Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke has just rubbished reports from a local newspaper that the Pakatan Harapan government plans to re-introduce a policy to eliminate old vehicles from the road.
After numerous studies conducted, it was realised that this policy will not work in Malaysia in the next decade or more at least as it does not benefit the lower income Malaysian as new car prices are still very high in Malaysia in comparison to neighbouring Thailand and Indonesia.
The Minister was quoted saying “That is fake news. There are no ELV policies for now. As I already said many times, there were studies done before this but there is no consideration (by the government).
“I’m shocked at the article which was published before obtaining clarification from the ministry,” he said.
The report had quoted Malaysia Automotive, Robotics & IoT Institute (MARii) CEO Datuk Madani Sahari saying that old vehicles will be required to go through an inspection before being allowed to renew their respective yearly road tax and car insurance.
Anthony Loke stressed that matters pertaining to the ELV policy can only be announced by the Transport Ministry, adding that the implementation of such policies lies under the authority of the Road Transport Department (JPJ).
“Road tax renewals also fall under the JPJ, not other agencies. I hope the media will obtain clarification from the ministry before writing such reports.” Anthony Loke also added that any inaccurate (fake) news will confuse the public.
Under the reviewed National Automotive Policy announced in October 2009, the former Barisan Nasional Government introduced mandatory annual inspections as a requirement for road tax renewal for all vehicles aged 15 years or older as a first step towards implementation of a full ELV policy.
However, the policy was scrapped after a week following backlash from the public. At the time, it was reported that 2.7mil or 14.5% of vehicles on the road are more than 10 years old.
