The ‘Patriot 1’ car number plate went yesterday for a sky-high bid of RM1,308,000 to take honours as the most expensive number plate in the country.

It was auctioned off by the controversial Yayasan Patriot Negara Malaysia (YPN, which set a reserve price of RM1 million. Bidding started from June 22 and ended yesterday.

Prior to this, the record holder for the most expensive car number plate was Sultan Ibrahim Ismail, the Johor ruler, who won the 'W1N' registration number with a bid of RM748,000 in 2014. In 2012, he paid RM520,000 for the "WWW 1" number plate.

The successful bidder for ‘Patriot 1’ was not identified, with the YPN website only naming him as a "confidential bidder".

It also stated "three weeks ago" along with "confidential bidder", but it is also not clear whether it meant the bidder had put up the bid three weeks ago.

YPN had disclosed there were five persons competing for the plate and a bidder “from the south” of Malaysia had put in a bid exceeding RM1.3 million for ‘Patriot 1’, raising talk that the bidder might be Sultan Ibrahim.

However YPN vice-chairperson Nadzim Johan has denied it.

Apart from ‘Patriot 1’, other plates have also been sold, at prices ranging from a few thousand ringgit to RM35,000.

Malaysiakini is trying to get YPN to reveal if it made a profit or loss on the venture.

RM10 to RM15 mil projected profit

The Road Transport Department (RTD) commissioned YPN to conduct the auction, with the proceeds to be used by YPN to promote "patriotism".

YPN had targeted a profit of between RM10 million and RM15 million, and it explained later that RTD had sold the rights for the "Patriot" vanity vehicle plate for RM1 million.

It added YPN would have to bear the costs if the venture failed.

With YPN president Brig-Gen (R) Husainay Hashim being a former Umno executive secretary and with several committee members coming from one family, the auction had raised eyebrows about being a lucrative business involving cronies.

            

Several opposition leaders have urged RTD to retract its contract and for MACC to investigate the case, but RTD stressed that the contract would be withdrawn only if YPN breached its terms and conditions.