PUTRAJAYA: All of the approximately 800 employees of the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) will be absorbed by the Road Transport Department (JPJ).

Transport Minister Anthony Loke assured SPAD staff that they will not be dismissed from service following the Prime Minister’s announcement that the commission will be shut down.

“We have 1,000 vacant positions in JPJ which were frozen for new intakes, and we have decided to take in all the SPAD staff to fill these spots.

“Any overlapping will be reviewed and decided on later,” he told a press conference after chairing a meeting with JPJ here on Thursday (May 24).

Loke added that he will stop the practice of authorising certain NGOs to sell special number plates, with immediate effect.

“It is true that the minister has powers to allow this, but the practice ends now.

“From now on, any buying of number plates must go through JPJ, without exceptions. This is Government revenue and we intend to collect all of it,” he said.

On the bidding process, Loke said he had instructed JPJ to work on a system for e-bidding to replace the current manual system.

“At the moment you need to physically show up to bid for certain numbers at JPJ offices in certain states. We hope to roll out the online system by January 2019, which will allow more vehicle owners to bid for special number plates,” he said.

Loke also issued a series of plans for driving institutes, where he announced that there will be no more “pakej sampai lulus” or “guaranteed to pass” licence packages.

He said institutes can offer additional services – for example, transport to and from the institute – but these must be optional and clearly stated in an itemised bill to licence applicants.

“As for driving tests, we want to stop the practice of ‘kopi o’ licences. We are working towards full automation of the test process.

“Circuit tests will hopefully be fully automated by the end of the year. For on-the-road tests, we want driving institutes to install dashboard cameras in all test cars.

“By doing so, should an applicant feel he was failed because he did not pay the ‘duit kopi’, he can appeal with evidence from the dashboard cameras,” he said.

Loke said that the mechanisms for all these ideas would be fine-tuned later through discussions with driving institutes.