BASIC STEPS IN OBTAINING MALAYSIAN DRIVING LICENSE

Many dread the thought of driving in the Malaysia especially because of the KL traffic. There are few better ways to see the city and indeed the country.

Important: You can only use your overseas or international driver’s license for 3 months then you will need to get a Malaysian driver’s license.

If you already have a driver’s license then it is important to check with your embassy or a driving school for the procedure on changing your license. You won’t have to surrender your other license but there will be some procedures to follow. When visiting the relevant authorities remember to bring along your passport, work permit (or related info) and two licensed sized color photographs.

For those first timers the following awaits you.

Five-hour road safety course (KPP)

This is conducted in Malay & English (on certain days). After the course, a self-study kit containing a booklet and a CD would be provided. One needs to study for the theory (computerized) test.

Take theory test.

The test is not hard it consists of 50 multiple choice questions of which you can only get 8 wrongs. This test must be passed, if not you can not start the practical lessons. More to the point you have to sit the test again-a real waste of time. Need to mention that once you passed this test, you need to undergo 6-hour Pre-L session comprising of both theory (3 hours) and basic driving (3 hours).

Minimum of 8 hours of driving lessons

This is where the fun begins. Hope you like manual Kancils. It’s not so bad-it teaches humility more than anything else. Here you not only learn to drive but to park as well. The instructors tend to be very helpful and will work on any problem areas. All you need to do is ask.

Take the driving tests. One on the open road, the other in a car park.

Nervous? Don’t be. It’s simple. Just do as you did in practice, don’t be in a rush and everything will be fine. The car park test consists of performing a three point turn, a hill start (which can be a little tricky) and reverse (side) parking. The open road is much more fun, just go for a drive for about 15 minutes, turn around and come back, again don’t be in a rush.

Source: www.expat.com.my