Cap on driving school fees soon

The Star

BY LOH FOON FONG

KUALA LUMPUR: The maximum fee that driving schools can charge for the various categories of vehicles will be announced later this week.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the ministry had directed a review of the fees following complaints from the public that the new fees imposed by driving schools were too high for the new driving curriculum implemented nationwide on Aug 1.

“It (the review) should be complete by this week. I will be able to make an announcement in the later part of this week,” he said at a press conference after presenting scholarships to the first batch of 61 UEC students selected for the Utar-UEC scholarships yesterday.

Last month, Liow put the implementation of the curriculum, which was supposed to be more comprehensive, on hold following the barrage of complaints and had asked the Road Transport Department (JPJ) to look into it.

Liow said JPJ director-general Datuk Seri Ismail Ahmad had been asked to discuss with the Malaysian Driving Institute Association to come up with a cap on the fees.

Bright sparks: Liow (second right) speaking to UTAR-UEC scholarship recipients (from left) Yeap Chee Kit, Yee Sheng Teng and Toh Seong Heng as Utar Council chairman Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik and Chuah (right) look on during the presentation ceremony in Bandar Sg Long, Kuala Lumpur.

The fee for motorcycles, for instance, was raised from RM261 to RM600, which was too high, he said.

It was reported that a driving school in Kota Kinabalu was going to charge RM2,000 for its manual vehicle driving licence course.

“We can’t control the fees as it depends on demand and supply but we can provide a ceiling for all the categories and minimise the increase,” said Liow.

At the event earlier, Liow, who is also MCA president, presented the scholarships to UEC (Unified Examination Certificate) school-leavers from independent Chinese high schools.

Each student received about RM40,000 for a three or four-year course.

Utar president Prof Datuk Dr Chuah Hean Teik said the scholarships, totalling more than RM3mil, were given to students with good academic results, proven leadership qualities and active co-curriculum records, as well as to poor students from rural areas.

On MH17, Liow said Malaysia is communicating with Dutch authorities on a daily basis at 6pm Malaysian time.

“Currently, it is focused on post-mortem and victim identification since the Ukraine government suspended the ceasefire (with rebels) four days ago,” he said, before expressing hope that details following the analysis of black box data would be announced some time this week.