Tuesday May 22, 2007

JPJ Kiosks an easy solution

By V.P.SUJATA and SIM LEOI LEOI

THE kiosks that have been set up for the public to interact with the Road Transport Department (JPJ) for various transactions have received good response – so good that more kiosks are being set up in and around the Peninsular.

The current number of 27 kiosks which were set up since October last year will be increased to 50 by the end of June this year.

Paperless transactions will help reduce bureaucracy

All the kiosks have been set up at JPJ's testing centres in Peninsular Malaysia (see graph for locations) by three companies namely MyEG, Komms and Speed.

To date there are 107 testing centres nationwide.

The kiosks can be used to check and pay for summonses, renew driving licences, printing learner driver licences, and checking the Kejara demerit points.

JPJ director-general Datuk Ahmad Mustapha Abdul Rashid said their next plan was to extend the services to Sabah and Sarawak by setting up similar kiosks there.

The idea of having kiosk, he said, was part of JPJ's e-Services, an electronic Government initiative towards creating a multi-service delivery channel through the use of Information and Communications Technology.

“The move is customer driven. We want people to feel at ease when interacting with Government agencies at their own pace as well as having their own space using their personal infrastructure like telephones and computer.

“We want to encourage people to interact with the Government through these channels,” he said.

He added that these paperless transactions would also help reduce bureaucracy.

“People will prefer this too as they do not need to drive to an agency, find and pay for parking and then take a number and wait to be attended to,” he added.

Life will be easier for the public who must be made aware of the existence of such facilities.

Ahmad Mustapha also said that apart from the kiosks, Internet and short messaging services (SMSes), JPJ was also planning to introduce another ICT service in the future called the Interactive Voice Response (IVR).

“We hope to introduce the IVR, which is similar to the phone banking used by banks now, as part of our revamp to the e-Services in future,” he said.

Ahmad Mustapha added that from January to April this year, a total of 32, 819 learner drivers printed their licences and since April 11, driving licences can also be renewed via the kiosk or via the Internet.

So far,only 63 customers have tried the renewal via both transactions. He is hoping that more will follow suit.

Renewal slips can be printed out through the kiosks, while those using the Internet can make payment for licences through credit cards and print a receipt as proof of payment while waiting for their licences to be posted to their home addresses.

The fee charged is RM2.

To ensure drivers do not forget to renew their licences, the department has even taken it upon itself to send out reminders about a month or two prior to the expiry date, he said.

There are also plans to send out SMS reminders.

Since May 1, mobile phone users could check the expiry date of the driving licence, Kejara demerit points, and unpaid summonses by sending an SMSes.

They should type JPJIC number (not hyphenated) and sent to 32252 to get all the information for a fee of less than RM1.

The e-Services had also been used for the Highway Code Test for learner drivers before they are issued with the Learner Driver Licence to drive on the road.

The test through computer is conducted at the various test centres nationwide.

It includes questions on the highway code and a separate vision test.

Each student is identified through their thumbprint and they can choose to answer the questions in either Bahasa Melayu or English.

“They have to answer 50 questions in 45 minutes on computer. Last year 822, 889 students were tested through the computer while from January to April 30 there were 268, 584 students,” he said.

He added that students are allowed to familiarise with the computer system earlier to ensure they are able to use the computer for the test, adding that those who are not computer savvy at all would be allowed to sit for the regular written examination.

“The illiterates would be tested orally to ensure they know the law.

Ahmad Mustapha also said that most Malaysians were more comfortable answering the Highway Code Test in English .

Sabah and Sarawak were the last states to receive the English version in April and May respectively, he said, adding that there were plans to have examinations in other languages like Mandarin and Tamil but this would take time.

“Foreigners can also sit for the computer exams to get driving licences but they must know English at least if they do not know Bahasa Melayu,” he said.

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