Abolishing SPAD: This is no longer 90s Malaysia

Dissolving SPAD will only muddle the development of public transport. SPAD is not some sort of legacy of the past government. Public transport should be moving forward for Malaysia instead of executing more highway and road expansion projects.

By Lynna Abdul, Free Malaysia Today

Malaysia Baru has restored the rakyat’s faith in democracy. A completely new line up of the Cabinet is being formed and the newly-appointed ministers rightfully deserve a chance to prove themselves. Unfortunately, some were taken aback with the decisions made in its very first Cabinet meeting, which appeared to be concluded hastily and without due consideration to its consequences.

While certain groups are celebrating the end of the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) – largely the rakyat, who mistake the role of SPAD to that of the Road Transport Department (JPJ) and taxi drivers who are unhappy about having to step up their game to compete with e-hailing services – the continuity of SPAD needs careful consideration.

It is a no-brainer that SPAD should be placed under the Ministry of Transport (MoT) instead of the Prime Minister’s Department (PMD). But, SPAD being broken up and absorbed into the MoT, is a catastrophe to the industry. Risking all SPAD’s efforts and resources that it was allocated all these years is counterproductive for the country.

There is a need for YB Anthony Loke to first acknowledge the role of SPAD as being in the forefront of the development of Malaysia’s public transport. Its works-in-progress include the Regional Land Public Transport Master Plan 2040, MyBas, Journey Planner, Performance Monitoring Hub System and Integrated Common Payment System.

On top of these many initiatives in the pipeline, SPAD regularly plays its role in ensuring the public transport service is delivered with certain standards essentially for the safety and comfort of the rakyat.

The setting up of SPAD is akin to Singapore’s Land Transport Authority and other regulatory bodies in Malaysia i.e. Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), and the Energy Commission among others.

SPAD is a statutory body established to regulate and plan land public transport in Peninsular Malaysia according to the Land Public Transport Act 2010. These exclusive roles are not carried out by the MoT but by SPAD.

Hence, it is unclear why the new government hastily decided to dissolve SPAD when there is no overlapping of roles.

SPAD is also positioned to enforce rules concerning land-based public transport including freight, a role that is perceived by many to be duplicating the role of JPJ. In hindsight, with a bigger mandate for SPAD, it is more relevant for JPJ to be placed under SPAD and not the other way around.

Hopefully, YB Anthony Loke has already been informed about the challenges SPAD has faced in its continuous efforts to develop integrated and well-planned public transport.

As we welcome the digital age, managing disruptive innovation that changes the mobility landscape such as e-hailing, is one of the many challenging tasks for SPAD. Managing public complaints is no doubt SPAD’s bread and butter, although it is impossible to fully satisfy everyone.

Rome was not built in a day. It takes years or probably decades to have public transport key players and even local authorities and government agencies on the same page, and another extensive effort to gain the trust of the rakyat to use public transport.

Will these challenges be collectively handled by a ministry whose inefficiency led to the establishment of SPAD in the first place? Will SPAD’s initiatives be water under the bridge in the MoT?

Stating the obvious – public transport is highly subsidised and consistently requires government intervention. This is not the case only in Malaysia, it is a global trend that demands continuous effort from many stakeholders.

If managed and planned properly, financial assistance from the government can be reduced over the years. But with a poor business model, the service will never be self-sustainable.

Transport consultants and experts are needed to advise the government, backed with in-depth studies and modelling, instead of being completely driven by private developers and proxies solely for financial gain.

The many studies conducted in the past need to be acknowledged as lessons learnt to improve public transport planning in the future. They cannot be ignored, forgotten and simply shelved (in the MoT).

The people behind SPAD are talents with various transport backgrounds and do not represent either Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Harapan.

Instead, they aspire to build a developed country where people live with access to efficient public transport. These talents aspire to safeguard the interests of the rakyat for affordable, safe and quality services (and civil taxi drivers).

Breaking-up SPAD into various departments when the initial idea was for an integrated public transport network goes to show how the MoT will continue to stay outdated.

Dissolving SPAD will only muddle the development of public transport. SPAD is not some sort of legacy of the past government. Public transport should be moving forward for Malaysia instead of executing more highway and road expansion projects.

This is no longer Malaysia in the 90s. Public transport is the heart of cities. Without having a dedicated entity to champion this, Malaysians can only admire the efficient public transport that forms the iconic identity and remarkable backdrop of cities like London, Tokyo, Seoul, and Singapore.

Beyond public transport is SPAD’s roles in advocating the global agenda for sustainability i.e. green technology, social inclusiveness, and sustainable cities and communities.

The value that public transport has to offer the people outweigh substantially the political payback of the “Bapa Pengangkutan” epithet associated with the former prime minister.

The new government through YB Anthony Loke is turning back the clock for Malaysia by at least 20 years. The present complexities of land use and transport planning integration will get even more complex with SPAD no longer being a house for public transport.

With only the press of a reset button, which is undeniably the prerogative of the government of the day, the vigorous efforts in making public transport great in Malaysia are now brought into disrepute.

For many public transport enthusiasts to have witnessed SPAD going to great lengths to overcome challenges only to end up disbanded, is a tragedy for the industry and simply disheartening.

Lynna Abdul is a graduate member of the Malaysian Institute of Planners (MIP).