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I SAW an average sized, bespectacled man rocking his Singapore-registered car at a petrol kiosk recently.
I was wondering what he was up to, and then I realised he was trying to get as much petrol as he could into his fuel tank.
I am not sure if the technique works, but it appears many Singaporeans believe it does, and if you hang out at the petrol kiosk long enough, you will notice most Singapore-registered drivers doing the same.
In an incident which occurred just before the recent petrol price hike and the 20-litre cap on foreign cars was lifted, I was at a petrol station in Johor Baru having my car washed.
While waiting, I saw a Singaporean motorist filling up his petrol tank. Out of curiosity, I glanced at the pump meter and noticed he had filled 32 litres of Ron95.
I immediately looked at the pump attendant and gave him a stern look, hoping that he would see I was upset that he had allowed foreigners to break the 20-litre rule. However, my action proved to be futile.
The driver drove off with much more sudsidised fuel than he was allowed.
Later, I asked the pump attendant why he was not following regulations.
He asked whether I was an enforcement officer, and when I convinced him I was not, he said his employer said it was all right to allow foreigners to pump as much petrol as they wished as long as they paid for it.
When asked how he felt about it, he said he was not happy, but realised where his employer was coming from.
He said locals normally filled between RM10 and RM20 worth of petrol daily, which is not much.
If the station did not push for higher sales, the petrol stock will last longer in the station, and when kept too long, petrol vaporises, and the station will lose money.
I am not too sure if this is true.
At the kiosk, I also noticed customers smoking on the premises.
Most of them park their motorcycles in front of the kiosk's convenience store, sit on their bikes and light up a cigarette. Many appear to be Singaporeans, judging from their vehicles' licence plates.
Why do we allow this?
There is like an unwritten rule that Singaporeans be given leeway here which is not reciprocated for Malaysians in Singapore.
I think we should buck up and ensure that everyone respects our laws, and to quote Michael Jackson, "Let's start with the man in the mirror."
A letter to the New Straits Times/Asia News Network.
