Law Teik Hua of Universiti Putra Malaysia’s road safety research centre said the 50% discounts could be seen as an attempt to attract a large number of visitors to the Dec 8-10 event at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium.

He added that in general, offering such discounts makes drivers disregard traffic laws and dilutes the impact of law enforcement.

“There is also the perception that the authorities want to make money (from the event). This is not right,” said Law.

This morning, government spokesperson Fahmi Fadzil told Bernama TV that nearly 200,000 people are expected to attend the event to commemorate the first year in power of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration.

Law questioned whether the discounts, which were implemented at several government programmes in the past, had helped educate drivers about road safety.

“If it can be proven that giving discounts can still reduce accidents, they can continue. But if not, this should stop,” he said.

Yesterday, Kuala Lumpur traffic investigation and enforcement department chief Azman Ahmad Sapri said the discounts would not cover traffic offences for 2023 involving accident-related fines, court cases with arrest warrants or those still undergoing trial, and non-compoundable offences.

Azman urged the public to check their fines through the MyBayar PDRM portal and app before going to the payment counter to avoid congestion at the location and to facilitate the payment process.