No Petrol Sales to Foreign Registered Vehicles in Border Towns, A Half Ripe Idea?
May 28, 2008 Around the Word, Life, Singapore
This must be one of the hot topics in the past 2 days.
Quoted from Bernama:
KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 (Bernama) — The government has decided to ban all petrol stations at the country’s borders from selling petrol and diesel to foreign cars beginning Friday.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad said at the Malaysia-Thailand border, the ban involved petrol stations that were 30-50km from the border.
He said the ban covered Perlis, Kedah, North Perak, Kelantan and several districts in Johor including Kulai and Johor Baharu.
After reading reports from a few sources, such as Bernama, The Star, The Financial Express, I am still quite blur and full of questions. Though I’m not a driver and don’t own any vehicle, I know that this is going to impact me in some ways eventually.
First of all, I have to say that the Malaysia government has been talking about this for a long time. They were talks that it will be based on MyKad, or charge on foreign cars when they enter. Though this is not the perfect idea, at least they do something now. Having it a two-tier way is not a bad idea, but maybe they need to touch it up from there. Also, Malaysia government is never lack of good idea but it is always the execution that screws it up. So how to execute the ban now is the key.
Let’s talk about my questions now.
I feel that the “30 to 50km” part is quite “unclear”. When does “30km” apply? And when does “50km” apply? How about those in between 30km to 50 km? How soon the Ministry will identify those affected petrol stations and make known to the public? It will be best if there is a map and list released to the public to show all the affected stations so that foreign vehicles can avoid them and plan their journey better.
Below is a map I gotten somewhere from internet:
From it we can see that, if it is 30km, the affected area will cover up to Kota Tinggi and Pontian.
Another map from Straits Times Online:
This move will take effect from this coming Friday onwards. Is it a little bit too rush? Is the authority ready for it? Are the public ready for it? But anyway, typical Malaysia government style isn’t it?
Did the ministry take into accounts those foreigners temporary stationed in these affected border towns driving their own vehicles? People who are there for business trips? Or even self-driving sightseeing tourists? If they need to stay in those towns for few days and petrol run dry, how? Drive back to Thailand/Singapore to pump petrol then come back into Malaysia? Or drive up north or down south to non-affected area for petrol?
Is there a better way than “total ban of sale” to foreign vehicles then? For example, like what previously suggested, based on MyKad? (We can see that some local will start exploit this by “renting” their MyKad for foreigners to pump petrol for a small amounts of money, I guarantee) Or, having the non-subsidied rate for foreign vehicles? For example, having a few “Foreign Vehicles Only” lanes and then charge them non-subsidied rate, to avoid confusion.
Actually, the easiest and illegal way for foreigners to work around is just putting on a fake number plate, isn’t it?
I guess, those more seriously hit people are the group of people who work in Singapore and own a Singapore-registered vehicle but still stay in Johor Bahru, or those who own a Thailand-registered car but using it in Malaysia. How are this group of people going to cope with this move, legally or illegally?
I agree that the illegal petrol smuggling activities in the Malaysia-Thailand borders should be banned, so let’s start from here.
Tags: government, Malaysia, petrol, Singapore, Thailand
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