WHEN the new cabinet lineup was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Friday night, there was a huge sigh of relief and joy among the road safety and transport circles.
On various WhatsApp groups since last night, many expressed delight that Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong would no longer be there as transport minister – not because Wee’s predecessor Anthony Loke is making a comeback, but because of the former’s appalling performance in the last 31 months, especially on how the road safety agenda was overlooked and disregarded by the Ayer Hitam MP.
In fact, transport expert Rosli Azad Khan, who has over 30 years of experience in the industry, had given Wee’s 100-day evaluation an “F” in December last year during his second appointment to the post under then former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
I must say that Rosli’s “F” score was too kind. Personally, I would have given an “F-” for Wee’s dreadful performance, especially on his commitment to road safety.
When Wee was appointed on March 10, 2020 as the transport minister to succeed Loke, many had high hopes, as he came with excellent qualifications such as a PhD in transportation planning from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and a masters in traffic engineering from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
In terms of qualifications, Wee was the most qualified transport minister for as long as I can remember, based on pedigree and background.
However, the hope and optimism were unrewarded. Since March 2020, road transport safety has been in a vacuum.
Under Wee, the agenda to save lives on the road was like a headless chicken running around searching for something but coming to nought.
Casual about road safety
It was a long list of massive letdowns. Firstly, the Road Safety Council of Malaysia, of which the then transport minister is the chairman.
To date, the council has had no annual general meeting (AGM) since October 2019. In other words, Wee never chaired the council AGM in his capacity as transport minister. I repeat, not a single AGM.
As one senior figure of the council told me, “we have been trying to get his date (of availability) to hold the AGM in the past three years even until the last several months before the general election, but to no avail.”
Increasingly, the council is looking like a dormant organisation merely aiming to hold its AGM in order to stay alive. There has been no effort to beef up or restructure the council at national and state levels, let alone for Wee to take action on the tonnes of proposals put forward three years ago.
Nevermind the excuse that the failure to hold the AGMs was due to the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 or various movement control orders – but then again, why was it not held this year, when the economy reopened?
Several other national non-governmental organisations on various subject matters conducted their AGMs virtually or in hybrid mode during the pandemic era. So what does this tell you about the level of commitment on the part of the then transport minister?
The council has members from almost all the states in Malaysia, yet it has failed to organise an AGM in the past three years, and present its findings and recommendations to save lives on the road. What does it say about Wee’s competency and key performance indicators?
Secondly, the Road Safety Department was disbanded under his watch, and it was absorbed into the Road Transport Department as a division focusing on communication and advocacy – nevermind the excuse that it was part of the Public Service Department’s plan to reduce the agencies under the Transport Ministry and Wee had to abide by it.
What was surprising was that there was no public display by Wee to defend the Road Safety Department’s existence or to put road safety communication back on track.
Efficient staff, including some state directors, were transferred to other ministries, and the department’s role as secretariat for the council was also compromised.
It is understood that until today, the structure of the road safety unit has been greatly reduced and remains unclear.
I mean, when was the last time you came across any communication at the national level about being courteous on the road or “hargai orang tersayang” (treasure your loved ones) other than the same recycled slogans during festive seasons?
How is it appropriate for the Road Transport Department as an enforcement agency to enforce the Road Transport Act 1987, and, at the same time, play the role of road safety advocator? Is it meant to ask road users to wear rear seat belts but not enforce it?
Thirdly, the child restraining system (CRS) or child car seat supporters have been hugely disappointed to discover that there was no enforcement at all by the Road Transport Department despite the fact that there was already a law passed in 2019 which made CRS mandatory from January the following year.
In fact, there was hardly any communication from Wee to dispel misconceptions among some quarters of society about the CRS.
Neither did he show enthusiasm on national television about the matter, nor did he put out even a simple two-minute video from his personal phone about the importance of CRS.
There have been several road crashes since the law on CRS came into force in early 2020, including the one near Simpang Pulai which killed seven people in an Alza in August that year. There have also been several other incidents that involved overloaded vehicles, with occupants who failed to use seat belts.
One thing is for sure: the percentage of people using rear passenger seat belts seems to reduce each year.
According to the latest observation study by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research, the nationwide percentage of rear seat belt usage four years ago stood at 9%.
Could Wee not have refreshed the Transport Ministry’s communication on the matter and worked something out with the Road Transport Department and police to nab those not using rear seat belts? The law on rear seat belts has been in existence since 2008, mind you.
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Topsy-turvy road safety journey
When was the last time you heard anything about the demerit points system, Kejara?
