Shoddy Treatment In Sarawak Irks Local Driver
By Rosli Abidin Yahya

Bandar Seri Begawan - A local man who drove his Brunei-registered vehicle to Bintulu, Sarawak last week spent several hours at the Bintulu Police Station after his car was suspected of being brought into the East Malaysian state with the approved permit (AP) or driving on the road without paying proper import duties.

The man went to Bintulu with his family to spend a few days with their relatives there. Upon reaching Bintulu, he was stopped at a road block and was asked to report to the Bintulu Police Station for further investigation.

He was angered at not being told the reasons for the detention and investigation of his vehicle.

After several hours of questioning, he found out it was a case of mistaken identity as the Sarawak police has his Brunei-registered vehicle on their wanted list for being brought into Sarawak with the approved permit (AP) or driven on Sarawak roads without paying proper import duties.

He was, however, thankful that the police in Bintulu admitted their error and came to his relatives' house to apologise to him for the wasted hours at the police station.

The man warned local drivers to be careful and urged them to bring along their car documents when visiting the neighbouring state of Sarawak.

According to amended Chapter 21 of the Custom Duties Act (Exemption) 1988, which was enforced last May 19, only three parties are allowed to bring in Brunei-registered vehicles to Malaysia.

They are Brunei or non-Malaysian citizens, Malaysian citizens who are permanent residents in Brunei Darussalam or another country and Malaysian citizens who have valid work permits from Brunei Darussalam.

The three parties however must drive the vehicles out of Malaysia within three months of entering it.

The new order is not meant to discourage Bruneians to drive their vehicles in Malaysia but to discourage Malaysians driving foreign-registered vehicles into Malaysia. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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