when renewing their licence. However, we need to ensure that there are no hiccups.

The digital versions of the documents are available via JPJ’s public portal or MyJPJ mobile app. Already on the first day, some Malaysians were unable to register via the app and received “connection error” or “this function is under maintenance” messages, likely due to the surge in the number of people trying to access the app.

Through this digitisation, JPJ and the police will be equipped with devices to carry out inspections or checks. Enforcement officers will be able to scan the QR code on the digital driving licence and road tax, and verify if they are genuine and valid.

Some have questioned if roadblocks will now take longer than usual, given that authorities will require the driver to wind down the window, whip out the smartphone and produce the digital documents and scan them instead of just “shining a torch light” on the road tax displayed on the windscreen.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke announced that the digitisation effort will help save RM96 million annually, which go towards the printing of road tax and driving licences. Will these savings be passed down to the public?

Still, a physical copy of the driving licence will need to be presented by holders of learner’s driving licence and vocational licence; foreigners with Malaysian driving licences and international driving permit holders. Vehicles registered for private companies, e-hailing, services and goods companies and owned by foreigners need to display their road tax.

In the meantime, JPJ is developing a function to enable access to drivers to view the road tax taken out by the vehicle owners. Until then, those driving cars owned by others have to show a printed copy or a screenshot of the road tax.

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