As I was renewing my road-tax and insurance today, I noticed that the staffs were busy chatting and explaining to their customers about the hottest news of the day – claiming the RM625 cash rebate for cars below 2000cc. Indeed it was the busiest day in the history of local post offices nationwide. Although the 683 post offices would continue to disburse the hard-cash for eligible vehicle owners from today (Saturday, being the first day) till Mar 31 2009, obviously people were not taking chances.

So, while I was checking the quotation for my renewal I asked the staff / officer how could I claim my rebate (RM625), just to double-confirm in case the procedure contains silly requirements such as to bring my dead grandfather along to prove I’m not a permanent resident *grin*. A lady who sat next to me heard what I asked and immediately offered her expertise. She was so eager to offer what she knew, so much so I can see the sparkle in her eyes. She told me all you need to bring is your Identification Card (I/C) and your thumb-print hence don’t leave your fingers at home. Fill up a form, wait for a while and you should get your lovely cash. You can opt to have the money (order) sent via postal to your address but who would be so dumb to choose such method right?

By now the lady was so excited about the whole rebate thing I can swear she could continue for another 5 hours but it’s nice to hear what people on the ground was thinking about this whole fuel-hike-rebate program. She advised me not to claim the rebate today as almost all the post offices are stuck with people. Boy! Malaysians who are known to do things last-minute have suddenly change for the better. If today is the last-day for income-tax submission then I would understand why everybody was flocking to their nearest IRD. But then who can blame them considering the current political landscape. Anything can change within 24 hours and you don’t wanna bet your RM625 on the table that the flip-flop Abdullah Badawi will not wake up one morning and yell “I think I’ve to stop this rebate”.

That was exactly what this lady was telling me – best to take the money soonest possible. This reminds me of a practice in stock investing or option trading – during uncertainties, it’s wise to lock-in profit or to take the money off the table and run. It makes perfect sense since it’s not everyday that you get to claim such rebate. The lady continued to lecture me that an individual can claims (rebate) up to five vehicles. I asked her if she knows whether this rebate is a one-time off thing or it’s an annual event. She seemed caught for a while and admitted she wasn’t sure but she heard it could be either. So, while everyone was happily collecting the RM625 rebate not many know if this wonderful event can be repeated next year. And that’s precisely why people started queuing as early as 7 a.m. today. It was reported that about RM116 million were successfully distributed today. I hope the post offices have enough security guards as that would means each post office is practically an ATM machine with an average RM170,000 of cash stashed inside.

In fact, it is advisable to download the form here, fill it up and bring it to the post office to save your time. The server is either loaded with people downloading the form or the web server itself was already sucks from day one because it was freaking slow. However I’ve captured the screen shot from Pos Malaysia on a sample of how you should fill the form. Go to the nearest post office, preferably during weekday, as soon as possible and get the money. A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush. So it’s better to have the RM625 in your pocket than to leave it in the government’s hand.

• Still steamy hot with fuel hike? Why not kick Badawi’s arse?
• Windfall Tax – why Discriminate and Petronas not in?
• Could the country pushed to the brink of Recession?
• Fuel hike from RM1.92 to RM2.70, Char-Kuey-Teow RM7.50?

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June 14th, 2008 by financetwitter

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