Shaharuddin presenting the Highway Code book in conjunction with his 100 days in office in Putrajaya.

PUTRAJAYA: The Highway Code book will be available as an e-book next year as the Road Transport Department (JPJ) continues to move its services online.

Its director-general, Datuk Shaharuddin Khalid, said offering more of its services online will ensure ease-of-access for the public.

“Now we already have the e-payment system, and the plan is to offer all of the department’s services online,” said Shaharuddin, adding that there would still be counter service at its offices.

He said the Highway Code book will be made available online by March 2018, ensuring no more shortage of physical books.
He said the shortage was due to the school holiday period when there was a huge increase in students wanting to sit for their learner driver’s test.

“Our supply is enough. It’s just that driving institutes are doing a promotion so more students want to take their licences,” he said, adding that the department has supplied an extra 50,000 books to the affected driving schools.

Shaharuddin was speaking to the media at a press conference to mark his 100th day helming the department on Friday.

To mark the occasion, he also unveiled his JPJ management plan towards TN50, which details the way the department will move to align with the National Transformation 2050 (TN50).

Among the new developments for next year will be the introduction of new units within the department, such as the international unit, which will act as a liaison centre between the department and other JPJ-like agencies in Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia and Thailand.

“These countries have a direct link in terms of roads to our country, so we will try to have a working relationship with them,” he said, adding that before this, the relationship between the countries was focused more on vehicle registrations than enforcement and management.

Another new unit to be introduced is an intelligence unit to deal with enforcement matters such as cloned vehicles and identifying traffic offenders, he said.

He said that JPJ will also focus more on education for the public next year as part of its enforcement strategies.

He added that JPJ will also work with universities and colleges in the country to offer diploma courses on transport management, starting with its Malaysian Institute of Transport at Universiti Teknologi Mara.