The Malaysian Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) posted this in their blog yesterday…
[source]
Vehicle End-of-Life Policy (ELV) and the Phasing-out of Imported Used Parts and Components
The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) would like to refer to the issues raised by the public on the mandatory annual inspection as a requirement for road tax renewal for all vehicles aged 15 years or above and the gradual phase-out of imported used parts and components under the National Automotive Policy (NAP) Review announced on 28 October 2009.2. On the mandatory annual inspection, the Government, through the Ministry of Transport (MOT), will formulate a roadmap for the implementation of Vehicle End-of-Life Policy (ELV) by taking into consideration the views of all parties through consultations with consumer associations and Non-Government Organisations (NGOs).
3. MITI’s Secretary General, Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Mamat reiterated that “the effective date for the implementation of the mandatory annual inspection is not on 1 January 2010 as reported in some media. The Government will announce the effective date of the mandatory annual inspection once the roadmap for the implementation of ELV is completed”. He added that “the main objective for the introduction of the mandatory annual inspection is to ensure that vehicles are safe and road-worthy”.
4. The implementation of the mandatory inspection is not meant to phase-out old vehicles that are more than 15 years. The vehicles are allowed to be on the road should they passed the inspection and road-worthy tests. Even now, the mandatory inspection is being implemented for the transfer of ownership of personal vehicles and road tax renewals for commercial vehicles.
5. At present, there are 2.7 million or 14.5 per cent passenger vehicles aged more than 10 years on the road. Compared with countries such as Australia, United States, Korea, Indonesia, Thailand and India, Malaysia has a very low vehicle scrap rate and relatively high average vehicle age.
6. The gradual phase-out of imported used parts and components will be effective in June 2011. This measure is only applicable for imported used parts and components. It is in line with the long term objective of the Government to prohibit the importation of used automotive products which are sub-standard and unsafe.
–Media Statement by MITI, released on 30th October 2009
I could see that there was no comment in the blog entry when I was reading it, so I felt compelled to put some of my thoughts in there. Here’s what I wrote (it was being moderated at the time of posting of this entry):
In case some of you in the government still couldn’t figure this out, allow me to enlighten you guys – “Malaysia has a very low vehicle scrap rate and relatively high average vehicle age” because –
a) vehicles are very expensive here, in our country, for reasons the government knows best (proof: we have 9 year hire-purchase plans available here. Malaysia Boleh.).
b) our public transport system is not well established. The government can’t even make those samseng taxi drivers to pakai meter (go to Johor or Penang, you’ll be enlightened).
c) our average per capita income is waaaaaayyyy lower than most of the countries listed in the article above.There.
And if the government is so dead serious about the road-worthiness of our old cars, why don’t you guys provide free inspections solely for that purpose? I’m sure some plans can be worked out… since the government is encompassed of sooooo many talented and intelligent individuals….
If you guys have anything to say about this, you can do it there.