The government has no plan as yet to introduce personalised vehicle registration numbers going by the names of individuals or companies, the Dewan Negara was told today.

Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Rahim Bakri said the current vehicle registration numbers were associated with the various states, for example ‘A’ for Perak, ‘S’ for Sabah, and so on.

“Besides, the ministry had approved the use of special registration numbers such as Putrajaya, Perodua, Waja, Proton, and so on,” he said when replying to a question from Senator Saat Abu.

He also said that personalised vehicle registration numbers were used only in Australia, Brazil, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Meanwhile, Deputy Higher Education Minister Dr Hou Kok Chong said academic offences such as plagiarism and cheating on research were at a minimum and under control at institutions of higher learning.

He said many of the academic offences reported seemed to result from a misunderstanding by the complainants of the definition of plagiarism and cheating.

“So far, only one case was reported, in 2009, at a university in the Klang Valley and it was acted upon,” he said when replying to a question from Senator Dr Ariffin Omar.  

Hou said the ministry took a serious view of plagiarism at institutions of higher learning, regardless of whether it involved academicians or students, and advised all quarters to safeguard the good name of local universities.

- Bernama