‘MALAYSIA’ NUMBER PLATES UP FOR BID
Series will bear the word ‘Malaysia’, and will run from 1 to 9999
THE public can start bidding for a special Merdeka Day series of vehicle registration numbers, bearing the word “Malaysia”, from July 2 to 16. Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the results of the bidding would be announced on Aug 23, adding that the special series would be from Malaysia 1 to Malaysia 9999.
“The bidding process will adhere to the Road Transport Department’s standard operating procedure (SOP).
“We will not give special treatment to any minister as all bids are made public.
“However, we will offer the Malaysia 2020 number plate to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and it is up to him (to accept it or not),” he said yesterday.
Loke said the series was introduced to inculcate love for the country, in line with this year’s Merdeka Day theme “Sayangi Malaysiaku”, as announced by Dr Mahathir.
Loke said the series would increase the government’s revenue, citing the sale of the “V” and “F” series number plates as an example. The “V” and “F” series generated a revenue of RM22.48 million and RM17.55 million respectively.
“The highest bid for the two series were RM989,780 for V1, and RM836,660 for F1.”
He said the special number plate programme, which had been decided by the cabinet on May 30, would be expanded to the states with each state’s own series, such as “Selangor”, “Perak” and so on.
The ministry, he added, will study a proposal to have personalised vehicle registration numbers, including using a person’s name, to generate income for the government.
Loke reiterated that the government had decided it would no longer approve applications by non-governmental organisations to sell special vehicle registration numbers to ensure all sales went to the government’s coffers.