Penang police chief Shuhaily Mohd Zain said a disciplinary probe had also been opened into the two policemen who were seen in the video that has gone viral on social media since yesterday, Bernama reported.
Shuhaily said the 20-second video was uploaded on a Facebook account belonging to “anwarazeez”. He added that it showed a man at the wheel of a private vehicle which was escorted by two traffic policemen on motorcycles belonging to police.
Watch the video here.
He also confirmed the incident took place on Jalan Bukit Gambir.
Yesterday, news portal The Vibes reported that the driver in the video clip was Baling MP Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim’s son. He was seen driving in Penang escorted by two traffic policemen.
The report also stated that in another video clip, which was posted as an Instagram story yesterday and has since expired, one of the traffic policemen was seen stopping traffic at a junction in order to allow the “escorted vehicle” to run the red light.
The report said an oncoming vehicle could be seen braking abruptly to avoid colliding with the outrider.
Meanwhile, Bukit Aman traffic investigation and enforcement department (JSPT) director Bakri Zainal Abidin told FMT that the integrity and standards compliance department (JIPS) was currently probing the incident.
“JSPT will not compromise on any abuse (of traffic escort services) even though the matter is not under our purview,” he added.
The incident also invited a call from Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim for the government to revoke police outrider services for ministers, deputy ministers, elected representatives and their kin.
He said these people were not “royalties” and therefore should not be entitled to such a service.
“Ministers and deputy ministers should not be wasting police manpower by expecting them to provide outrider services when they already have their own pilots and police escorts,” he said in a Facebook post.
“If you are chasing time, leave your home early, or try to resolve the traffic congestion problem so that all road users can reach their destinations with ease.
“There is no need for police outriders.”