Pdrm To Enhance Enforcement Amid Rise In Fatal Motorcycle Accidents - Saifuddin

KEPALA BATAS, Aug 9 (Bernama) -- The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) will intensify enforcement and enhance road safety awareness campaigns in an effort to address the rising number of fatal accidents involving motorcyclists, says Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

With Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim also raising concern over the issue, Saifuddin said he had personally discussed the matter with Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain and would take immediate action.

"The Prime Minister raised the issue during last week's Cabinet meeting, with specific instructions to two parties: first, to Deputy Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi) as chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Road Safety, and second, specifically to the Ministry of Home Affairs (KDN), after which I addressed it in a post-Cabinet briefing.

"We at KDN have directly communicated with PDRM regarding the issues raised, and I discussed them with the Bukit Aman Traffic Division and Tan Sri Razarudin, emphasising the basics, namely road safety awareness campaigns at schools, grassroots, and community levels, to address the problem," he told reporters after the ministry’s event at Dewan Millenium, here today, which was also attended by Razarudin and Penang Police chief Datuk Hamzah Ahmad.

On Tuesday, Anwar expressed concern over the high accident rate among motorcyclists, which was believed to be due to weak law enforcement and road maintenance issues.

Elaborating further, Saifuddin Nasution said that KDN would also review the existing legal provisions used in efforts to reduce the number of accidents involving motorcyclists in the country.

"We will also intensify enforcement, including the issuance of summonses, and based on records, the total estimated amount of summonses issued to date has reached RM2.18 billion.

"If this value is used as an indicator, it proves that the number of summonses issued is indeed high, but at the same time, motorcycle accident rates have also increased," he said.

In another development, Saifuddin Nasution stressed that the police had full discretion and authority under the law to conduct investigations into any case.

He said this when asked to comment on the joint statement by the Gerakan Media Merdeka (Geramm) and the National Union of Journalists Malaysia (NUJM) that 'cooperation' with any investigation by authorities, including the police, should not involve demands for journalists to reveal confidential sources.

"I do not want to delve into specific cases that are already under police investigation, but the Inspector-General of Police can confirm that under my leadership, the ministry and the police have full discretion and authority under the law.

"However, what I want to emphasise is that from the perspective of journalism and the world of journalism, responsible news reporting is our priority, and this means that when we write, it must be accompanied by accountability, not only to the media station or company but also to the public as a whole," he said.

Geramm and NUJM in their joint statement yesterday protested against any action that could undermine the ability of journalists to protect anonymous sources, as well as the notion that any news should not be dismissed as "untrue" or "invalid" just because they cited anonymous sources.

On Tuesday, the police opened an investigation paper on an article published by a local portal claiming that there would be a major reshuffle of senior officers at Bukit Aman, the PDRM headquarters.

-- BERNAMA