While digital road tax and driver licenses are here to stay, the government looks like it is softening its view on re-offering physical copies of these. Having said last month that anyone wanting a physical road tax and licence can just print it themselves, transport minister Anthony Loke now says that a new initiative will be introduced next year for those who wish to obtain a physical copy of these documents.
Speaking in the Dewan Rakyat, he said the move is in response to complaints from the public, with a number of people having voiced their preference for physical driving licences and road tax. There will however likely be a fee to have them printed, as the New Straits Times reports.
“In this regard, next year we will announce an initiative for anyone who wishes to print their licence physically. They may need to pay for the printing the physical card,” he said, responding to a question posed by Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh (PH-Ledang) about the matter. He however did not elaborate further on the charges that will be imposed for printing these items.
Loke however reiterated that there would be no turning back in terms of the overall shift to digital, and efforts on this front will focus on identifying areas for improvement. “Since the launch of the road transport department’s (JPJ) digitalisation initiative, the ministry and the department have been committed to continuously improving the MyJPJ application to enhance the delivery of online services to the public, ” he said.
He said that one of the improvements being implemented by the ministry, as part of the department’s digitalisation agenda, is the incorporation of a notification function on the app to alert users about the expiration date of their motor vehicle license (LKM). “This new feature will be announced to the public once it is developed and ready for use,” he said.
He added that the MyJPJ smartphone app has been downloaded by 13.7 million users so far, and over one million transactions for the renewal of digital road tax and licences, amounting to RM121 million. have been carried out so far.
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