Kuala Lumpur, 21 October 2021: The Vehicle Theft Reduction Council of Malaysia (VTREC) with the collaboration of Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan Malaysia (JPJ) auspiciously organised a Facebook Live session entitled “Bahaya Menggunakan Alat Ganti Kenderaan Curi Atau Alat Ganti Kenderaan Palsu” as a part of a public engagement and awareness initiative to inform, educate, and warn the public on the form of endangerment and risks that these stolen or fake vehicles spare parts could bring them.
The panellists’ line-up includes VTREC’s Co-ordinator, Puan Mas Tina Abdul Hamid, representatives of Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan Malaysia (JPJ), YBrs Dr Wong Yau Duenn, Pengarah Bahagian Keselamatan Jalan Raya (BKJR) and Tuan Ts. Mahamad Rashid Ibrahim, Engineer of Bahagian Kejuruteraan Automotif.
Puan Mas Tina Abdul Hamid responding to questions from the live stream.
The session started with Puan Mas Tina answering the question on the vehicle theft trend for 2021. According to Puan Mas Tina, the national statistics had shown a reduction for all vehicle classes aligned with the insurance industry statistic where the same pattern was recorded and believed to be the result of imposed lockdown amid the pandemic. January to August this year, reduced by 40% or reduced by 5,929 cases compared to same period last year, cases reduced from 14,930 cases to 9,001 cases. Motorcycle theft reduced the most by 40%, private car reduced by 39%, while commercial vehicle 39%, according to Polis Diraja Malaysia’s (PDRM) statistics. Meanwhile, according to insurance industry statistics, January until June 2021 overall vehicle theft reduced by 49%. Private car recorded a significant reduction at 53%, motorcycle reduced by 45% and commercial vehicle also reduced by 40%. Puan Mas Tina also thanked the Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM), Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan (JPJ) and the key stakeholders for their relentless efforts in combating vehicle theft. The next question, Puan Mas Tina was asked on the type of stolen or fake spare parts that are the most dangerous to use. Puan Mas Tina shared that the tyre and gearbox are example of risky spare parts which could be the catalyst for road traffic accident. Plus, she touched on the risk of driving a “Frankenstein” car or cut-and-join car which yield to death. On her third question, Puan Mas Tina provided tips to prevent oneself from getting scammed of the stolen or fake spare parts by the fraudster, for the most part via online platforms. She urged public to only purchase vehicles spare parts from legal manufacturers or authorised distributors. Stolen spare parts and fake spare parts are sub-standard quality spare parts as those spare parts do not work as efficiently as original spare parts. When they fail, it is an absolute hazard to the road users, those spare parts can act as a safety hazard.
Dr Wong Yau Duenn shared his feedback with the online listeners
The following panellist was Dr Wong Yau Duenn, he answered the query on how fake or stolen spare parts, endangered road users. He stated that it is indeed could jeopardise both the owner of the vehicle and other road users. He later shared a piece of the recent news on how fake Yamaha spare parts caused a deadly accident to a pregnant woman in Pahang, which ultimately left her two children orphans. Upon investigation, it was ascertained that a few original parts of the motorcycle were replaced with fake aluminium spare parts. In his next question, he appeals to a query about the type of advocacy conducted by BKJR pertaining to road safety and sub-standard spare parts. According to Dr Wong, BKJR has performed a collaborative education campaign with the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP) to increase the awareness of road safety among the youth. Dr Wong then responded to a question prying fake or stolen spare parts is a better alternative. He stated that the offer was doubtful and too good to be true when the fraudster frequently sold below the marketed price that is poor in terms of quality, especially for modern vehicle spare parts such as breaks in which it is not up to the specified standard which is certainly dangerous to the user and others. He later highlighted it as a very concerning issue and shared tips on recognising fake spare parts by looking at the wrapping or packaging.
The third panellist was Tuan Ts. Mahamad Rashid Ibrahim, he shared how to differentiate stolen spare parts and fake spare parts. According to Tuan Rashid, there is a high possibility that stolen spare parts could also be imitated spare parts that were not produced by the authorised manufacturers. Next in his sharing, he shared that there is a Law Enforcement Act on stolen spare parts for those who involved in stolen spare parts, which is section 411 Penal Code, in which mentioned that those who received or saved any stolen items can be imprisoned for less than a month or not more than 5 years or could be fined or both. These crimes could jeopardise both the seller and the user (victim). On the third question, Tuan Rashid was asked about the possibility of recovery for the vehicle using stolen spare parts from the JPJ. He explained that it is under PDRM authority to decide. As a side sharing, Tuan Rashid addressed on tyre lifecycle, highlighting that there is expiry information printed on the tyre. He also stated that once the tyre cannot grip the road efficiently, then it marked the lifecycle has expired.
Tuan Ts. Mahamad Rashid, shared his feedback with the online participants.
At the final session, Dr Wong highlighted that BKJR is aware of the spare parts scenario. For the record, they created an awareness video on tyre safety in response to one of the questions on how BKJR looks into the situation involving stolen and fake spare parts. Tuan Rashid responded to a question from the stream asking about a reference website to determine the originality of spare parts, which he stated that there is no current development of the specific website for spare parts related. Alternatively, he advised the public to refer to the manufacturer website to review and compare genuine and artificial spare parts. Last, in order, Puan Mas Tina provided her reply to one of the questions that cast an aspersion on whether stolen spare parts criminal only targeted old model vehicles. She affirmed that for private cars, most of the time, the thieves targeted old models such as Proton Wira, Proton Iswara or Perodua kancil but not for motorcycles since brand new motorcycles are also often being targeted for illegal motorcycle spare parts.
Encik Muhammad Alif, hosting the FB Live session.
Photo session with the panellists and technical team
The session was hosted by Encik Muhammad Alif Mohd Adnan and ended at 3.02 pm.
