Ministers Don't Have To Pay 'Saman' If Caught Speeding Based On This One Condition
"There are exceptions to the rules," Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said.
Government officials caught speeding while on official matters can be exempted from paying traffic summonses, according to Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed
This is on condition the cabinet ministers and deputy ministers can justify they were rushing to official functions, he explained.
While admitting that no one should be above the law, he added that there were exceptions such as when official cars break speed limits on government business.
“Don’t tell me if we use government cars to attend government events, we still need to pay for traffic summonses?"
He said that there were “no hard and fast rules” on when such exemptions would apply, and that it was left to the discretion of the officials and the authorities involved.
“Government cars, if we have to rush for official business, we can inform the police,” he said.
However, he stressed that even ministers are not exempt if caught speeding on a personal capacity, revealing that he had just paid a speeding fine of RM300.
“I'm not saying we can flout, what I am saying is that there are exceptions to the rules. Sometimes we have to hurry up to get to a function,” he added.
However, the Pulai MP said that the focus should not be on civil servants only, stressing that government officials have been observing speed limits most of the time
"Mostly it is non-government individuals who are always speeding. We are not asking for exemption when it involves our personal cars. But when using government cars, let’s be flexible,” he added.
freemalaysiatoday.comNur Jazlan was asked to respond to Deputy Home Minister Masir Kujat who told Dewan Rakyat that traffic police will act on official cars caught speeding.
"Let's use proper judgement in this case. At the end of the day, you know we want to reduce the overall accident rate," said Nur Jazlan, who is also an Umno supreme council member.
"Any increase of fine will be for that purpose. Don't look at the behaviour of civil servants, look at the overall behaviour."