KUCHING: For the first time in Sarawak, the Road Transport Department (JPJ) will soon be implementing the JPJeBid system — an online bidding system for vehicle registration plates.
This was announced by Sarawak JPJ director Mohd Syafiq Anas Abdullah to reporters after he officiated the qurban programme at Surau An Nur within the Sarawak JPJ Complex here yesterday.
“We will start with two number series first, “QCK” for Samarahan and “QS(…)L” for Sibu,” he sounded. For the public to participate in the e-bidding for these numbers, they must first register for an account ID at any JPJ branch.”
The e-bidding will be executed on Sept 24. The bid period for one series of vehicle registration numbers will be five days. He revealed that the system had previously been carried out in West Malaysia, whereby it received good response.
“The main purpose of this online e-bidding system is to simplify and ease the process of number distribution, which was previously manual,” explained Mohd Syafiq, highlighting the transparency of the JPJeBid system.
According to him, manual operations can be affected by human interference. On the other hand, the online system drastically reduces human involvement in the decision-making process.
“The system will generate the price automatically,” he elaborated.
He mentioned that the JPJeBid system also enables the public to see the total bids that others have made.
“The system eases transactions as well as results,” emphasised Mohd Syafiq.
There are four categories for vehicle numbers, each with a different minimum bid price and minimum bid increase.
For primary value numbers, the minimum price is RM20,000 with a minimum bid increase of RM1,000. Interesting numbers start at RM3,000 and the minimum bid increase is RM150. For popular numbers, the bid starts at RM800, with minimum bid increments of RM40. Lastly, regular numbers have a minimum price of RM300 and a minimum bid increase of RM15.
“Next, number series for Kuching and Miri will be announced in time,” he said, adding that updates will be shared via the media as well as Sarawak JPJ’s social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
On a separate note, speaking of the 18 vehicles recently seized by the Royal Malaysian Customs Department for unpaid taxes, Mohd Syafiq stated that JPJ is also involved in enforcement, citing the seizure
of three “cloned” vehicles by
Sibu JPJ within the past week as an example.
Car cloning refers to two cars, often of similar model and appearance, sharing the same registration number but only one of which is valid. He remarked that the number of cloned cars in Sarawak was not as high as in West Malaysia.
“It is likely more difficult to get them into Sarawak due to logistics,” Mohd Syafiq reasoned.
