Kerk to challenge legality of Ops Warta II in Parliament
Despite suffering from rectal cancer, DAP member of Parliament for Kota Melaka, Kerk Kim Hock, has been diligently doing his 'homework' for the coming parliamentary sitting to start on June 17.
Kerk, who has gone through 16 radiotherapy sessions, is currently working on the controversial Ops Warta II, a nationwide police dragnet to arrest traffic offenders by issuing summonses called POL 170 A, and the imposition of an additional RM300 fine on guilty motorists.
Offenders have to pay RM300 for the traffic offence and another RM300 for ignoring the summon. Warrants of arrest will be issued after the 14-day grace period if the compounded fines are still not paid and police officers will be going to homes, public car parks, as well as setting up roadblocks to nab offenders.
"I am going to pursue the issue in Parliament. I am going to challenge the legality of the notifications sent out by ordinary posts and question why additional fines of RM300 are imposed," he told malaysiakini today.
"Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi must intervene to declare POL 170 A as null and void and to stop the imposition of the RM600 fine (in total) on motorists as provisions of the 1987 Road Transport Act 1987 have not been complied with," said Kerk, who is also DAP secretary-general.
Errant motorists were initially given a May 1 deadline but it was later extended to May 16.
At first, there were 4.6 million outstanding traffic fines, but the number went down to 3.3 million after thousands of motorists jammed payment counters and made the first deadline.
The launch of the operation caused panic among many traffic offenders causing long queues and confusion at police stations and payment counters throughout the country.
A spanner in the works
A spanner was, however, thrown into the works when Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Rais Yatim questioned the legality of the police action. The Attorney-General's office clarified yesterday that the police acted legally on the matter.
According to Kerk, he has learnt that for POL 170 A notices sent before year 2000, the compound offers are regarded as valid and motorists have been allowed to accept the compound offer. The affected motorists have also not been asked to pay the RM300 fine.
"[Any] leniency shown by the police is due to their own mistakes. The police did not comply with Section 118 of the Road Transport Act and before 2000, they have only sent out notices by ordinary mail," he said.
"The police have failed to take follow-up action when the summons deadlines were over. Although they have been sending out POL 170 A notices by registered mail since 2000, the practice of imposing the harsh penalty of RM300 raises the question of the propriety and legality of such an action," he added.
Kerk said when a motorist does not settle the compound offer, it is the duty of the police to institute summons as specified in the notice.
"It is, therefore, wrong and unfair for the police to slap the motorist with the RM300 penalty simply because the motorist has ignored the notices. There is no ground for such police action.
"According to the law, the police are required to send the notices by registered post, and as such, their failure to comply with the law has rendered all the POL 170 A notices sent by ordinary post invalid, null and void," said Kerk.
He said the police's action in trying to rectify or even "cover up" their own mistakes by extending the compound deadline is not the solution.
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