The AES System In Malaysia part 1

Part 1 - The Ulterior Motives

One of the most talked about subjects at this time and in the last one year or so is the implementation of the upcoming Automated Enforcement System in Malaysia. Obviously, it is hoped that the automated system will eliminate the need of having police personnel monitoring the heavy-usage roads / roads that are identified as frequent accident zones as well as improving enforcement that cannot be done by manual means.

However, despite the purpose of usage, I noticed that there are more cons, in the sense of ulterior motives that are behind the intention of using this. I've read a good piece from this link detailing about the problems if the enforcement system goes ahead. CASSA has already stated its protest  onto that.

There are some ulterior motives we can identify from this matter:

1. Every vehicle is required to switch license plates to the plates containing the RFID chips embedded into it. The concept is very similar to our very own passports. The chips are linked to the scanner readers that AES cameras will read whenever a vehicle goes underneath the scanning radius of an AES camera. The camera will pick data to determine whether the vehicle is committing a road offence or not. However, the cost of replacing license plates is depending on who is the supplier and contractor. If the contractor is a somewhat Class-F contractor, expect the cost of upgrading to be much pricier than replacing it at any motor shop if required to be done in a PUSPAKOM place.

Cost would be the poser: Suppose doing in any motor shop costs RM 80 including workmanship, could it be that the cost of doing it by official lines could be RM150? This means we're making a close to a two fold profit. From what I understood, a critic said sometime last week the purchasing price of a equipment, project etc.. was at least 40% more than a buying the same piece of equipment of same quality. Could it be hidden costs that were added as to say give additional kickbacks to cronies?

Some of us do know that the amount of national reserves in our country is still at a precarious, dangerous and low level. There might not be enough left in the coffers. With the football betting license pulled back, the government is desperately looking for other means besides all forms of taxes duties as source of income. What more can be than having hidden costs that could be possibly a way to solve this?

2. My most important concern is that if this technology is being misused and abused, this technology could be turned into the worst weapon - privacy invasion. Obviously this system will raise concerns from privacy movements and in the worst case scenario, whatever you do, while not in the car, the system could become the eyes and ears of those in corridors of power, and thus it could violate the basic human rights freedom that a citizen is entitled to. Since that the AES system could be used based on Israeli-based technology, not the homegrown technology that a bidder has submitted to the police force, there is also a possibility that it can be used by other countries to spy on other countries.

3. I do believe in conspiracy theories, including those entities / secret cabals are using technology like this to control the population. This is obviously connected to the previous point. But this would be the ultimate goal of the new world order there. The concept of Big Brother is always being around there, but the problem right now is that our government leaders either do not know that there has been external penetration from outside forces or they do know but deliberately do that to save their asses.

4. In order for the enforcement system to be implemented several changes had to be made to the enforcement act, with the proposals drew flak from every people. The main fault in the proposed changes is that the policymakers didn't take human psychology into account. Answers to common questions like why cars are parked illegally, why people speed at times, was there something that necessitate them to commit a road offence and etc.. This is not the only time where such case happens. This also happens in the proposed amendment of the Copyright Act that Ayah Dafi was proposing.

True, I have to agree of Say No To AES. But I heard that the system implementation could be postponed due to legal wrangling.

To be continued...