The scrapping of Mandatory Vehicle Inspection

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Part of the National Automotive Policy launched on 28 October 2009 was the introduction of a mandatory annual vehicle inspection for all 15 years old and above cars (see: NST). This policy was introduced to ensure its road worthiness as a requirement for road-tax renewal.

The list of items to be inspected, the cost of inspection, authorised centre for inspection or alternative centre to Puspakom for inspection was never made known and presumably are still a 'work-in-progress' or 'under-study'.

In the United Kingdom, there are various car workshops appointed by the British Ministry of Transport for the mandatory annual inspection. Similarly, in Malaysia, other car workshop (and not necessarily Puspakom) can apply and be appointed to carry out the inspection similar to the United Kingdom for the Public's convenient

Without the list of items to be inspected, the cost of inspection, the list of authorised centres for inspection, various parties had objected to the Mandatory Vehicle Inspection Policy.

Without even finalising the study and mechanism, our Government had on 6 November 2009 scrapped the mandatory vehicle inspection policy (barely a week after it was launched).

The cost to inspect the car should not be a burden to the public but the items to repair for road worthiness cannot be compromise... Thus, the importance to first finalise the items for inspection.

The policy should not be scrapped but the mechanism should be immediately finalised and make known to the public. If the public still protest thereafter, then perhaps the mechanism can be fine-tune rather than entirely scrapped before any finalisation which will only signal a FLIP FLOP Government.

Nonetheless, it is our safety that is at stake.

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