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.
"A written directive regarding the ban under the Control of Supplies Act 1961 will be issued to 200-300 petrol station operators in the near future," Shahrir told reporters at the Parliament lobby after attending a meeting of the Cabinet Committee On Inflation at Parliament House.
The meeting was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
He said the ban would be in force until his ministry could determine an appropriate subsidy management system to block "optimistic" buying and selling. "This move is a stern act by the government to reduce the leak in subsidy that involved high cost and which should actually be enjoyed by the lower-income group in the country.
He said his ministry's officers will be deployed at the stations concerned to monitor and act if there were station owners who flouted the ban.
The penalty for flouting was a fine up to RM250,000 or three years jail or both, he said.
Shahrir said the matter was brought up in the meeting which agreed to stop what was being practised at the northern border where cars from Thailand came to buy petrol and diesel.
He said the suggestion by the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) that petrol subsidy be given based on the size of the engine was also being considered.
Give subsidized petrol to national car owners.
tunku : i think this is one way to avoid our subsidized petrol given to outsiders who are taking advantage on its cheaper price here in malaysia.the government is thinking right now the best way to come out with how to subsidized the petrol only to those with less income.one way is to give subsidize petrol or diesel to national car owners.it will boost our national car sales which is currently not doing well in their sales.they should really think about this seriously.
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5 comments:
This is a first good step by the Government. One wonders why it does not involve borders @ Sabah & Sarawak - simply because Brunei & Indonesia have lower petrol price than us in Malaysia. Even
The ruling which comes to effect this Friday should be followed by another rule in that all non-Malaysian registered vehicles leaving Peninsular Malaysia borders should have not more than 1/2 full tank.
Tak Dak Nama 3
I am sure the Minister could have given a “license to kill” the tourist industry if those coming into the country for tourism purposes are not allowed filling in their tanks at the 200-300 petrol stations and that such an attitude is arrogant of a friendly country like Malaysia. What’s there to stop foreign cars from siphoning petrol & diesel from their Malaysian friends’ vehicles and for Malaysian vehicles to drive in the neighboring countries to dump petrol & diesel there? Perhaps some form of restriction at the point of entry and departure would be more appropriate. Border crossings should be further enhanced long the borders. Restrictions on vehicles from SINGAPORE should be equally mentioned unless control at the border crossing is deemed adequate.
Prejudice should also not be imposed on size of engine for motor vehicles bought a good number of years ago.
tak dak nama 3,
petrol price in indonesia much higher than malaysia fyi.brunei yes cheaper than us.
How about Malaysian who are driving a foreign car?
How about a foreign car that is runnint out of fuel within the 50km range?
Also, with such discouragement, foreign cars will less likely to enter Malaysia and the economy of the border cities will be impacted.
This is not a smart way of solving the real problem. This is just another red tape and quicky fixing of our real problem. Come on, our policy maker should come-up with a world class solution. This is not a solution BUT a selective punishment to all of our visitors via land to our country. This is a discrimination policy to our visitors. I wonder what our tourism minister has to say about this premature solution. There are many others solution that is more open approach that we culd adopt. Or we could gather all of our economists from our private and public institutions to submit their economics paper on this issue.
In todays world we should not only think smart but also act smart. This quick approach supporting by Shahrir is a backward approach. I give a "D" for coming up with this kind of solution. It is about time for our policy makers to really be smarter and come up with better that this kindergarden approach economically.
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