Malaysians call for fines for Singaporean motorists freeloading on subsidised fuel

The issue was reignited by a viral video showing a woman refuelling a Singapore-registered car at a subsidised petrol pump in Johor

Reading Time:3 minutes

A motorist pumps fuel at a petrol station in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: AP

Published: 12:07pm, 3 Feb 2025

Petrol station operators in Malaysia have called for fines against foreign car owners who pump subsidised fuel, as taxpayer gripes mount over mostly Singaporean drivers on weekend breaks illegally filling up their cars with cheap petrol.

Malaysia’s government spends tens of billions of ringgit in subsidies to maintain artificially low fuel prices aimed at protecting the lowest income groups. But it has banned the sale of subsidised fuel to foreign-registered cars since 2010.

Still, the subsidies have enabled visitors from neighbouring Singapore to tap into some of the cheapest oil in the region, illegally filling up on RON95 which is reserved for locals at discounts of up to 70 per cent, as well as the smuggling of cheap diesel by criminal gangs into Thailand to the north.

The issue was reignited by a viral video showing a woman being stopped by a station attendant just as she started refuelling a Singapore-registered car at a subsidised petrol pump in southern Johor state, across the causeway.

Vehicles form a long queue to enter Singapore from the southern Malaysian state of Johor across the causeway. Photo: AFP

“We are asking the government to consider imposing a fine on foreign car owners filling up on RON95 as you can’t place the burden solely on station operators,” said Gordon Lim Chee Keong of the Petrol Dealers Association of Malaysia (PDAM) on Friday.