JPJ's List Of 'BMW' Number Plate Winners Were Full Of Surprises And Speculations

JPJ has released the winners for Selangor’s BMW number plate tender.

Among the owners of the new BMW plates are badminton champion Datuk Lee Chong Wei, who paid RM97,777 for BMW6, Tengku Ahmad Shah (BMW3, RM132,000) and Tengku Sulaiman Shah (BMW5, RM188,100), and an unidentified member of the government administration, for which no payment was registered (BMW1, BMW2, BMW7, BMW9 and BMW10).

We also see the names of a few BMW dealerships in there.

Five unnamed civil servants won the bid for BMW7, BMW9 and BMW10 with zero amount submitted as bids, according to the listing in the photograph.

This raised speculation on social media, where the list was circulated, that government personnel had obtained the car number plates for free.

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MyWatch chairman R. Sri Sanjeevan has paid a handsome sum of close to RM340,000 for two coveted 'BMW' number plates. According to a photograph which has gone viral on Twitter and instant messaging app WhatsApp, Sanjeevan purchased the BMW8 and BMW11 plates for RM174,776 and RM165,000 respectively.

Twitter users had much to say of the extravagance, such as @The_Mamu who tweeted, "Sanjeevan ni meniaga apa sebenarnya? Kaya betul beli number plate mahal-mahal. (What kind of businessman is Sanjeevan? Must be very rich to be able to afford such expensive number plates.)" @MuazFadhli was similarly gobsmacked, saying, "Kaya Sanjeevan ni. Lee Chong Wei beli satu je no plat BMW. (Sanjeevan is so rich. Even Lee Chong Wei bought just one BMW plate.)"

Anti-crime NGO MyWatch's chairperson R Sri Sanjeevan has defended the barrage of criticism he has been receiving since he was revealed to have purchased two BMW number plates for a sum of RM340,000 recently.

“It's a poor tactic to attack me with because everything was done legally. No one can question me. It is my hard earned money and I can do as I please with it." He said he has had a long career in the hotel line before he started the crime watchdog group in 2012. “I was a senior manager for Hilton Hotel for five years and was in the hotel line for many years before that. I also own an overseas IT firm. Those attacking me don’t know my full background,” he said.

Sanjeevan shot back at his critics saying no one should question him for spending his own hard earned money, and should instead question "public funds being wasted". "I've been hearing so much of criticisms over the past 48 hours, but all have forgotten to think that at least I contributed to the government, and the money goes back to the public," he tweeted yesterday.

He also questioned how two unnamed civil servants won the bid for BMW1 and BMW2 number plates respectively without paying any money and with no bid submitted. "I'm a good citizen because I contributed my halal earnings to the government, but what about those people who are taking it for free? (That's a) loss of revenue, right?" he tweeted again.

Due to the buzz around his purchase, Sanjeevan said he would now give up BMW8 plate for RM500,000 and donate RM100,000 to charities. On what he would do with the other number plate, BMW11, Sanjeevan in jest said: “I’ll put it on my motorbike.”

RTD director-general Datuk Ismail Ahmad denied that the department had given five exclusive car registration number plates to “Anggota Pentadbiran Kerajaan” (government administration personnel) for free.

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He told The Malaysian Insider that the successful anonymous bidders did pay for the registration plates BMW 1, BMW 2, BMW 7, BMW 9 and BMW 10 but he could not give the total amount the department collected from these five number plates.

They made bids for the numbers and they got it. We withheld their names and the figures to avoid negative public perception,” Ismail said, adding that they were cabinet ministers, judges and royalty.

Cabinet ministers, judges and members of the royalty were the anonymous bidders who won sought-after "BMW" number plates from the Road Transport Department (RTD), which said it was normal procedure to blank out their names to avoid negative public perception. He also said the SOP was to never disclose the names of bidders who were members of the royalty, or an immediate or close relative of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

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He said it was also standard operating procedure to keep the names a secret and not an issue of transparency. “This is what we have practised. It is not about transparency. It is our SOP and we have no bad intention in keeping this information a secret. "We want to avoid speculation and doubts. As long as one has the money and used the proper channel to get the numbers, they can have it, whoever they are,” said Ismail.

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“The total value for hot numbers like these can be triple, or even quadruple, the amount we obtain from the sale of normal car registration number plates. That is all I can say. "So if the normal numbers were selling at RM1 million, for this type of number plates, it can go up to between RM3 million and RM4 million,” said Ismail.

Ismail said only the King was entitled to more than one free car number plate but it would be up to a certain quota. As for the ministers, Ismail said, they were only awarded one free car registration number. “If they want more, they have to pay because their privilege only allows them to have one free car registration number.

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"The only individual who gets to have more than one free car number is the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and even then there is a quota," Ismail said.

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