KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) is offering discounts of up to 50 per cent for traffic summonses which are paid via the MyBayar Saman portal and application from today until April 11.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador said the offer was to encourage the public to use the online facility to settle summonses for minor traffic offences.

However, the offer did not apply to major traffic offences such as jumping the red light, speeding, overtaking on double lines, using telephone while driving and driving on the emergency lane, he said.

"With this application, the public can make payments online without having to put up with long queues at the payment counters,” he told a press conference after launching MyBayar Saman at the federal police headquarters here today.

Abdul Hamid said this online payment method was expected to be well received as the COVID-19 pandemic had prompted many people to opt for cashless payments.

MyBayar Saman was also in line with PDRM’s objective to increase collection through cashless payments and phase out the operation of payment counters, he said.

"PDRM recorded only 18.5 per cent (in cashless payments) last year, compared to the average rate of 62.9 per cent in the public sector,” he said, adding that the payment app could also reduce PDRM’s dependence on private agencies for collection.

He said no service charge would be imposed for use of MyBayar Saman.

“Since it was activated at midnight last night, more than RM1 million has been collected through online payments. We hope this mode of payment will help us achieve our target of RM500 million in collection this year,” he said.

Abdul Hamid said in the 30-year period from 1990 until last year, more than RM6.6 billion comprising 68 per cent of the summonses issued had been collected while 32 per cent were left unpaid.

Meanwhile, Bukit Aman Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Department director Datuk Azisman Alias said they planned to add e-wallet as a mode of payment, and it would not be limited to settling summonses.

The MyBayar Saman portal can be accessed via PDRM’s website or ha href="https://mybayar.rmp.gov.my"ttps://mybayar.rmp.gov.my/a while the mobile app can be downloaded from either Google Playstore or Apple Store.

-- BERNAMA