By Mohamed Alif Alex
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8: Minister of Transport Anthony Loke Siew Fook wants the Ministry of Transport (MOT) to work together with industry leaders and companies to ensure improvement within the transport industry as well as economic growth in the country through policy changes and recommendations.
He said that the digitalization of Vehicle Ownership Certificates (VOC) for commercial vehicles will be one of the biggest changes for the industry. The newly opened online permit application system for commercial vehicles will end the need to submit a large number of physical documents.
He added that there are plans to abolish certain permit requirements for the purpose of streamlining the application process.
Loke also stated that the government is open to reducing regulations for companies if industry leaders are willing to comply and play their role in terms of safety.
“The best way in terms of improving safety is to instill the culture of safety among the public,”
he said at the Malaysia Commercial Vehicle Traders Association (MCVTA) 3rd Anniversary and Inauguration Dinner.
He said the government is willing to reduce enforcement of regulations and inspections if companies and industry players are more compliant to said regulations.
He hopes that the industry will cooperate with the government and will consider recommendations from industry players and companies in order to help improve the industry and move forward.
“We are here to facilitate, not frustrate you, we want to look at the improvement of the
industry as a whole, and every single trade association is important,” said Loke.
He announced that the government will be focusing on strengthening the country’s economy
in the next few years.
“One of the measures that we have taken recently is to relax the visa requirements for Chinese and Indian nationals, they can come in for 30 days, and this will definitely boost our tourism industry,” he added.
He said that the rise in the tourism industry will benefit the transport industry, creating a healthy cycle.
Loke also stated that the government will do their best in rectifying structural weaknesses within the system, such as ending the monopoly on vehicle inspections for commercial vehicles by Puspakom.
“This is one of the examples that we have done to open up the market so that consumers
have more choices, industry players have more choices and we will have better efficiency in
the long run.”
–WE