By NELSON BENJAMIN
JOHOR BARU: Thousands of learner drivers nationwide have cheated to obtain their provisional “L” licences by taking the easy way out.
Instead of learning the basic safety driving skills, they paid their driving school instructors between RM100 and RM400 to get the licences without sitting for the Highway Code test.
It is learnt that the instructors worked with employees of e-service centres appointed by the Government to conduct the test online. The centres are run by three private firms.
The instructors and employees were believed to have raked in hundreds of thousands of ringgit since the online testing system was introduced in 2002.
The Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA), which uncovered the scam, arrested more than 12 people in a simultaneous crackdown over the past one week.
The raids were done following a nationwide surveillance on dozens of driving schools and e-service centres for the past few months.
Many of those arrested are expected to be charged from today. Most of the students who opted to pay the “passing fee” were mainly the elderly who preferred to skip answering 50 questions online.
In some cases, e-service centre employees sat in for students while there were also cases of the computer system being rigged to pass students.
The online test was introduced because the Road Transport Department (JPJ) found that some candidates had memorised the answers without having any real understanding of the Highway Code.
The old system was also subject to abuse because some candidates attempted to approach JPJ staff for help after sitting for the test.
According to the JPJ website, the fee for the test is RM27.
Candidates must be 16 years old and above, have registered at e-service centres and attended the Driver Education Curriculum Course at a driving institute.
ACA director of investigations Mohd Shukri Abdul declined to comment on the matter.
In Johor, at least two people including a driving school instructor and a clerk from an e-service centre in Batu Pahat were arrested in the crackdown.
Johor JPJ director Rosli Ramly said the department had received complaints about this matter in the past and referred the problem to its headquarters in Putrajaya.
In Putrajaya, social activist Tan Sri Robert Phang lodged a report with the ACA claiming alleged malpractices by enforcement officers of the JPJ and vehicle inspection company Puspakom.
Phang, who is executive deputy chairman of the Social Action Initiative Foundation and an executive council member of the Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation, handed over a stack of documents and photographs relating to his claim as evidence to Mohd Shukri.
JOHOR BARU: Thousands of learner drivers nationwide have cheated to obtain their provisional “L” licences by taking the easy way out.
Instead of learning the basic safety driving skills, they paid their driving school instructors between RM100 and RM400 to get the licences without sitting for the Highway Code test.
It is learnt that the instructors worked with employees of e-service centres appointed by the Government to conduct the test online. The centres are run by three private firms.
The instructors and employees were believed to have raked in hundreds of thousands of ringgit since the online testing system was introduced in 2002.
The Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA), which uncovered the scam, arrested more than 12 people in a simultaneous crackdown over the past one week.
The raids were done following a nationwide surveillance on dozens of driving schools and e-service centres for the past few months.
Many of those arrested are expected to be charged from today. Most of the students who opted to pay the “passing fee” were mainly the elderly who preferred to skip answering 50 questions online.
In some cases, e-service centre employees sat in for students while there were also cases of the computer system being rigged to pass students.
The online test was introduced because the Road Transport Department (JPJ) found that some candidates had memorised the answers without having any real understanding of the Highway Code.
The old system was also subject to abuse because some candidates attempted to approach JPJ staff for help after sitting for the test.
According to the JPJ website, the fee for the test is RM27.
Candidates must be 16 years old and above, have registered at e-service centres and attended the Driver Education Curriculum Course at a driving institute.
ACA director of investigations Mohd Shukri Abdul declined to comment on the matter.
In Johor, at least two people including a driving school instructor and a clerk from an e-service centre in Batu Pahat were arrested in the crackdown.
Johor JPJ director Rosli Ramly said the department had received complaints about this matter in the past and referred the problem to its headquarters in Putrajaya.
In Putrajaya, social activist Tan Sri Robert Phang lodged a report with the ACA claiming alleged malpractices by enforcement officers of the JPJ and vehicle inspection company Puspakom.
Phang, who is executive deputy chairman of the Social Action Initiative Foundation and an executive council member of the Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation, handed over a stack of documents and photographs relating to his claim as evidence to Mohd Shukri.
