A man apparently thought he could get away with pumping subsidised RON95 petrol into a Singapore-registered BMW, by supposedly using his body to shield the giveaway yellow pump nozzle from view.
Despite the man's alleged best efforts at being discreet, another man, reportedly a Malaysian, called him out.
The man, however, was unfazed and continued to fill the BMW up, paying no mind to the Malaysian man.
Allegedly filling car with subsidised RON95 petrol
User @bitcoinmalaya uploaded a video of the incident onto X, formerly Twitter.
The man could be seen in the 45-second clip leaning against what looks like a BMW 216i, with his back facing the camera.
Another individual, who looks like a woman, stood a few feet in front of him.
The fuel pump nozzle was in between the pair, and its colour could not be seen.
The man was allegedly filling his car with RON95 petrol, based on the person filming the incident. The X user also claimed that the car belonged to a Singaporean, although the car's license plate was partially obscured by some hanging ropes.
The text on the video read "taktik terbaru warga Singapura isi minyak RON95 (newest tactic of how Singaporeans fill RON95 petrol)".
Yellow for RON95, green for RON97
In Malaysia, the colour of the pump nozzle indicates the type of fuel dispensed, where yellow nozzles are for RON95 petrol and green is for RON97.
The Malaysia government has heavily subsidised RON95, making it the cheapest grade of petrol in Malaysia for Malaysians — sale of RON95 petrol to foreigners has been prohibited since August 2010.
Foreigner-registered vehicles can refuel with the RON97 or RON100 instead.
As of the time of writing, each litre of RON95, RON97 AND RON100 costs RM2.05, RM3.47, and RM4.90, or S$0.58, S$0.99, and S$1.40 respectively.
Paid no attention and continued filling petrol
The woman looked around after the Malaysian man who was filming honked twice at them, but the man hardly reacted.
Seeing this, the Malaysian man drove towards the Singapore-registered vehicle, wound down the window, and tried to get the other man's attention.
The man fuelling the supposed Singapore-registered vehicle looked over his shoulder, but did not acknowledge the Malaysian man.
Despite this, the Malaysian man continued trying to get the other man's attention and said "green colour ah".
When this too fell on deaf ears, the man filming spoke to someone else off camera in Malay, "Singaporean car filling RON95 petrol".
Harsher penalties proposed
The sale of RON95 petrol to foreigner-registered vehicles is an act punishable under Malaysian law, regardless of a driver’s nationality.
Petrol station operators found and convicted of selling RON95 fuel to foreign-registered vehicles can be fined up to RM1 million (approximately S$285,000) for the first offence, and up to RM3 million (S$855,000) jailed for up to three years, or both for subsequent offences, according to The Star.
However, fines for errant petrol station operators could soon exceed RM1 million as the Malaysian government, as well as relevant stakeholders, are looking to bring down the number of non-Malaysians buying subsidised petrol by rolling out harsher penalties.
This includes making it an offence and penalising individuals who are found filling their foreign-registered vehicles with RON95 petrol, The Star reported.
RON95 subsidy to be more targeted
That said, Malaysia looks set to end its blanket subsidy for RON95 by the second half of 2024, The Business Times reported.
Instead, the country will adopt a more targeted approach, where only the most needy will enjoy the subsidies.
In doing so, and raising taxes, the Malaysia government hopes to reduce the country's burgeoning subsidy bill.
The government racked up RM55.4 billion in subsidies in 2022, and this number is expected to increase to over RM81 billion (S$23.2 billion) in 2023.
However, details about the targeted subsidy for RON95 petrol have not firmed up, Malay Mail reported.
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Top image from @bitcoinmalaya/Twitter