LAND PUBLIC TRANSPORT COMMISSION

BY TAN SRI ABDUL AZIZ ABDUL RAHMAN,
former Managing Director of Malaysia Airlines.


The government apparently has decided to take steps to upgrade the efficiency of the system as transport is an important component of economic development of the country. Many big things are being planned for transport in the country but what the public would like to see is that whatever changes that are introduced would avoid costly, irreversible mistakes.

I have been associated with the transport industry for almost 40 years. I was the president of the Chartered Institute of Transport Malaysia for more than 10 years and the president of the International Council of the Chartered Institute of Transport, London for five years.

During those years, I remember participating in many forums and seminars in the country on public transport. I spoke at some of those forums.

Regrettably, I have not seen much change in terms of efficiency of our public transport system. I have from time to time noticed efforts by the authorities at various levels to improve the system, but we have seen very negligible achievement.

I am convinced that the reason the authorities have not been successful in improving the situation is because the fundamentals of the system are wrong.

We have to look at the fundamentals first before formulating the concept and the policy. The first question that I like to ask is what is the main objective of our land public transport system? Is it supposed to cater to the lower
income earners of our population or for everyone?

The next question is what is our policy with regard to motorcar ownership? The government has from time to time declared that everyone should aspire to own a motorcar and indeed we have encouraged motorcar production and ownership in the country.

Therefore, there appears to be conflicting objectives of public and private land transport systems.

Another issue is the different demands of urban transport and the rest of the country’s transport requirements. The fundamentals of these two sectors are again different and of course there is a need to get the right formula for the integration of the two sectors. This by itself creates many issues.

The Prime Minister, in launching the 10th Malaysia Plan, stated that there was a need for Malaysia to have a new approach, a new enthusiasm and a new determination to propel the country into the next level of high growth.

Land public transport plays a very significant role in the economic activities of the country and in fact it forms the backbone of the efforts of enhancing the efficiency of the machinery of the economic activities.

To achieve the targets set by the government, changes must be done to the government structure to support the objectives the country is striving for.

One of the key principles adopted in transforming the economy of the country is a culture of creativity and innovation. This principle is, in my view, relevant to the land public transport system of the country.

It is indeed refreshing to note that the government has established a new regulator called the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) and this, I must say, is very timely and a step in the right direction.

It is understood that the commission will be responsible for the regulation, planning and management of public transport in Malaysia. The commission has an enormous task ahead, as it is generally known that our land public transport system is in a mess.

I am glad to note that the commission welcomes ideas and proposals from the public. The public transport activities have many stakeholders and I hope they will come forward to assist SPAD to enable it to draw up a well-researched masterplan for public transport in the country.