“OUR objective is not to make people’s life difficult,” is not only a contradictory statement but also a poor excuse, because whatever follows will inevitably make people’s life difficult.

But this was precisely what Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong said when he announced that first-time drunk driving offenders would be slapped with jail time via the Road Transport Act (Amendment) Bill 2020.

The amended bill was passed in the Dewan Rakyat on August 26 and then in the Dewan Negara on Tuesday after the third reading. 

While I fully support and endorse harsh punishments for drunk driving offenders who have caused death or injury. I am not entirely convinced it is wise to jail first-time offenders who have yet to cause harm.

The first question that comes to mind is which jail is the minister referring to? Is it the same jails that are currently underfunded and overcrowded? Is it the same jails that are a potential hotbed for new Covid-19 infections?

“The government is not interested in getting revenue through fines, but this is to protect lives and families,” says the minister. But is moral justification enough to mask bad policymaking?

I believe the new amendment is bad policymaking because it introduces a heavy-handed stick, without offering the carrot.

Consider the options people have after a night out drinking. They could use their own transport vehicle, which is dangerous and should be condemned. Perhaps they can opt for expensive e-hailing rides, which are never worth the price if you have your own vehicle? 

Or should they rely on public transport stations that do not operate past 11.30pm? Maybe they have designated drivers, which eliminates all solo-drinkers from the equation? 

If this amended bill were to be enforced, we would have to look forward to more pubs, night-entertainment centres and F&B businesses losing a large chunk of their footfall, at a crucial time during one of the world’s worst pandemics. The budget that was meant for outdoors drinking may end up as coffee allowance in someone else’s pockets.

The critical issue is that there are no apparent, viable alternatives when it comes to returning home after a night out drinking, other than your own transportation. The issue with drunk driving is not with the “drunk”, but with the “driving”.

Fortunately, drunk driving is not a uniquely Malaysian problem, and we can look towards other countries on how they are managing this issue. After a quick Google search, it is clear that the drop in drunk-driving facilities coincides with better public transportation options during late hours.

In Japan, trains and subways generally run between 5am and 1am, and some run throughout the night during special holiday occasions. In the US, the Phoenix metro area saw a steep drop in drunk-driving fatalities after the debut of the state’s first major light-rail system, which operates past 2am on Friday and Saturday nights.

If the primary goal here is to reduce the number of deaths caused by drunk driving, why not have our public transport system operate beyond regular working hours on dedicated nights such as on Friday and Saturday.

Not only will it assist in reducing the number of fatalities, workers working the night shift can use these facilities as well. F&B enterprises and associations are able to dedicate these nights for special promotions if they were to commute via public transport. E-hailing services might also tap into this trend, by offering special discounts if they were to order the service within these designated hours.

Just because the mighty Transport Ministry is able to wield the ban hammer, not every single issue should be treated like a nail. The money that could have been spent on prison upkeep could be used to help subsidise the cost of operating public transport after working hours.

Most importantly, the money can be used to support the business associations and NGOs that advocate responsible drinking. I believe that businesses would gladly support these initiatives because they are incentivised if their customers are able to get home safely. A living customer is a paying customer, after all.

What I find astonishing is the amount of research needed to come to my conclusion. A simple Google search has sparked plenty of research papers and innovative solutions governments have come up with to curb the drunk-driving issues in their respective countries. I wonder if the Transportation Ministry has actually evaluated these options before proposing the amended bill.

Although hefty fines and heavy law enforcement are common tools used by most governments, it has done little to lower the statistics for deaths caused by drunk driving. If the War on Drugs has taught us anything, the solution might be worse than the cure, and the carrot must always follow the stick.

I sincerely hope that this amendment in the bill is followed by actual reforms to increase the transportation options drinkers have to return home safely. 

“The government is not interested in getting revenue through fines, but this is to protect lives and families,” Wee said. I will hold these words into account because remember, drinkers also have lives and families. – September 23, 2020.

* Jahaziah Lim reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.