Foreign Cars cannot enjoy petrol subsidies

Welcome to Malaysia, Selamat datang ke-Malaysia

Many will agree that petrol subsidies, if any, should be enjoyed only by Malaysians.
The Malaysian government has decided to ban all petrol stations at the country's borders from selling petrol and diesel to foreign cars beginning Friday 30 May 2008.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad said at the Malaysia-Thailand border, the ban involved petrol stations that were 30-50km from the border.
He said the ban covered Perlis, Kedah, North Perak, Kelantan and several districts in Johor including Kulai and Johor Baru.
"A written directive regarding the ban under the Control of Supplies Act 1961 will be issued to 200-300 petrol station operators in the near future," Shahrir told reporters at the Parliament lobby after attending a meeting of the Cabinet Committee On Inflation at Parliament House.

"This move is a stern act by the government to reduce the leaks in subsidies that involve high cost and which should actually be enjoyed by the lower-income group in the country.”
He said his ministry's officers would be deployed at the stations concerned to monitor and act if there were station owners who flouted the ban.
The penalty for flouting was a fine up to RM250,000 or three years’ jail or both, he said.

He said the ban would be in force until his ministry could determine an appropriate subsidy management system to block "optimistic" buying and selling.


UPDATE: 30 MAY 2008

MALAYSIA will only start banning Singapore-registered cars from buying fuel in Johor stations near the southern border from June 9, instead of Friday as earlier announced.
The ban at the northern border, largely affecting Thai-registered cars, will start a week earlier - on June 2.

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Shahrir Samad told The Straits Times that the ban would not affect motorcycles. They will be allowed to buy subsidised fuel anywhere in Malaysia.