KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) has called on the government to conduct a complete overhaul in the procedure to obtain driving licences which is a burden on the B40 group.
In a statement today, MTUC said the fee to get a D licence costs between RM1,200 to RM2,300, which is deemed too high for the B40 group and does not commensurate with the service provided.
A student is also told to pay RM100 for being absent from the Road Transport Department (RTD) driving test although they have missed the test with valid reasons.
In another instance, MTUC gave an example of a colour blind student sitting for the computer test which includes a colour blindness test, and upon failing the test, the student will have to pay another fee to sit for another special test.
"This double payment on the grounds that the booking with the RTD has been made is nonsense and the institution is driving to seek profit in the wrong way.
"The pay-for-all error policy should be discontinued. The driving institution should not hold back the L licence if the student failed to pay the course fee.
"The absence of a flow chart for customer reference makes it difficult to understand the driving institute's standard operating procedure. Discrimination and payment fraud will easily occur and corruption will permeate the affairs of driving institutions," it said today.
As part of the procedure overhaul, MTUC suggested for the tests, including computer and driving tests to be fully managed by RTD while the driving institution is only limited to be a training provider.
This will reduce the red tape and also greatly reduce the price to obtain a driving licence, it said.
"RTD must develop a system that helps the people by reducing the involvement of driving institutions.
"The administration of matters to obtain a driver's licence can be done by yourself through the RTD's application," it added.
Yesterday, the Transport Ministry said it will request a RM10 million allocation from the Finance Ministry next year to further expand the MyLesen B2 Programme so that more people from the B40 group can obtain their motorcycle licence.
The allocation would benefit more than 30,000 people through the MyLesen B2 Programme.