Kuala Lumpur—According to Malaysia’s Transport Ministry, authorities will not be performing checks for Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) during peak hours for the time being. The Ministry made this announcement even as it admitted that there have been numerous complaints about the difficulties in installing the tags for the VEPs.
The suspension of these checks is applicable to the following entry points from Singapore: Bangunan Sultan Iskandar (BSI) and Kompleks Sultan Abu Bakar (KSAB), Malay Mail reported.
Specifics concerning the peak hours have yet to be explained, however, according to the Straits Times (ST) the response given concerning the said peak hours is that they are as follows:
Monday to Thursday: 5:00 am to 11:00 am, 7:00 pm to 10:00 am
Friday, Saturday and Sunday: 4:00 pm to 3:00 am, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.
A statement from the Transport Ministry issued on September 23, Monday, read, “In light of several issues made known to the ministry including the difficulties in getting an appointment for RFID Tag installation, the ministry will defer enforcement of VEP on all outbound traffic at both KSAB and BSI during peak-hour traffic operation until further notice.”
Two years ago, Malaysia had said that every vehicle that had been registered in a foreign country would be required to have a VEP. The permit’s purpose is to address the problem of vehicles with unpaid fines departing the country, as well as that of car thievery and cloning syndicates.
Earlier this year, in April, the Transport Ministry said that the VEP would be implemented starting this October, which is past the grace period given to foreign drivers for installing it.
Back then the ministry announced, ”Only VEP-registered vehicles are allowed entry into Malaysia once it is put into force.”
But there have been complaints, especially from Singaporeans affected by the implementation, that there are difficulties in getting the tags installed, including problems with having enough slots for appointments for installing the equipment, the unreliability of official websites, and helpings that have been able to provide much help.
To address the issue, Malaysia’s Transport Ministry announced that it would be opening a new fitment center (FC) at KSAB. There are existing FCs at Gelang Patah Southbound RnR, Plaza Angsana open carpark, Pandan RnR and Lima Kedai Toll Plaza in Johor to facilitate registration and installation.
According to the ministry, it hopes “that with the opening of this additional FC and this deferment, all foreign vehicles owners will take this opportunity to immediately register and get the RFID Tag installed to avoid any difficulties in commuting in and out of Malaysia in the future.”
At present, the ministry is also considering implementing the VEP at the country’s border with Brunei.
Malaysia’s Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily said on September 2, that according to Malaysia’s Transport Minister Anthony Loke, the ministry was also considering implementing the permit for borders for Indonesia and Thailand as well.
There have been delays in implementing the VEP due to the need to fine-tune the implementation, according to Malaysian authorities. The system of installing the VEP into vehicles registered in foreign countries has been in the test stage since 2018. -/TISG