Who Is Behind The Wheel Of Commercial Vehicles

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ALL commercial vehicles in Malaysia are registered in the names of companies or organisations, and they could be sole proprietorship (syarikat), private limited (sendirian berhad), limited (berhad), partnerships (dan rakan-rakan) or cooperatives.

These businesses ought to employ or engage drivers who are licensed to operate commercial vehicles. In addition to the competent driving licence (CDL) for the class of vehicles, they must also possess a valid goods driving licence (GDL) or a public service vehicle (PSV) licence.
Light goods vehicles with a laden weight of no more than 7,500kg are classified under ‘de-centrolled’ and they do not require a commercial vehicle permit.
The aim is to facilitate smaller businesses to own and operate their own light trucks or vans to transport their own goods.
These de-controlled vehicles could either be driven by the owners or drivers engaged by them, similar to individually-owned taxis (with meters) and hired cars (without meters).
As for taxis owned by companies or cooperatives, these businesses have no control over their taxi drivers.
Anyone making a down-payment to a taxi company or cooperative may take delivery of a taxi, and is free to do whatever he or she wants, as long as the monthly installments for the rental-purchase are settled on time. Like a bank loan, there is no employer-employee relationship.
It was reported that some express and tour bus drivers claimed they receive basic salaries as low as RM700, with some saying they are not paid base salaries at all.
In response, the Human Resource Ministry said it will tighten enforcement against parties violating the laws on wages.
It reiterated that all companies must pay their employees a minimum of RM1,700 regardless of salary structure, according to the Minimum Wages Order 2024.
Offenders may be fined up to RM10,000 for each employee, and up to RM20,000 or jailed five years for subsequent offence.
The ministry also said it would carry out a review of 28 labour-related laws through a task force headed by deputy secretary-general (policy and international) Shaharin Umar to ensure that there are no exploitable legal loopholes.
However, addressing the elephant in the room is not as straightforward as many people might think. Granted, all full-time employees must be paid at least the minimum salary as dictated by the law and also contribute to both EPF and SOCSO.
But many drivers engaged to drive lorries and buses are not full-time employees. Companies may retain them as part-time workers to circumvent the law, or drivers may choose to work part-time as casual workers, and others may prefer to work freelance for several companies.
The government ought to make a ruling that all part-time workers that have worked at least 21 days in a calendar month over a three-month period must be offered full-time employment with minimum monthly salary across all industries, and not limited to commercial vehicle drivers.
Whether they are full-time, part-time, casual workers or freelancers, vehicle owners must ensure they are fully licensed for the class of vehicles they are driving, such as the CDL plus GDL or PSV, and they are well rested before embarking on long trips especially overnight runs.
Alas, operating commercial vehicle businesses started to turn messy with the introduction of the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1970 and the Road Transport Licensing Board (RTLB) tasked to ensure that almost all vehicle permits are to be granted to Bumiputera-owned companies.

This was continued after RTLB was renamed Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB) in 1987 and the Tourism Ministry took over the issuance of Bas Persiaran permits later until it was taken over in 2011 by the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) in peninsular Malaysia.
As a result, many commercial vehicles are operated by unnamed third parties who had to lease permits and also register the vehicles in the name of the lessors. These include individuals who lease Bas Persiaran permits from companies and drive their own tour buses. 
YS Chan is master trainer for Mesra Malaysia and Travel and Tours Enhancement Course and an Asean Tourism Master Trainer. He is also a tourism and transport business consultant.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of  MMKtT.
- Focus Malaysia.

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