Tour van operator fined RM50,000
December 23, 2015, Wednesday Safrah Mat Salleh
KOTA KINABALU: A tour company was fined a maximum of RM50,000, in default, 12 months’ jail by the Sessions Court here yesterday for using a vehicle for tourism purposes that is not licensed under the Tourism Vehicles Licensing Act 1999.
Borneo HY Ocean Tours & Rent A Car Sdn Bhd, represented by its director, pleaded guilty before Sessions Court judge Ainul Shahrin Mohamed, to a charge of using a Kia Pregio van for tourism purposes which is not licensed under the Act.
The tour company was caught committing the offence at Km 20 of Jalan Papar-Beaufort at 3.45 am on September 30.
The charge, framed under Section 19 (1) of the Tourism Vehicles Licensing Act 1999, provides for a maximum fine of RM50,000 or a jail term of up to five years or both upon conviction.
In delivering her judgement, the judge held that unlicensed tour vehicles would reflect a bad image on the tourism industry in Malaysia, specifically Sabah, and it would also pose unnecessary risk for passengers and the driver and other road users as it would be difficult to get an insurance claim should anything untoward happens.
“Even though neither accidents nor any untoward incidents may happen, it does not mean that we have to wait for something bad to happen first before we do anything.”
“If the fee for a license is only RM50, why should the tour operators not take a valid license? It is better to prevent bad things from happening rather than to take action after it happens,” she said.
In mitigation, counsel Loretto Padua, for the accused, pleaded to be given a fine only instead of imprisonment on the grounds that this was the company’s first offence and had pleaded guilty to the charge as the director was remorseful over the incident.
He said, the company had to rent the van, which belonged to one Yu Haidan, as the company’s van which has a permit had broken down at the time, to take on tourists from China who had just arrived.
Loretto also said that the decline in the tourism businesses in Sabah due to kidnapping incidents had severely affected the tourism business, especially on a small company like Borneo HY Ocean Tours & Rent A Car Sdn Bhd.
Meanwhile, deputy public prosecutor from the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia, Afzan Abd Kahar, contended that the offence committed had various implications on the public including tourists, such as the inability to make insurance claim if involved in any accidents, as unlicensed tour vehicles are not covered with insurance.
Furthermore, she said, the ministry also had no records of the vehicle and the passengers, which would make it difficult to get in touch with either the tourists’ next-of-kin or their respective embassies in the event help and further information is required.
Afzan also highlighted that the ministry is actively taking action on unlicensed vehicles since April this year and since then, more than 100 vehicles have been caught for operating without the tour license.
“Registration cost to get a tour vehicle license is only RM50 and annual fee is RM60. There should be no reason for any party to not obtaining the license.
“On the decline of tourism business in Sabah, there is no such proof or statistics to support it. In fact, we can see many tourists around the city area as we walk outside the court,” she said.
Afzan therefore pressed for the court to impose a deterrent sentence against the accused as a deterrent to would-be offenders from committing a similar offence.
The facts of the case stated that an enforcement team from the ministry and a police team had stopped to check the tour vehicle and its driver at a junction of a village in Papar at Km 20 of Jalan Papar-Beaufort. The vehicle, which was registered as a personal use vehicle, was found carrying eight China nationals back to Kota Kinabalu and did not have a tour vehicle license
Investigations also revealed that three of the China nationals held an expired social visit pass as confirmed by the Immigration Department.