The mudslinging is well and truly underway in the ongoing election campaign across the Causeway, this time concerning a purported piece of "fake news".

In a Facebook post on April 22, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak posted a picture of what appeared to be a message being circulated on WhatsApp.

It claimed that Malaysians driving cars that are foreign-registered would be required to register for something called a "JPJ VEP" permit online from May 1, 2018 onwards, or they would be barred from entering Malaysia:

The acronym "JPJ", by the way, stands for the Malaysian Road Transport Department (Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan Malaysia).

The message, naturally, caused alarm among those who received it, especially with the upcoming Malaysian General Election on May 9.

As Malaysians in Singapore are not allowed to vote remotely or by post, and must return home to vote, this supposed new rule, if true, will kick in prior to then, and so would affect anyone planning to drive up using a non-Malaysian-registered car.

[related_story]

So is it real or not?

Malaysian plans for a VEP were first brought up in October 2017.

That was when Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai announced that foreign-registered vehicles entering Malaysia from Singapore would have to pay a VEP of RM25 (S$8.50), on top of an existing Road Charge of RM20 (S$6.80).

This was intended to identify foreign vehicles coming into Malaysia, as well as to fight car theft and syndicates that engage in "car cloning" -- when a criminal steals a car's identity for illicit purposes.

However, Liow subsequently said in December last year that implementation of the system, originally scheduled for Jan. 2018, would be delayed for fine-tuning.

And later on in mid-March, Liow said the VEP rollout would be carried out in stages, with a further-delayed expected completion date of end-April.

However, the Malaysian government has said the claim from the message is false. A statement from the JPJ released on Sunday, April 22 said:

"JPJ denies this viral message. People are urged to not be influenced and believe such irresponsible claims."

The government agency stated that the VEP rollout is still in its testing stage, in order to ensure stability before full implementation.

It also emphasised that currently, it does not impose any restrictions on vehicles entering Malaysia without a registration permit or VEP, whether they're registered in Singapore or other countries.

On Sunday, April 22, Najib tweeted about the rumour to debunk it, but not without taking the chance to blame the opposition for allegedly spreading it:

Satu lagi berita palsu disebarkan pembangkang dengan niat jahat menimbulkan kebencian kepada Kerajaan, kali ini mengenai VEP untuk kenderaan luar masuk Malaysia. Sampai bila mereka nak menipu rakyat? Sudah-sudahlah #fakenews pic.twitter.com/qeDC9HBlHE

— Mohd Najib Tun Razak (@NajibRazak) April 22, 2018

He said (translated):

"Another fake news spread by the opposition with malicious intent has instigated hate against the Government, this time regarding the VEP for vehicles outside Malaysia entering the country. How long will they deceive the people? Enough already. #fakenews"

But was it spread by opposition sources? There doesn't seem to be evidence to point to that claim on his part being true.

We've not yet been able to find responses from opposition leaders or candidates, but in the meantime, Malaysians, know that this particular message isn't true.

Top image adapted from Najib Razak's Facebook page.