It was only recently that the Road Transport Department (JPJ) announced that post offices will stop their road tax renewal services for private vehicles 2,000cc and above for the states of Sarawak, Sabah, Langkawi, and Penang effective yesterday (1 September 2019). However, the Transport Ministry has stated that they are going to review the order by organising a meeting with JPJ to finalise whether the move is actually viable.

According to the Minister of Transport, Anthony Loke, “The instruction was from the JPJ, not the Transport Ministry. I understand that the JPJ did so to reduce the loss of government revenue as there are vehicles which are registered in peninsular Malaysia, but the road tax is renewed in Sabah and Sarawak.”

According to a story reported by The Star, Loke stated that JPJ came across vehicle owners in the Peninsular fitting the description above taking advantage of the cheaper road tax rates in Sabah and Sarawak by renewing them in the states’ post offices.

The announcement by both Pos Malaysia and JPJ has received positive and negative feedbacks. The negative aspect came primarily from those who own such vehicles in rural areas of Sabah and Sarawak where they must travel hours to the nearest JPJ facility instead of the nearer post offices.

For now, the announcement is still valid and will be taken into consideration once the Transport Ministry sits down with the folks from JPJ. It’s a good move for the people who are taking advantage as they will have to go through the proper channels to renew their vehicles’ road taxes, but not entirely fair for those who genuinely conforming with the rule of law and have difficult access to JPJ.