PUTRAJAYA (July 4): The Ministry of Transport (MoT) has decided to terminate the 'One Community One JPJ' licence issuance programme for B2 class vehicles, with immediate effect.

At a press conference today, Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook told reporters issuances under the programme did not undergo proper examination and could result in higher risk to drivers.

"The programme was meant to ease the cost of obtaining licence for rural residents, but without proper training and examination, they would face higher risk on the road. As at end-2017, there were 132,851 licences issued under this programme since it was launched," he said.

"Basically JPJ (Road Transport Department) officers would go into the rural areas and test the driving skills of applicants, and the officers issued the licences when they are satisfied with applicants' performance. We are putting a stop to this programme. But those licences that JPJ had issued in the past remain valid," he said.

Asked if MoT would undertake another round of evaluation on drivers who obtained their licence through the programme, Loke said his ministry will study on a possible mechanism to implement such an evaluation.

Loke also updated that this year's road safety prevention initiative, dubbed 'OPS Bersepadu', which took place during the 2018 Hari Raya Aidilfitri festive period from June 8 to June 22, recorded a 0.04% rise in road accidents to 22,411 cases, of which 235 involved fatalities that claimed 248 lives, a drop from 257 death in the same period last year.

Loke said a new approach is needed for next year's 'OPS Bersepadu' as he considered this year's initiative a failure as the accidents this year still claimed a lot of lives.

"We are very sad about the outcome this year, imagine 248 Malaysians lost their lives on the road in just two weeks. Every year we will have OPS Bersepadu for two times, namely Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Chinese New Year, we will have to look for a new approach to further reduce fatalities," he said.