KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 2: PAS Youth leader Nasrudin Hassan Tantawi (pic) has described the controversial postal summons, or 'saman ekor', as being in the same league as the notorious Internal Security Act which provides for detention without trial.
"(Like the ISA), the postal summons tells the recipient to pay the fine without providing an opportunity to argue the case in court," said Nasrudin in a statement to Harakahdaily.
According to Nasrudin, even in the case of conventional traffic summons, a motorist was not obliged to settle a summose even though he or she acknowledged it by signing on the ticket.
"The signature is merely an agreement to be present in court, unless the recipent chooses to settle it by paying a compound," he said.
In the case of the postal summons, however, Nasrudin said the authorities appeared to be more interested in collecting fines through the use of hidden traffic police informants and cameras to prey on would-be offenders. Such summonses, he said, were then mailed to motorists who were presumed guilty and forced to pay up without due process.
"If the police has strong proof of any offence, they should not be worried about securing a conviction for offenders," he stressed.
Nasrudin said the authorities could emulate several techniques in developed countries to educate their motorists, such as installing audible speed breakers in vehicles, a move adapted in Japan to warn motorists of their speed limit.
'Authorities too eager to nab offenders'
In Germany, Nasrudin said it had been a practice for patrol cars to be deliberately parked within five to ten kilometres of each other to warn road users that there was road block ahead.
"It has proven to be an effective method to avoid issuance of summonses and at the same time ensure the safety of motorists.
"However, in our country, it seems the authorities were more interested in catching offenders," he said, adding that enforcement of traffic rules should be geared more toward education.
On the latest deadline given by the government for people to settle summonses, Nasrudin said this was a trend every time a general election was around the corner.
"It is as though the government is milking money from the public in order to finance UMNO and BN's election machinery for the general election. It is unfortunate if such were the case.
"Postal summons is the country's second ISA to punish the people without trial," he added.
Related:
'Keep your summons receipts and redeem your money'
http://en.harakahdaily.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2377:saman-ekor-no-different-than-isa-says-pas-youth&catid=36:headline&Itemid=70
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