S'pore-registered car in Johor petrol station has license plate 'disguised' with black tape

The driver of what appeared to be a Singaporean car was confronted in Malaysia after being suspected of filling his vehicle with subsidised RON 95 fuel, meant only for Malaysians.

The driver had supposedly attempted to hide his car’s Singaporean origin by covering up his license plate’s first and last letters with black tape.

Tape to tape

In a video shared by the SG Road Vigilante Facebook page, the driver of a silver Volkswagen Jetta is pumping petrol in a Malaysian petrol station.

The video indicates that the station was in Kulai, in the state of Johor, about 37 kilometers away from the Causeway, outside the city of Johor Bahru, a little further away from where such incidents usually take place.

The car’s occupants had attempted to disguise the origin of their car, appearing to cover the first and last characters of the car’s license plate with black tape.

Malaysian license plates, particularly those in West Malaysia, typically end in a number, rather than in a letter, as they do in Singapore.

Failed a deception check

But a Malaysian driver behind him was not fooled, perhaps noticing that the “new” license plate number began with “L”.

Malaysian license plates’ first letter usually indicates which state or federal territory the car is registered in, and “L” represents Labuan, which is near Borneo and very far away from Johor.

The Malaysian driver begins to question the driver of the Jetta, asking him if he is Malaysian.

The pair begin to converse in Malay, with the Jetta’s driver claiming that he is Malaysian, despite driving what is clearly a poorly- disguised Singaporean car.

The Malaysian driver gets out of his vehicle and confronts the Jetta driver and his companion, the latter of whom also asserts that the driver is Malaysian, offering to show his identification card.

Meanwhile, the driver of the Jetta quickly ends his pump, and gets into the car to drive away.

The Malaysian driver threatens to report the Jetta, while the Jetta’s driver’s companion returns to the car, driving off.

Subsidised trouble

Malaysia subsidises the lowest grade of commercially available petrol, known as RON 95.

Because of this subsidy, foreign drivers are not allowed to purchase RON 95, having to purchase the more expensive RON 97 instead.

Some drivers from Singapore have, as the Jetta driver did, asserted that they too are Malaysian, suggesting that they are also entitled to the subsidy.

But Malaysian law is not ambiguous, saying that subsidised RON 95 is only to be pumped into Malaysian-registered cars, regardless of the nationality of the driver.

Nonetheless, social media is replete with cases of Malaysians confronting Singaporean drivers about their illegal attempts to purchase subsidised fuel.

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Top image via SGRV/Facebook