Transport Minister YB Anthony Loke announced today that the Road Transport Department (JPJ) no longer requires physical road tax for private cars as well as driver’s licence as part of its initiative to go digital. As usual, there are tons of comments online raising concerns about the move. Some asked what happens if your phone suddenly becomes dead at a roadblock or what if a senior citizen fails to load their digital road tax and driver’s licence?
To address these concerns, the minister has issued a simple FAQ about the MyJPJ app as well as enforcement policies.
Is it compulsory to download MyJPJ for digital road tax and driving licence?
Anthony explained that the MyJPJ app (Apple App Store, Google PlayStore and Huawei AppGallery) that’s used to display the digital road tax and driver’s licence is not mandatory and it is merely an option for those who prefer to use digital copies. Even if you don’t have the MyJPJ app installed or fail to show the digital road tax, law enforcement officers are able to check your road tax and driver’s licence status through their own devices. No summons will be issued, unless, of course, you are caught driving a car with an expired road tax or no longer have a valid driver’s licence.
If you don’t want to go digital, the current physical road tax and driver’s licence are still available if needed. He reiterated that digital road tax and driver’s licence are merely an option, not mandatory.
Do you still need to pay for road tax upon expiry?
Even with the digital format, you are still required to pay for road tax and driver’s licence renewal upon expiry. The only difference is that you are no longer required to stick the physical road tax sticker to your windscreen. For those who are not comfortable with the digital format, you are still able to obtain a physical copy from JPJ.
What if someone else is driving your car?
If you choose to go digital and someone else is driving your car, you can keep a copy of the digital road tax in the vehicle. The minister repeated again that it is not an offence if the driver fails to produce a copy of the road tax. The enforcement officers are able to check the road tax details from their own devices.
Responding to complaints about the MyJPJ app which struggled to load today, he said there’s a high amount of traffic for the first day of the announcement due to the surge of users trying to register at the same time. Anthony acknowledged that there are still a lot of questions about the move to use digital road tax and his Ministry will try to provide the best explanation. He is aware that in any change, it takes time for people to adapt and there will be people who would be resistant to change. He added that he respects everyone’s point of view and he will manage the change as best as possible and improve any weaknesses in the process.
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