Yoursay: Corruption in RTD turning into a ‘pandemic disease’

YOURSAY | ‘The government must take some significant steps to address this.’

Following exposé, RTD to lodge report on institutionalised corruption

Bruclax: For years we have heard of corruption in the Road Transport Department (RTD) but it becoming institutionalised is another dimension altogether.

What more after last year’s mass arrest of Penang RTD officers for alleged corruption, the situation has returned to normal like some pandemic disease.

The government must take some significant steps to address this. Even it involves sacking, interdepartmental transfers, retraining, planting informants and lucrative rewards for information.

Corruption in RTD is only scratching the surface. Other similar enforcement agencies too must be subjected to these drastic measures.

Quo Vadis Malaysia: Malaysiakini, please continue reporting on this matter and please check on all other enforcement agencies.

The government must protect and reward whistleblowers. It must also look at beefing up the MACC and the Complaints Bureau (if that is still functioning).

We should name and shame (including photographs) of confirmed wrongdoers and seize their assets which could have been purchased through their ill-gotten gains.

Maybe with enough publicity, the efforts will gain traction and these people will think twice before they do it.

Ipoh Pp: It takes two hands to clap. The heavy-vehicle companies break the rules by overloading which allows the RTD and police to take the opportunity presented to them by milking the situation.

It is the classic ‘willing giver and willing taker’ scenario.

Who is to blame? Both. The government is “victimised” as no fines are collected on the offence committed and hence revenue is lost.

The public, on the other hand, end up paying higher prices for goods and services.

Ex-Wfw: An immediate action the RTD should take is to make it compulsory for all officers to submit a written report on all vehicles they have stopped or hauled up for inspection.

It is obvious that once payments are made, the lorries will be overloaded again and we all would have to pay for all the damages caused by them.

In numerous studies reported across the region, it was noted that overloaded lorries caused 90 percent of the road damages in most developing countries.

Our overall logistics costs in Malaysia remains unchanged over the past decade and the cost is in hundreds of billions ringgit, essentially because road transport logistics handled over 97 percent of all the goods in the country.

Jaded: “The RTD will never compromise on any corruption and abuse of power in the department. We will enforce disciplinary action and dismissals if anyone is convicted of wrongdoing,” said the RTD.

This statement by RTD is a joke. It's a crime and should definitely be prosecuted followed by dismissal.

This is the sort of thinking which treats corruption lightly. It sends out the impression that it's okay and losing their job is the worst-case scenario.

Pakatan Harapan government, please get your act together.

Beluga: RTD, please do not pretend that you do not know all this is happening right under your nose. The problem is you have closed one eye to it and because of that, they are too many of them in RTD.

Since this is out in the open, Transport Minister Anthony Loke must fix this once and for all.

The MACC should also be brought in to investigate if there is a mastermind or masterminds behind this blatant extortion.

Gaji Buta: All public enforcement officers should be made to wear a bodycam every day they are on duty. The bodycam would send a direct live feed to the RTD headquarters which is then streamed live online for everyone to see.

The next best thing would be for the transport operators to unite and abide by the rules, refusing to pay bribes and report crooked officers.

Yes, this sounds impossible to execute but it is needed to be done if we are serious in eradicating corruption.

Anonymous_1e23ccf0: Why focus only on RTD? The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) are even more corrupt. What the errant RTD officers are doing all this while is minuscule compared to what the police have been doing for decades.

It is common knowledge that there are cases especially traffic or accident ones that has been “settled” even before any proper investigation was conducted.

Until the government, or Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in particular, implement the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), Malaysia will be run by the thugs and robbers in uniform.

Rick Teo: The corruption in RTD is endemic. It has been there for 60 years. If the MACC checked the RTD officers’ bank accounts, it would be no surprise that many of them are millionaires.

Each time I send my company’s lorries for tests, I end up paying RM400 to pass them in addition to paying monthly fees to avoid summons for my lorries on the road.

And if I do not pay, they will keep issuing summons on my lorries and drivers for the simplest of offence. In the end, I will be forced to close shop.

And what is our transport minister is doing? He is busy enforcing laws on wearing safety belts.

Anonymous_1550298019: Best things to do is totally revoke the RTD’s authority to stop any vehicle unless if it is through a joint roadblock or operation with the police.

There is no need for RTD and Land Public Transport Agency (LPAD) to carry out enforcement. In most countries, they do not have three agencies carrying out inspections on cars or lorries.

Anonymous 770241447347646: Corruption has been going on for umpteen years and no action was taken.

Only now the RTD wants to take action against errant officers after it was exposed by Malaysiakini.

Please do not take the Malaysian public for fools. There might be some hauled up just to show that action has been taken.

After some time, it will be back to business as usual like what happened after the Penang raid.

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