The Malaysian government recently said that it plans on introducing a new rule that will allow it to take legal action against foreign purchasers of our RON95 petrol. The new rule will be introduced and implemented by April of this year.
Currently, the law only allows for the government to prosecute petrol station operators, and not foreign-registered vehicles and the foreigners purchasing RON95. RON95 is heavily subsidised by the government, with locals being able to purchase said petrol at RM1.99 per litre, but requires that citizens present their IC when pumping at all petrol stations. Further, each citizen is limited to a quota of 300 litres.
The rule is undoubtedly aimed at Singaporeans who typically cross the border to purchase RON95 petrol. For context, Singapore’s equivalent, simply dubbed 95, goes for SG$2.88 (~RM9) per litre, while their Premium variant of petrol, which is technically a step higher or the equivalent to RON97, goes for SG$3.50 (~RM10.88) on average. So, even if they aren’t able to make use of our subsidy, even purchasing RON95 at its standard price is still significantly cheaper than what they’d pay in their home country.
βThrough the new regulations that we are drafting, the prohibition will apply not only to sales but also to purchases. This means that individuals who buy, own or drive foreign-registered vehicles [and purchase RON 95 petrol] can also be subject to enforcement action,β Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali, KPDN Minister, said during the Dewan Rakyat session. Since August 1, 2010, Malaysia has banned the sale of RON 95 petrol to foreign-registered vehicles.
(Source: The Edge, Paultan.org)