MIRI: The Transport Ministry is prepared to review the order to stop road tax renewals for private vehicles of 2,000cc and above at post offices in Sarawak, Sabah, Labuan and Langkawi, effective yesterday.
Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said a meeting would be held with Road Transport Department (RTD) director-general Datuk Seri Shaharuddin Khalid this week to see whether the directive was viable.
“The instruction was from the RTD, not the Transport Minister.
“I understand that the RTD did so to reduce the loss of government revenue as there are vehicles which are registered in Peninsular Malaysia, but the road tax are renewed in Sabah and Sarawak,” he said after launching the Miri DAP headquarters office today.
Loke said the RTD had found that owners of vehicles of 2,000cc or more from the peninsula were taking advantage of the cheaper road tax in Sarawak and Sabah by renewing their road tax in post offices there.
“At the same time, the interests of the local people in the two states must be taken into account as they need places to renew their road tax as there are areas in both states where there are no RTD offices.
Pos Malaysia’s announcement of the suspension of road tax renewals at post offices in Sarawak, Sabah, Labuan and Langkawi had gone viral on social media and received negative reactions from the public.
Netizens, especially from the interior areas of Sarawak, said it would burden the people who would have to drive more than three hours to RTD offices to renew their road tax.
Separately, on the proposal to implement the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) at the Malaysia — Brunei border, Loke said this was still being studied.
On April 25 this year, the RTD director-general had announced that the proposal to implement the VEP on all foreign vehicles at the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex at the Malaysia-Brunei border to monitor foreign vehicles entering the country, especially over traffic summonses, would be forwarded to the Transport Ministry this year. — BERNAMA