Transport Minister Kong Cho Ha today defended the government’s decision to outsource the Automated Enforcement System (AES) to two private companies, saying it was due to several factors.

He justified the decision not to let the Road Transport Department carry out the enforcement and privatising AES instead because the government had considered the costs and human resources involved, as well as the management expertise of ATES Sdn Bhd and Beta Tegap Sdn Bhd.

NONE “There are other countries that also outsource (a similar system to private companies), (it is) not subcontracted.

“This is partly because of the costs involved, and also the amount of manpower. And I think it’s also the expertise of the (companies’) management,” Kong ( right ) told a press conference after launching the World Maritime Day 2012 event at the Maritime Transport Training Institute in Port Klang today.

Despite the AES having received heavy criticism from both the ruling parties and the opposition, as well as the people, Kong said that he could not decide on his own whether the cabinet should review it.

“I cannot make any unilateral decision on that,” he added.

During the committee stage debate on the Transport Ministry's allocation under Budget 2013 yesterday, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang called on all the BN MPs to support the call for the immediate suspension of AES.

NONE PAS vice-president Mahfuz Omar (left) also called on members of the public to ignore traffic summonses issued through AES, and said that 100 lawyers were ready to help those who were penalised through the system.

However, Kong refused to comment over these two matters when asked today.

Instead, he slammed Pakatan Rakyat for showing that it does not care for road safety by calling for the suspension of the AES implemention in the four states it rules.

“Statistics also show that there are a lot of road accidents, there are a lot of  deaths due to accidents in Selangor, every year (there are) more than 1,000 (cases).

“And then in Penang and Kedah, every year (there are) more than 500 (cases) and all that. Maybe they are not concerned.

“The objective of this is road safety, people adhering to the rules and speed limits and so on,” said Kong.

Asked whether the PKR’s double-decker campaign bus and DAP’s newly-launched election war truck have violated any law, Kong said he was not aware of this but noted that political parties could use their own vehicles to serve their constituents. 

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