AUTUMN IN OSAKA/ KYOTO/ TOKYO

simon dec 2014

GETTING A DRIVING LICENSE – THEN & N0W

The legal age to drive in Malaysia is 17. So after the SPM exams, we duly signed ML up with a driving instructor recommended by one of her friends who has gone through the grind. Nonchalantly, I thought everything will be taken care of. Normal standard procedures, there is no need to be personally involved in anyway. Unfortunately, parenthood is never quite that simple.

Having taken my driving test more than 40 years ago, it was quite an eye-opener to see how the whole process has evolved over the years. Back then in the early 70s, cars were rather rudimentary in nature. Morris Minors and Volkswagen Beetles seemed to be the most popular models then. Air conditioning was unheard of and there was no audio stereo system to distract you. In fact the only luxury item available inside the car, if you could afford it, is a small whirling fan attached to the dashboard. The older model cars did not have indicator lights for turning. The driver had to stick his hand out of the car window to perform the various signals and wave it around like crazy. I wonder if there were any statistics as to how many arms got ripped-off by passing vehicles. Only the more expensive car models would have a pair of yellow plastic arm like indicators that operate mechanically when you throw on the switch.

In those days, anybody with a valid license could be an instructor. So in theory, you could have another 17 year old sit next to you, stick on a L plate and go drive around the town. When you are ready you sign up for the test. The driving test then was conducted by a single JPJ officer. For the oral test, he might ask you at random a couple of traffic signs from the highway code poster stuck on the wall. Following that  will be the actual driving test, which consisted of parallel parking, a 3-point turn and stopping on an incline. He would then inform your driving instructor, more often than not that you had failed because of some infringement during the test. Your driving instructor would act as the intermediary.  The under table going rate then was RM50. Of course you can refuse to pay and opt to re-sit the test. To re-sit cost money and there was no guarantee you would pass the second time round. Most people did not want the hassle, so they paid up and get their kopi-o license.

Fast forward to the present. So what has changed? Surprisingly, manual cars are still being used for the test although the option to use  cars with automatic transmission will be available later this year. The main stay of the test remains the same i.e. parallel parking, stopping on an incline and 3-point turns.

What has been changed is the one-stop test has evolved into a 5 stage procedure. First, you have to pass the highway code test, a 50 questions computer exam in either the BM or English version. If you got through that you are required to attend a 6 hours theory course on car maintenance. You are then entitled to a Learner(L) license that is valid for 3 months. With the L-license you can start your driving lessons under a driving instructor registered with JPJ. After a standard package of 5 lessons or 10 hours of driving, the instructor will enroll you for the JPJ conducted Q.T.I. a pre-qualification test to ascertain that you are ready for the driving test. When it comes to the actual test, the parking section and road test will be conducted by 2 different testers, ostentatiously to discourage bribery and corruption. In reality, this bureaucratic labyrinth of procedures only create even more opportunities for the corrupt testers to collect kopi money at every step of the way. At the going rate of RM200 per stage there is potentially RM800 to be made from each candidate for the driving license. And the most frightening thing is you don't really need to know any of the highway codes or how to drive a car to obtain your license. What you have to do is to be present on the appointed day, sign your name and pay up. You do not even have to get into a car and pretend to drive. So is it any surprise that Malaysia has one of the highest traffic accident rate in the world.

So what is the correct and ethical thing to do when put in such a situation? Take the easy way out - as in join them if you can't beat them? Fortunately, they are still some upright people out there who steadfastly refuse to perpetuate the corrupt system.

simon 21 Mar 2014