KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 ― Members of the public who are unhappy with proceedings or corrupt practices in Puspakom can now air their grouses or make direct complaints via a special hotline or email. This looks like a positive move on Puspakom’s part to clean up its poor image in respect of vehicle inspections, and perhaps yield a long term result of seeing truly road-worthy vehicles on the road.
Chief Executive Officer, Mohammed Shukor Ismail said members of the public can call the line at 03-20528989 or email [email protected] if they come across any irregular practice, stating that “Puspakom will not tolerate any unethical business conduct by its employees and urges members of public and its customers to report to its whistleblower line.”
Under Puspakom’s Whistleblower Policy, anyone with evidence of any irregular practice or activity can file a complaint against the individual, and the identity of the informant will be kept confidential. Puspakom’s Intelligence and Surveillance Department will take prompt action to investigate the matter.
Mohammed Shukor Ismail said, “Puspakom reaffirms its commitment to take stern action against employees who fail to demonstrate their compliance with the disciplinary code or any breach of procedures in an effort to keep Puspakom and its employees graft-free.”
A statement by the company states, Puspakom re-emphasises that it does not authorise third parties to act on behalf of the company, nor does it give any guarantee that a vehicle will pass an inspection. The company has invested heavily on sophisticated equipment that sends inspection data directly to the server in order to minimise human intervention. It is therefore hardly possible for anyone to guarantee that a vehicle can pass any inspection by paying extra to Puspakom officers or interfere with the inspection results on the equipment. Customers are asked to report immediately to Puspakom if they are approached by unscrupulous third parties claiming they can guarantee a vehicle can pass any inspection.
“There is no reason for our customers to use a third party to deal with Puspakom. Inspection fee charged is based on the type of inspection, ranging from RM20 to RM90. We welcome and encourage customers to come directly to Puspakom centres. These irresponsible people can only make empty promises when it comes to solving any problems with the vehicles being inspected. The inspection process is made even more convenient for our customers now by using our Inspection by Appointment system (IBA),” added Mohammed Shukor.
Recently, Puspakom held a Corporate Integrity Pledge (CIP) signing ceremony, witnessed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to reaffirm its commitment to continuously fight corruption.
The signing of the CIP complements the existing Puspakom-MACC cooperation that was duly executed through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) since January 2011, which realised the establishment of Puspakom-MACC Integrity Technical Committee, a part of the many efforts to continuously stamp out corruption.
Said Shukor, “Public confidence is of utmost importance for Puspakom and various improvement initiatives have been in place. These include the opening of new inspection centres, deployment of new mobile inspection fleet, Inspection by Appointment (IBA) system, as well as upgrading and automation of inspection equipment.”
He added that the latest is a RM3 million investment in Toughpad, a device used to directly transmit digital results to the server which minimise human intervention and reduce the result processing time by 20 per cent. This is done without compromising on the quality of inspection, but increases efficiency and productivity.
He further stressed that the very existence of Puspakom and the very essence of vehicle inspection is all about ensuring the road worthiness of vehicles and protection of other road users. If there were constant attempts to continuously look for ways to circumvent the system, then the entire exercise becomes futile.
Over the period 1994 to 2014, Puspakom has invested over RM400 million in the improvement and upgrading of automating its operations and in vehicle examination equipment and systems, in its efforts to ensure quality and transparency of its service to clients. This will in turn eradicate human intervention and middleman activity in the inspection centres.
