PUTRAJAYA: About 0.88% (150,000) of the 17 million Malaysians eligible for the Budi Madani RON95 (Budi95) subsidy have not updated their 12-digit MyKad number on their Malaysian driving licences, says Anthony Loke.
The Transport Minister said that to qualify for Budi95, recipients must be Malaysian citizens with a valid, active driving licence.
He explained that the Road Transport Department (JPJ) supports the Budi95 system by providing driving licence data to the Finance Ministry to streamline the process.
"Several categories of people have yet to update their driving licences with the 12-digit MyKad number, including those using their old identity card (IC) number, birth certificate number, and those with police and army identification numbers who have not switched to civilian numbers on their driving licence post-retirement.
"We urge those in these categories to update their licences with the 12-digit MyKad number because if registered with their old numbers, the system cannot recognise it.
"To address this, JPJ will open a special counter for these individuals to update their 12-digit MyKad number without any charge, though they must be present to update their thumbprint," he told the press here on Tuesday (Sept 30).
Additionally, he noted that some issues involve driving licences with errors or red flags requiring further review by the relevant authorities. Once the driving licence is updated with the 12-digit MyKad and has no other issues or red flags, the information will be updated weekly in the Budi95 system with the Finance Ministry.
Loke mentioned that under the JPJ mySikap, there are 870,279 non-Malaysian driving licence holders, including permanent residents, who are not entitled to Budi95 and must pay the normal price of RM2.60 per litre for RON95.
Thus, Budi95 serves as a targeted subsidy exclusively for Malaysians, aiding the government in saving billions.
When asked if there was an increase in driving licence renewals, he noted a rise of 10,000 daily.
"We have seen an increase in people renewing their driving licences from 17,000 daily to 27,000 daily since the Finance Ministry's announcement on the requirement for a valid licence for Budi95," he said.
Separately, Loke addressed Malaysians with Singapore driving licences and eligible for Budi95, particularly those working in the island state.
"Under the law, you cannot hold two driving licences, so those working in Singapore must have their Singapore licence, but they live in Johor.
"The Singapore data is not integrated with us; it is beyond our jurisdiction and involves the Personal Data Protection Act. We need a system to register these Malaysians, but JPJ will require two to three weeks to develop it.
"We do not know how many people are in this category since there are 200,000 to 250,000 daily crossings between Malaysia and Singapore," he said.
However, Loke emphasised that Malaysians with foreign-registered vehicles are not entitled to RON95 as the excise duty and tax are paid to the respective foreign governments.
