Vehicle registration plates of Malaysia

Malaysian registration plates are displayed at the front and rear of all private and commercial motorised vehicles in Malaysia, as required by law.

The issuing of the number plates is regulated and administered by the Malaysian Road Transport Department (Malay: Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan Malaysia) or JPJ.

[7] Vehicles in Langkawi, a Kedahan resort archipelago, are issued KV series plates after the islands achieved duty-free status.

With the exception of several format changes in intermediate periods, most of the Straits Settlements state identifiers continue to be used by the territories they were originally assigned to.

In the years following expulsion, the Singaporean number plate system evolved independently with changing prefix systems to E series since 1972, culminating to the reintroduction of the S series for private cars in 1984, the inclusion of a fourth checksum letter, and varied colour schemes for different classes of vehicles.

In conjunction with the formation of the Federation of Malaya, rationalisation of Malayan state identifiers was conducted in 1948 to simplify all FMS and two-letter UMS prefixes into single letters.

Following the rationalisation of prefixes in 1948, new plates registered in Malaya (and then Peninsular Malaysia) bear a xx #### format, which was sufficient for use through the 1950s and 1960s.

Selangor becomes the first state in Peninsular Malaysia to adopt the new format in 1971, followed by Perak in 1977, Johore in 1978, Penang in 1979, Kuala Lumpur in 1981, Pahang in 1986, Negeri Sembilan in 1987, Kedah in 1991, Malacca in 1993, Kelantan in 1995, Terengganu in 2000 and finally Perlis in 2018.

In 1974, W series plates began to be reissued for cars registered in the newly ceded Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.

As Kuala Lumpur was previously the capital of Selangor, vehicles registered there before 1974 are permitted to continue carrying the B series plates.

[14] The data shows rest of states except Sabah, Sarawak and Federal Territories, motorcycles outnumbered cars on vehicle registration being issued.

There is a possibility that Kuching, Sibu and Miri divisions' current algorithm number plates may be supplemented by introducing previously-unused letters to ensure suffix-less registrations (Qxx ####) become the norm.

Kuching Division registration plates were the most numerous in Sarawak and the KT #### Q series was issued halfway when the new QK prefix was enforced.

Q and S are restricted from being used in the suffix to minimise confusion with the Sarawak's 1988–1991 Sibu Sx#### Q series, and Sabah's early post-independence x#### S format.

During Chartered Company rule North Borneo number plates followed a similar format to that of Malaya, but were defined by its own set of regional prefixes based on capitals of the state's then current divisions.

Pre-1980s taxi number plates uses the same format as private vehicles based on the state of origin, but with the inversion of colours (black characters on white background).

The format may also be bisected in the middle to read as ##Z x##, as commonly depicted on Emergency-era Daimler Scout Cars; it may also be arranged vertically in parts of two where there is little horizontal space, such as on early Land Rovers.

In February 2015, plate prefix "RM" issued in Perlis open for bid, which is similar to Malaysian ringgit currency symbol.

In February 2021, plate prefix KFC issued in Kedah open for bid, which is similar to Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Among other sought-after prefixes are plates which are similar to Malaysia's political party acronyms, such as MCA, PAP, DAP, PAS, PKR and PKM.

The newer Brunei number plates have font shape and size that can easily differentiate them from Malaysian registered vehicles.

Although the similarities, Malaysia registered vehicle with number plates "B" and "K" usually allowed to enter Brunei, and vice versa.

Due to the language barrier that arises from the use of Thai and Romanised scripts for vehicle plates registered in Thailand and Malaysia, respectively, road vehicles crossing the Malaysia–Thailand border are typically required to bear stickers in the front and back that translate the characters of the plates into those understandable in the country of entry.

Entering heavy goods vehicles from Malaysia are also required to bear a separate Thai Trade Registration Number with yellow plates denoted by the 70-xxxx or 7x-xxxx series.

Entering Thai-registered vehicles, which use the Thai script for series letters and the province of registration on their number plates, are required to bear strips on the front and back that translate the plate information into a row of Romanised script (including the corresponding series prefix and 4-digit number, and the province in its official 3-letter abbreviation), resulting in a format that reads as AB 1234 PTN or 1AB 1234 BKK.

These conflicting similarities can pose problems such as enforcing RON 95 subsidized petrol fuels to Malaysian registered vehicles only.

[86] Several other states, federal territories and commemorative series in Malaysia have also conflicted with Singaporean formats that classifies by vehicle types.

Both the tractor and trailer of Malaysian registered semi-trucks are fitted with the "Hazardous Cargo" registrations plates upon entry into Singapore.

Buses belonging to Singapore operators that run the cross-border services exclusively have additional brake lights installed and stickers displaying the tax scheme, vehicle specifications, company address, speed limits and SPAD/LPKP hotlines so as to meet the Malaysian regulations.

Malaysian registered vehicles located in Sabah or Sarawak entering the Kalimantan region of Indonesia are required to display a temporary cross-border plate, issued by the Indonesian National Police.