THE proposal to resolve the road congestion issue which includes banning vehicles more than 10 years old from roads needs to be scrutinised as it is a complex matter that requires understanding and research, said Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong. 

He said this is because to implement the proposal, the country should provide a complete public transport network system. 

He said Malaysia is still in the process of completing its public transportation network through various projects such as the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) initiative.

He said the ministry welcomes any view, but there are many aspects to study and more than one solution to tackle the issue. 

“To tell people not to use cars, first we must have a perfect public transport system, which now we are still in the process of completing,” said Wee after the flag-off ceremony of the Tebrau shuttle Johor Baru Sentral today.

He told this to reporters when asked to comment on the proposal by a group of researchers from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia recently, suggesting that vehicles that are more than 10 years old should be disposed to resolve road congestion issues in the city.

Meanwhile, Wee said there are 34 million vehicle registrations in Malaysia but only two-thirds – some 22 million registrations – are still active. 

He said he has identified that some vehicle registration numbers still exist because people want to keep the registration number of their parents’ vehicles even if the cars themselves may not be used anymore.

“Imagine if we just throw away the number, our system will be messed up,” he said.

Hence, Wee said this matter must be looked at holistically and comprehensively.

“I am thankful to the group of researchers, I understand where they are coming from as many countries are also limiting the age of their vehicles to 10 years.

“But (we must) ask ourselves, what type of car do our parents use and in what year did they buy their cars?” he said, adding that this is an issue that will put “our village” in chaos. – Bernama, June 19, 2022.