Idlan's Adventures at Wangsa Maju JPJ
Ah, how much I love Malaysia bureaucracy and governmental agencies. Today was day three in the 'Idlan does Geran Kereta Hilang' series. Yesterday I made an attempt to secure a Permit Khas Sehari so that I could drive the no-road-tax Kancil to Puspakom for an engine checkup as required; but the window on the passenger side of my car decided it had had enough, fell and refused to go back up. With the window gaping open locking the car was totally pointless; so instead I ended up going to a workshop to fix that.
So today, I made my way JPJ Wangsa Maju, asked the kaunter pertanyaan about my predicament, and in true makcik-malas-nak-layan fashion, I was shoved some forms, was told to fill them in and was directed to a random counter next door. Luck would have it, it was of course the wrong room; and as I finally made my way to the right location, I was informed that I needed copies of my I/C to be submitted. Having not been told about this before, I was ushered to a photocopy shop just outside the JPJ compound, who conveniently charged RM0.40 for an A5 photocopy of my I/C. Such is capitalism and opportunity.
Having done that, I was then asked to go to another room; only to have found it to be closed because of lunch break. Fair play, I thought, and went to pick up my brother at his hostel in Titiwangsa in the meanwhile. Came back, queued up again, and was told I also needed the insurance documents before I could proceed with the permit application. Since the car's road tax had already expired, I of course needed to take out an insurance policy - hence the next thing to do was: head home, and dream nice dreams of another day in Wangsa Maju soon. None of these documents was explicitly told to me in advance, and no info was found on the website : I was just told to go to JPJ with a copy of my police report; and for all intents and purposes, this I did do.
Now instead of criticising, let's today think of perhaps what could be done to improve the system (yes, my management control systems hat came right on the second I found out I was ushered to the wrong counter).
For starters, barring overhauling the ladies at the information counter with a courtesy implant, perhaps leaflets could be distributed with specific instructions as to what to do if something happens. Make said leaflets available for perusal on the JPJ website. Distribute them to driving schools. And such leaflets must cover as many contigencies as possible. For instance, in my case, the issue is Geran Kenderaan Hilang; but in my case the road tax has also expired, so what to do in this case? This should be detailed.
I also find it ironic that service counters, such as this, close for lunch. Mainly because for most people, they may well take their lunch break to pop out for a bit and run errands. The economics of this doesn't make sense - supply doesn't equal demand. An alternative would be to have half the staff take early lunch, and then man the counters so that the rest of the staff could have their break. Or have one group go later, whichever.
Thirdly, I suppose wallcharts would also be useful - so people would not be wandering around guessing where they should be going first.
I don't hold it against JPJ for requiring the documents I didn't have. It makes sense - for instance, in order to drive a car, it should be insured, hence an uninsured car cannot be awarded a temporary permit. But I wish I knew about it, and I wish there was information about it I could read up on before trekking halfway across KL.
But at least the JPJ have a half decent website. Not like another government agency I know of..
Additional anecdote:
I saw a group of men staring at a monitor hoisted up on the ceiling in one room. I thought, "Wow, these people, they even have time to monitor their shares here." Apparently not so. It was.. the latest car plate numbers, as they were issued.
So today, I made my way JPJ Wangsa Maju, asked the kaunter pertanyaan about my predicament, and in true makcik-malas-nak-layan fashion, I was shoved some forms, was told to fill them in and was directed to a random counter next door. Luck would have it, it was of course the wrong room; and as I finally made my way to the right location, I was informed that I needed copies of my I/C to be submitted. Having not been told about this before, I was ushered to a photocopy shop just outside the JPJ compound, who conveniently charged RM0.40 for an A5 photocopy of my I/C. Such is capitalism and opportunity.
Having done that, I was then asked to go to another room; only to have found it to be closed because of lunch break. Fair play, I thought, and went to pick up my brother at his hostel in Titiwangsa in the meanwhile. Came back, queued up again, and was told I also needed the insurance documents before I could proceed with the permit application. Since the car's road tax had already expired, I of course needed to take out an insurance policy - hence the next thing to do was: head home, and dream nice dreams of another day in Wangsa Maju soon. None of these documents was explicitly told to me in advance, and no info was found on the website : I was just told to go to JPJ with a copy of my police report; and for all intents and purposes, this I did do.
Now instead of criticising, let's today think of perhaps what could be done to improve the system (yes, my management control systems hat came right on the second I found out I was ushered to the wrong counter).
For starters, barring overhauling the ladies at the information counter with a courtesy implant, perhaps leaflets could be distributed with specific instructions as to what to do if something happens. Make said leaflets available for perusal on the JPJ website. Distribute them to driving schools. And such leaflets must cover as many contigencies as possible. For instance, in my case, the issue is Geran Kenderaan Hilang; but in my case the road tax has also expired, so what to do in this case? This should be detailed.
I also find it ironic that service counters, such as this, close for lunch. Mainly because for most people, they may well take their lunch break to pop out for a bit and run errands. The economics of this doesn't make sense - supply doesn't equal demand. An alternative would be to have half the staff take early lunch, and then man the counters so that the rest of the staff could have their break. Or have one group go later, whichever.
Thirdly, I suppose wallcharts would also be useful - so people would not be wandering around guessing where they should be going first.
I don't hold it against JPJ for requiring the documents I didn't have. It makes sense - for instance, in order to drive a car, it should be insured, hence an uninsured car cannot be awarded a temporary permit. But I wish I knew about it, and I wish there was information about it I could read up on before trekking halfway across KL.
But at least the JPJ have a half decent website. Not like another government agency I know of..
Additional anecdote:
I saw a group of men staring at a monitor hoisted up on the ceiling in one room. I thought, "Wow, these people, they even have time to monitor their shares here." Apparently not so. It was.. the latest car plate numbers, as they were issued.
posted by Idlan at 9/09/2004 05:31:00 pm
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