Taxi, rental-car and school bus drivers in Malaysia are to get a one-off payment of RM1,000 (£185) next week. The money comes from special H-series number plates, and H is the letter Malaysian taxis have carried for years.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is also finance minister, announced the payment on Friday while tabling Budget 2027 in the Dewan Rakyat. He said it covers 38,000 taxi drivers, including rental-car drivers, and 15,000 school bus drivers, 53,000 people in all (The Vibes, Sinar Harian).
He said the same plate proceeds had already paid for other help, including RM500 (£92) towards students’ flights, free B2 motorcycle licence tests for poorer young people, and free helmets. “When governance is improved, the gains from reform can be channelled towards the well-being of the people,” he said.
The speech names the groups, the amount and next week. It does not set out an application, or a day inside that week. Sterling figures use Bank Negara Malaysia’s noon rate on 9 October, RM5.4134 to the pound, rounded to the nearest pound.
Why taxi drivers
On 21 September, transport minister Anthony Loke said half the auction would go into the federal consolidated fund, and half would pay for the transport ministry’s own schemes. He tied that ministry share to the trade. “The ‘H’ series was originally used as registration numbers for taxis. Therefore, with this substantial revenue, the ministry will use the funds to assist taxi and rental car drivers across the country,” he wrote (Malaysiakini).
That September note named taxi and rental-car drivers. Friday’s budget added 15,000 school bus drivers to the same RM1,000 payment. The 53,000 payments come to RM53 million (£9,790,520). Half the auction is RM45.6 million (£8,424,155).
The H plates
The Road Transport Department, JPJ, ran the auction on its JPJeBid system from 16 to 20 September, for Malaysia Day. The transport ministry said the series raised RM91,206,642 (£16,848,310). Of that, RM89,266,542 (£16,489,922) was bid money and RM1,940,100 (£358,388) was service fees. The plate H 1 went for RM10,777,777 (£1,990,944) (Malay Mail).
Loke said 34,664 people bid and 8,223 numbers were sold (The Star).
On a working taxi the letter H is paired with a state mark, such as HP in Penang. JPJ has said this special series is a different registration (Free Malaysia Today).