THIS JUST IN. The proposal for the 12 years cap on the lifespan of cars which caused a ruckus among Malaysian motorist and politicians, has been called off by Putrajaya, for now.
Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said the federal government has no plans to go ahead with the proposal. “I want to stress we have no plans to impose a cap on the lifespan on cars for disposal purposes as we do not want to burden the public,” he told Parliament today.
However, classic car owners should not celebrate yet as when asked if the proposal will be introduced on later stage, he said it “depends on the rakyat”. “We don’t want to burden the people. It all depends. We put the people first,” he added.
Also concurred to the Deputy Transport Minister’s call is Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) director-general Profesor Dr Wong Shaw Voon, who last Friday concluded that cars above 12 years are not safe on our roads. He stated that more studies needed to be done, especially on the socio-economic impact on the people.
“As an engineer, I said that the typical lifespan of a vehicle, according to the design of the car, is 12 years. But I do not agree with the proposal to put a limit to the lifespan of cars,” he said.
Malaysia was one of the nations with the highest price of new cars in the world and Malaysians were burdened with car loans up to nine years, which attributed to the country’s alarmingly high household debt. Putrajaya has revealed that there are more than 22 million vehicles on the road in Malaysia with more than five million older than 10 years. Understating the burden faced by the rakyat, Abdul Aziz also said steps had been taken to lower road tax for vehicles with low motor capacity.
In citing examples, he said owners of vehicles less than 1,000cc and below only pay RM20 every year for road tax while those who own cars between 1,400cc and 1,600cc only pay a yearly rate of RM90. “Any further reduction can only be decided by the Finance Ministry,” he said.
Last week acting Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein,was looking into the proposal to scrap cars above the age of 12, and has poised this will not burden Malaysians. Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said on Sunday that the Road Transport Department (JPJ) will decide soon on a policy to impose a lifespan on cars. This is in response of MIROS’s crash test using a 1990 Proton Saga recently and concluded that cars above the age of 12 are not safe in our roads.
While this may provide some relief to many classic car owners and used car dealers, this news is perhaps a knee jerk reaction to the many opposition in response to this. However a clearer guideline on a possible “End-of-life” policy towards old cars may be drafted during the National Automotive Policy (NAP) announcement by mid of January 2014.
[SOURCE: The Malaysian Insider]
