Najib Razak, the former prime minister of Malaysia, posted onto his Facebook criticizing foreign cars for pumping Malaysia’s subsidized RON95 petrol.
He posted a photo of a sweat-drenched man pumping petrol from a yellow pump (which dispenses the RON95 petrol) into a Singapore registered car at a petrol station.
RON95 is the cheapest grade of petrol in Malaysia and is reserved for Malaysians, with the price of the petrol being subsidised heavily by the country.
Foreigners are not allowed to buy the RON95 petrol and the sale of the petrol to foreigners is a punishable act by Malaysian law, and has been banned since 2010.
Najob wrote in his post that the authorities should monitor the sale of petrol to foreigners more closely, what with the borders being reopened.
He said that the RON95 is the 11th lowest petrol in the world and is cheaper than in some of the countries that produce oil, such as Saudi Arabia, UAE and etc.
Najib then compared the prices of petrol between Singapore and Malaysia.
Malaysia’s domestic trade and consumer affairs ministry then announced hours later that they are stopping the sale of subsidised petrol to foreign vehicles.
An investigation into the photo of the Singapore car that was pumping the RON95 petrol was then ordered.