PETALING JAYA: Despite a monthly salary of between RM3,000 and RM7,000, not many are willing to be­­come commercial vehicle dri­vers.

In fact, the Road Transport Depart­ment (JPJ) and the Associa­tion of Malaysian Hauliers (AMH) are looking for Malaysians to fill up some 1,000 vacancies across the nation.

“Today, truck drivers can earn up to RM9,000 a month, but many companies are hiring foreigners because there are not enough local drivers.

“We want our own people to take up these high income jobs,” said JPJ director-general Datuk Seri Nadzri Siron during a job carnival at PPR Kampung Muhibbah in Seputeh yesterday.

To address this problem, the Transport Ministry has launched an initiative called the MyLesen Goods Driving Licence (GDL) last Novem­ber.

Those who sign up for the programme will only have to pay RM1,655 for a course to get a Class E Goods Driving Licence.

It is nearly RM1,000 cheaper than the normal fee.

“The subsidised fee is to encou­rage more Malaysians to become professional movers. In the near future, (Alibaba Group founder) Jack Ma will be setting up a regional hub in Malaysia and we will need a whole lot more drivers.

“We do not want to rely on fo­­reigners. Once you get a GDL licence, there is a guaranteed job,” Nadzri said.

He was referring to MyLesen GDL’s partnership with AMH, which has more than 104 registered companies under its wing.

Any Malaysian who completes the programme will have the opportunity to work for any of the companies under AMH.

Nadzri also added that since November, more than 200 Malay­sians had signed up for the programme.

MyLesen GDL is an initiative under the logistics and trade facilitation master plan launched in 2015, which aims to turn Malaysia into the preferred logistics gateway to Asia by 2020.