Vigilanteh S’pore says, ‘The irony’ when S’poreans say JB has many thieves & corruption but they themselves go JB to ‘cheat the system’ & steal cheap fuel

Photos and videos of Singaporean motorists illegally filling cars with RON95 petrol in Malaysia went viral online last weekend, upsetting our neighbours to the north, including former Prime Minister Najib Razak.

On Facebook, he took issue with a Singapore-registered car seen filling up with RON95 petrol, which is subsidised by the Malaysian government since 2010 and has been reserved for Malaysians only by law.

If a foreigner bought 40 litres of RON95, the government would lose RM68 (SGD21.90) of the people’s money, the former PM wrote.

An Apr 5 post on the Vigilanteh Facebook page on this issue has also received a lot of attention online.  It says: “The irony that some Singaporeans are saying Johor got a lot of robbers and police corruption but at the same time they try to cheat the system by going in JB with less than the mandatory rule of 3/4 tank of fuel and stealing RON95.”

The former PM’s post on Saturday shows a sweaty man in an orange T-shirt and white shorts filling up a car. Its SJT licence plate clearly ID’s the car as being from Singapore.

Many commenters agreed with the observation.

One netizen jokingly decided it was time for a pile on, and added some fuel to the fire.

Others warned there will be penalties for those who are caught loading RON95 petrol.

The ban does not apply to Singapore-registered cars that fill up with high-grade petrol, RON97 or RON100 fuel. RON 97 costs RM3.91 a litre (S$1.26), and RON100 costs RM4.60 per litre (S$1.48)

These prices are still significantly cheaper than what motorists would pay for the equivalent in Singapore, where it is selling for between S$2.73 and S$3.66 per litre, depending on the grade of petrol. 

Even Bloomberg published an article on Apr 5 about how Singaporeans buying fuel from Malaysia since the borders opened last week has upset Malaysians, noting that “Consumers’ desire for cheaper petrol comes as global oil prices surge.”

After the photo of the car with the SG plate went viral, Malaysia’s Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry said on Sunday that it would closely monitor the sale of RON95 petrol to foreigners.

The minister in charge, Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi launched an investigation and pledged that there would be additional monitoring to prevent the sale of subsidised fuel to foreigners in future.

Fuel station operators who sold RON95 fuel to foreign-registered vehicles could be made to pay a fine of up to RM2 million (S$643,000). /TISG

Driving to Malaysia? Follow the three-quarter tank rule, or else!