AES staff did not impersonate RTD, says Kong

Transport Minister Kong Cho Ha today explained that the contractors for the Automatic Enforcement System (AES) are required to prepare enforcement vehicles for the use of the Road Transport Department (RTD).

The Lumut MP however did not indicate in his winding-up speech to the Dewan Rakyat whether the contractors are allowed to use the vehicle.

“Under the agreement, the AES contractors are required to prepare the vehicles but the enforcement is still being done by the RTD. The enforcement does not come from them but through the RTD which has the powers to review the images taken.

“Hence, you cannot say the company uses the company car and uses it for enforcement. It is only after the RTD enforcement officers are satisfied with the images that the summonses will be issued,” said the minister.

Kong was commenting on the issue raised by Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena), who yesterday claimed that the AES contractor had used RTD vehicles to install the cameras.

Mahfuz and Jerai MP Mohd Firdaus Jaafar, lodged a police report at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters yesterday claiming two vehicles, one registered to ATES Sdn Bhd and one registered to Preferred Synergy Sdn Bhd, were caught on camera bearing JPJ’s colours and logo.

Mahfuz: Dates look fishy

At a press conference later, Mahfuz claimed that one of the AES contractor was registered only after obtaining the contract. 

He said a check revealed that ATES was ATES was only incorporated on Feb 12, 2009, while Beta Tegap Sdn Bhd was incorporated on Feb 7, 2004.

"There is something fishy, this is not about saving peoples lives but also benifiting others," he said.

Following this, Kong held a press conference of his own to clarify that while the contract was offered in 2008, it was only signed several years later. 

Previously, former Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat reportedly said the cabinet decision on the AES was made prior to 2008.

'Cables not placed properly'

During his speech to the Dewan Rakyat, Kong also said that the faulty runway lights incident at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) which brought the airport to a standstill in Oct 26 was caused by cables which were not placed properly.

He said this was due to a charter flight which landed prior to the incident. 

“The cables for the runway lights were not laid out properly... Ten cables were not laid out properly, due to a charter flight which needed to land. So that job (the laying of the cables) was not done well, and we are very disappointed with that,” he said.

He said he had given responsible parties a “stern-ticking off” and action has been taken to ensure that the incident, which affected 30 flights and thousands of passengers, would not recur. 

He said that following the incident, the prime minister had also proposed that all parties who provide essential services to set up crisis management teams. 

This includes airports and air traffic control systems, like the Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control Centre which was down for two hours in September. 

“The crisis management teams will have their own standard operating procedures,” he said.