According to ACA director-general Datuk Ahmad Zaki Hussin, the Oct 15 date is not
an extension of the Sept 26 deadline
given earlier.
He explained that the latter was meant for
the RTD officers and driving school personnel involved in the scam to
come forward.
Irrespective of his clarification, Ahmad
Zaki should not expect an avalanche of people surrendering their
“flying licences.''
Many Malaysians are sceptical with the
warning given by the ACA, assuming that
they do not have sufficient information.
Some have even called it a bluff. Whether
they are right or wrong remains to be seen.
Prosecutions of dirty RTD officers will
certainly help to convince errant personnel.
Motorists who had bought such illegal documents, or had asked someone else to
sit for their driving tests, must be
prepared to face the consequences.
Some segments of society have this misguided perception that only RTD
officers and driving school owners
should be brought to book. The law of
demand and supply is obvious. If there
are no bribe-givers, there will be no
takers.
The ACA has been criticised by some
quarters for going after the RTD, saying
these are small fishes and that such corrupt practices have been going on for some
time.
We should not lose sight of our focus. Instead of merely picking up one or two
officers, the ACA has cast its net for a swoop.
To launch such a big-scale operation is
certainly not easy, whether they are small or big fishes.
In any case, Malaysians have hardly been
forthcoming to lodge reports against corrupt officers.
In fact, if the number of “flying licences''
is as big as reported, most of us are guilty by having contributed to the corrupt
practice.
It is better late than never. We should support the ACA in its efforts to right
a wrong.
Criticism has also been levelled against
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ling
Liong Sik for corruption in the RTD. These critics can't see the forest from the
trees.
It should be noted that the ministry's functions are not merely confined to
conducting driving tests. The scope of
duties is wide, ranging from road safety
to securing more shippers to use our
ports to getting more landing rights for
our planes.
Today, our ports and KLIA are among the
best in the world.
While the RTD comes under the Transport
Ministry's jurisdiction, the general public is unaware that the issuing of commercial
vehicle permits, including taxi licences, is under the ambit of the
Entrepreneur Development Ministry.
For the record, the Transport Ministry has
been supportive of the ACA actions.
As citizens, we should give moral support
to the ACA and not debate whether
the crooks are only small fry or whether
Dr Ling should resign.
It is significant to note Datuk Seri Ong Ka
Ting's statement that the Cabinet has directed all enforcement agencies
to take concerted action to weed out illegal video arcades.
The Housing and Local Government Minister has a message: It is not just the job
of the local authorities but also the
police.
Malaysians would certainly like to see the
ACA sustain its high-profile fight against corruption after the “flying licence''
case. There will be renewed faith in the
graft busting agency if it continues to work with such zeal.