After placing a record winning bid, Malaysia's newly minted king, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar of Johor, is the proud owner of a unique licence plate that reads "GOLD 1".
GOLD 1
Malaysia's transport minister Anthony Loke presented the new king, or Agong, short for Yang di-Pertuan Agong, with the special "GOLD 1" licence plate at the Istana Negara (National Palace) in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 20, 2023, The Star and the Malay Mail reported.
Image from Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar/Facebook.
The Agong won the number plate (and bragging rights) after placing an eye-watering bid of RM1.5 million (S$421,000), shattering the previous record (also his own) for the most amount of money paid for a car licence plate in Malaysia.
In June 2023, he bid RM1.2 million (S$330,000) for a "FF1" licence plate and won.
Payment for the licence plate will be channelled to federal funds, according to Sultan Ibrahim's Facebook post.
What is a "GOLD" licence plate?
The special-edition "GOLD" licence plate series was launched in February 2024 to commemorate the Golden Jubilee (50th anniversary) of Malaysia's Federal Territory Day.
Federal Territory Day
Malaysia's Federal Territory Day falls on Feb. 1 annually.
It is a public holiday in Malaysia's federal territories — Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya.
The date marks the transfer of Kuala Lumpur from the state of Selangor to the federal government on Feb. 1, 1974, when the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur Agreement was signed.
Bidding for the "GOLD" licence plate series took place on Road Transport Department Malaysia's online vehicle registration number bidding website JPJebid from Feb. 1 to 5, 2024.
The starting bid for plates with single-digit numbers was RM20,000 (S$5,600).
Taste for finer things
The "GOLD 1" is the latest addition to the Agong's licence plate collection.
Besides the "GOLD 1" and "FF1", he also owns other unique licence plates such as "V1", "F1", "W1N" and "WWW1", Malaysiakini reported.
He bid RM989,780 (S$277,406), RM836,660 (S$234,500), RM748,000 (S$209,600) and RM520,000 (S$146,000) respectively.
The Agong, who is one of Malaysia's richest men with family assets worth at least US$5.7 billion (S$7.6 billion), is known to have a taste for finer things and is said to have over 300 cars and several private jets to his name.
@mothershipsg Johor’s Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, 65, was sworn in as the 17th Yang di-Pertuan Agong at Istana Negara in Kuala Lumpur. #johor #sultan #malaysia #tiktokmalaysia #tiktoksg #sgnews ♬ original sound - Mothership
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Top image from Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar/Facebook