At this point in time, it remains to be seen whether there is indeed an integration of records between the Road Transport Department and police for traffic offences in the 14 states.
The last time I checked, the integration was only fully completed for Kuala Lumpur and Selangor traffic records.
Did you hear anything from Wee about Kejara’s progress, especially on the number of traffic offenders recorded under the demerit system and the accumulation of demerit points, including those whose licenses have been suspended or revoked?
Did you hear anything from the director-general of the department briefing the media or talking about Kejara records and progress on national television, let alone on its Facebook?
What’s the point of having Kejara when, at the same time, discounts on outstanding summons are given by the department?
Last July, Wee openly stated at a United Nations high-level meeting on road safety that Malaysia has been successful in reducing the number of road crashes related to alcohol or drug consumption because of the government’s political will in the past two years.
This may be partially true to some extent due to legal amendments for stiffer penalties for driving under the influence (DUI) of drugs and alcohol, which he achieved under his watch.
However, perhaps he didn’t get the memo that, according to police data in the last 12 years, DUI cases were the lowest-ranked cause of road deaths and crashes.
One can also refer to the World Health Organisation report that states Malaysia is among the lowest in the world for road deaths due to alcohol, and, backed by annual statistical reports by police since 2017, shows that DUI accounted for less than 1% of overall road deaths.
Wee only took action to amend the DUI law in response to public perception and pressure from religious groups.
Those in the know were aware that the working papers to amend the DUI law were largely prepared by police, which is under the Home Ministry’s purview, and the process to amend the law had begun long before he took office.
Last year in August, the death rate of motorcyclists was at an all-time high. For every 100 road deaths, 70 were motorcycle users.
Based on that, we were quite close to replacing Thailand as having the world’s most unsafe roads for motorcyclists.
Did we hear anything about the high death rates among bikers from Wee? It was business as usual. Hardly a reaction or any display of the same dedication and promptness he showed when communicating about the DUI penalty amendments and when dealing with helicopter crashes.
Obvious neglect
I could go on with a long list of things that Wee didn’t do and should have done since many lives on the road could have been saved if there was a more efficient and competent transport minister since March 2020.
Now, we also have to wonder why he did not do something to improve the discipline of the p-hailing motorcycle riders? They ride like kings on the road, and it has been a common sight watching them refusing to stop at red lights since the pandemic era.
If there were crashes involving heavy vehicles and vice versa, there would have been some action against the company.
Now, why wasn’t any action taken by the Transport Ministry against food delivery app providers or companies for the misbehaviour of their riders?
In addition, who can forget Wee’s stand on micro-mobility? It was all confusing communication, giving the impression to the public that e-scooter and electric bicycles are banned machines altogether.
This brings me to another baffling topic. Wee wanted to lower the age of p-hailing riders to 18 instead of 21 because he felt obligated to allow young riders to seek income.
I am not sure if he had gone through the monthly and annual road fatalities data. As a transport minister, didn’t he know that motorcyclists in the 16 to 20 age bracket are the ones that recorded the most deaths and injuries on the road every month?
Please don’t get me started on the National Road Safety Plan (RSP) for 2022-2030 that was launched under his watch, in which Wee set a target of 50% reduction in fatalities by 2030, using 2020 road death records.
For the record, the RSP had been long initiated since his predecessor’s time and underwent a process spearheaded by the then Transport Ministry’s secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Khairul Adib Abd Rahman.
From 2019 until 2021, police data have also shown that there have been horrific road crashes involving child motorcyclists from 6 to 15-year-olds with 640 deaths and 642 severely injured. Yes, you read it right. Children as young as six ride “kapcai” bikes and have been part of the road fatalities data.
These disturbing statistics occurred under his watch and Wee could have done something by pushing for drastic measures with the Road Transport Department, police and Attorney-General’s Chambers as well as refreshing communication and campaigning together with state-level road safety councils and state governments to address the situation. Sadly, it has been all business as usual.
For some reason, Wee’s lack of commitment and enthusiasm on road safety has spilt over to the current ministry’s secretary-general as well as the Road Transport Department director-general.
Many policies couldn’t be implemented, and there has been a chain of negative reactions in the past 31 months, contributing to low morale among the department and Miros staff.
Let’s hope road safety will be an important subject once again when Loke takes his oath as the new transport minister, because #LifeMatters, and road users and passengers must #ArriveAlive. – The Vibes, December 4, 2022
Shahrim Tamrin is a journalist with The Vibes and has covered the transport beat. He yearns to save lives on the road and has served on the board of the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research, whose aim is to foster better road safety interventions
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