Call for a speedy decision on the controversial 628, 045 old AES summonses
On the issue of whether motorists will need to settle their old Automated Enforcement System (AES) summonses, Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein has said last week that the decision to be made will be what the public wants.
However, 3 days ago, he has only said that the status of the old summonses will be decided by the Attorney General’s Chambers on the possibility of a write off.
This is not what the public wants. The public wants a quick and confirmed decision.
According to a written parliamentary reply given to Segambut Member of Parliament Lim Lip Eng on July 17, this year,there are a total of 673,339 summons issued to 628,045 motorists for speeding and 45,294 for running the red light. Summonses worth more than RM20 million has been collected.
Since each summon costs RM 300, this means only about 70,000 summonses have been settled , while more than 600,000 summonses have yet to be settled.
It has been months that the government first talked about deciding on the status of unsettled summonses. Surely more than sufficient time has been spent on making the required decision. Why is there such a long delay in reaching a decision that Hishmamuddin has said is that the public wants.
I am of the opinion that it is justified to write off the unsettled summonses because in addition to the legal issue which has caused the authority to halt court prosecution, when the AES was implemented in September last year, there was a lack of publicity to inform the public neither were there adequate and large signboards erected at camera locations to warn approaching motorists.
RM 300 per summon is a big sum to many motorists and some actually were issued with multiple summonses.
RM 300 is nothing to the rich people but for the average people, this amount can mean a few visits to McDonalds or Kentucky Fried Chicken meals for a family.
I therefore call on the government not to procrastinate any longer on the old AES summonses. Unless the government has abandoned its People First slogan, it should immediately announce a write off for unsettled summonses and a refund for paid summonses.
