Nazri: Go ahead Singapore, raise the charges

Minister says that if Singapore chooses to raise their permit fee charges, Malaysians will most likely spend their money in our country, not theirs.

SHAH ALAM: Culture and Tourism Minister Nazri Aziz said he more than welcomed Singapore’s move to further increase its permit fees on Malaysian vehicles going into the island.

“Personally, if the Singapore government wants to increase the charges further, that’s even better, because our citizens will then choose to shop in our country and the number of people going into Singapore will dwindle, so ‘Thank You Singapore’,” said Nazri.

He said this when commenting on the move of the Singapore government to raise the permit fee on Malaysian vehicles even higher in retaliation to Malaysia’s plan to impose a RM20 Vehicle Entry Permit charge by mid next year on foreign-registered cars coming into Malaysia from Singapore via Johor.

Saying he was confident Malaysia’s VEP charges would not have a negative affect on the country’s tourism sector, Nazri added that the amount charged was also justifiable if one took into account the favourable exchange rate of Singapore dollars into Malaysian ringgit.

Insisting the move by Malaysia was far from being a case of tit for tat, Nazri said, “The RM20 charge is not about getting back at the Singapore government.”

He even said he understood perfectly why Singapore felt it was necessary to impose a fee on Malaysian-registered vehicles going into the island.

He said, ”We must understand that the high charges imposed is to control traffic flow into their country.

Meanwhile, Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said an in-depth study was still underway regarding the RM20 VEP charge before it was ready for implemention.