The bidding for the special 'Malaysia' series of vehicle plates is open from today until Aug 15, with the minimum price of RM10,000 for numbers 1 to 10.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the public could start bidding for the special plate numbers at the Road Transport Department (RTD) headquarters in their respective states, and the results would be known on Aug 29.

"The special 'Malaysia' series of vehicle plate numbers will have four categories with their own minimum price, namely the Premier Value Number category with the minimum price of RM10,000, ascending number category (RM2,000), popular number category (RM300), and current number category (RM300).

"The bidding is being carried out through the existing manual system... no number can be reserved for anyone, not even for the VVIPs. Even I have to make a bid at the RTD headquarters today."

Loke said this to reporters after making a bid of RM1,509 for the special 'Malaysia 509' plate numbers, which symbolises the date of the 14th general election on May 9, at the Negeri Sembilan RTD headquarters.

However, Loke said only one special number, which is 'Malaysia 2020', was reserved for Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"We reserve this number for Mahathir, but if he doesn't want it, then only we open the bidding to the public," he said.

Commenting further, the minister said the e-bidding system could not be implemented for the time being due to technical problems.

"That is why we are using the existing manual system," he added.

- Bernama