Just when the borders between Singapore and Malaysia opened up, we see many cars with Singaporean license plates appearing at petrol stations.
It is not only us who took notice of this, but Bossku Najib Razak had also made the observation in a Facebook post. Instead of being amused with how “nature is healing”, he is calling for action to be taken instead.
“It is said that this foreign vehicle is buying RON95 in a Malaysian petrol station. RON95 is a controlled item as there is a high subsidy for it. It is against the law to sell RON95 to foreigners.”
He added that due to the subsidy, Malaysia’s RON95 is the 11th cheapest in the world, even cheaper than countries that produce petroleum such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Jordan and Oman.
So instead of pumping RON95, foreigners are allowed to buy RON97 which is priced at a whopping RM3.91 per litre. It may seem like a big amount to us but to our Singaporean neighbours, it’s just S$1.26 which is still very much cheaper than their petrol prices (S$3.02 (RM9.37) for RON95 and S$3.51 (RM10.90) for RON97).
The former PM also did some calculations and said that if the foreigners fill in 40 litres of RON95, the government will lose RM68 of the rakyat’s money to the foreigners.
“With the borders opening up, I believe that authorities and petrol stations will monitor carefully.”
He added that this rule came into effect when he was the Prime Minister.
Individuals violating the act will be fined (not exceeding RM1mil) or will need to serve a jail sentence of not more than three years or both. Entities or companies that violate the law can be fined no more than RM2mil.
What is your take on this? Let us know in the comments!
Also read: 33,700 People Cleared SG-M’sia Land Checkpoint Less Than 24 Hours After Borders Reopened
