Special ‘Malaysia’ number plates will be up for bidding to mark independence day this year, the Transport Ministry announced today.
With more revenue earned, government looking at:
- RM100 unlimited passes for public transport
- Subsidised public buses throughout the country
Minister of Transport Anthony Loke Siew Fook said the numbers ‘Malaysia 1’ to ‘Malaysia 9999’, will be up for bidding between July 2 and July 16.
The results will be announced on August 23.
Loke expects the special numbers to fetch more than RM20 million in revenue for the government coffers.
“Every number is up for bidding. No number will be reserved for anyone.
“The only exception is ‘Malaysia2020’, which is reserved for the prime minister,” Loke told a press conference at the ministry in Putrajaya today.
Loke said the government was expected to raise more than RM20 million from the sale of the ‘Malaysia’ series, as previous sales of special series like ‘V’ and ‘F’ had recorded RM22.48 million and RM17.55 million respectively.
“The money will go to our consolidated funds, which go back to the government. Once the government gets more revenue, the Transport Ministry will have other proposals to improve public transportation.
“For example, we want to roll out RM100 unlimited passes for public transport and subsidise public buses throughout the country.
“All these (programmes) need money. We don’t want to only ask for money from the treasury, so we are looking at ways to improve the government’s revenue.”
Loke had previously said that the government will stop the practice of allowing non-governmental organisations to commission special number plates from the Road Transport Department in a bid to raise their own funds.
Malaysia’s most expensive number plate is ‘Patriot 1’, which was sold for a record RM1.3 million to Yayasan Patriot Negara Malaysia in 2015.
Loke said the ministry would also be meeting with car dealerships tomorrow to discuss the faulty Takata airbags.
He said the issue of faulty airbags did not only affect Honda cars, but other brands like Toyota, Nissan, BMW, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Mazda, and Lexus.
“The numbers of affected cars are quite huge, and many people are not aware their cars have been recalled.
“We already have all the figures (of affected cars). Tomorrow we want to discuss how we can make the whole process (of changing airbags) faster and more efficient, and the steps to be taken by each company.”
Loke previously announced that vehicle owners affected by the recall of faulty Takata airbags would not be able to renew their road tax until replacements had been made. – June 4, 2018.