A RM500,000 G-Wagon. Road tax expired a month ago. The owner forgot. Ordinary Malaysians never do.
Every year, without fail, I renew my road tax and insurance before they expire.
Not because I particularly enjoy the process. Not because I have spare time on my hands. But because I cannot afford not to. A fine, a summons, a vehicle impoundment — any of those would hurt my finances in ways that would take weeks to recover from. So I set a reminder, I make the payment, and I move on. It takes twenty minutes. It costs what it costs. And it keeps me on the right side of the law.
I thought about this when I read about Ops Luxury this week.
JPJ seized a total of 1,814 vehicles in its nationwide Ops Luxury crackdown this year, including 915 vehicles seized so far in 2026. Among them: a Toyota Vellfire linked to a former national footballer, seized for lack of insurance, expired road tax, and an expired driving licence. And a Mercedes-Benz AMG Brabus G-Wagon belonging to a motivational speaker with a Datuk title, estimated to be worth more than RM500,000, found with expired road tax, no insurance, and still displaying an old registration number despite having changed the plate.
A half-million ringgit vehicle. Road tax expired nearly a month ago.
I drive a 2013 Perodua Alza. My road tax and insurance combined cost me around RM500 a year. I renew them like clockwork because the consequences of not doing so are something I simply cannot absorb.
Someone who drives a RM500,000 car cannot find the time or money to renew road tax that probably costs them more per year than most Malaysians earn in a month. And they drove it on public roads anyway.
This Is Not an Isolated Incident
Before anyone dismisses this as two high-profile cases that got picked up by the media, the Ops Luxury numbers tell a different story.
In Penang alone, 51 luxury vehicles worth approximately RM14 million were seized between January 1 and May 21. The seized vehicles included Porsches, Jaguars, and Ford Mustangs. Most were believed to belong to VIPs, businessmen, and high-profile individuals holding Datuk and Datuk Seri titles. One BMW had not renewed its road tax since 2020. A Jaguar's road tax expired in 2021. Five years of driving on public roads without valid documentation.
In Johor, 44 luxury vehicles were seized in a separate operation, with JPJ noting that approximately 215 cars were inspected during the operation. Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and other high-value vehicles were among those caught.
A similar operation in August 2025 netted 270 luxury vehicles belonging to celebrities, businessmen, and social media influencers. Among them was a Rolls-Royce whose road tax alone costs RM29,000 per year. A Lamborghini Huracan whose annual road tax runs to RM12,000.
These are not people who forgot to renew because they could not afford it. These are people who forgot to renew because they operate in a world where consequences feel optional.
The Excuse That Should Make You Laugh. Or Cry.
JPJ deputy director-general Jazmanie Shafawi revealed the most common excuse given by owners when their vehicles are seized: they forgot.
They forgot.
The owner of a RM500,000 G-Wagon forgot to renew the road tax. The former national footballer with multiple Malaysia Super League titles to his name forgot that his insurance had lapsed for five months and his driving licence had expired since December.
Meanwhile, ordinary Malaysians with far less disposable income and far less administrative support are managing to renew their road tax and insurance every single year without forgetting. Because for us, forgetting is not an option.
There is a word for operating in a world where the rules everyone else follows feel like gentle suggestions. That word is privilege. And Op Luxury, whether it intends to or not, is essentially a photograph of what Malaysian privilege looks like when it meets a clipboard and a tow truck.
Why Road Tax and Insurance Actually Matter
This is worth saying plainly because the framing of Op Luxury sometimes makes it feel like a story about bureaucratic compliance. It is not. It is a story about public safety and shared responsibility.
Under the Road Transport Act 1987, failure to renew a Motor Vehicle Licence is a serious offence, not just an administrative technicality. Road tax funds the maintenance of the very roads these vehicles are driven on. Every vehicle owner benefits from that infrastructure. Every vehicle owner is expected to contribute to it proportionally based on their engine capacity.
Insurance is even more fundamental. A vehicle without valid insurance is not just a legal offence, it is a financial liability that shifts the burden of any accident onto the victims. If an uninsured luxury vehicle causes an accident, the injured parties may have limited recourse to compensation. The Vellfire, the G-Wagon, the Rolls-Royce… if any of these had been involved in a serious collision while uninsured, the financial and legal consequences for ordinary Malaysians affected would have been severe.
When wealthy vehicle owners skip their insurance renewal, they are not just breaking a rule. They are removing a safety net that exists to protect everyone else on the road.
What JPJ Is Actually Doing Right Here
Credit where it is due. Ops Luxury works precisely because it makes no exceptions for the value of the vehicle or the title of the owner.
JPJ's official position is explicit: road laws apply to everyone, and enforcement will be carried out fairly and strictly, regardless of the brand or value of a vehicle. The fact that a Datuk's G-Wagon and a former national footballer's Vellfire end up at the JPJ impound depot alongside ordinary vehicles sends a signal that the law applies at every income level. That signal matters.
In a country where enforcement can sometimes feel selective, Ops Luxury is a rare and genuinely satisfying example of the system working as it should. The same standard applied to the Alza and the Lamborghini. The same paperwork. The same tow truck. The same depot.
My Take
I am not going to pretend this story does not give me some satisfaction. Not because I enjoy watching people get into trouble, but out of a sense that fairness, when it occasionally shows up, deserves to be acknowledged.
I renew my road tax and insurance every year because I have to. Because the alternative, for someone at my income level, is a fine I cannot afford and an impoundment that would genuinely disrupt my life. I do not have a manager to handle these things for me, a personal assistant to set reminders, or the financial cushion to treat a JPJ summons as a minor inconvenience.
The wealthy car owners in Op Luxury do have all of those things. And they still could not be bothered.
Jazmanie put it well when he said: "Failure to renew one's road tax is a serious offence under the Road Transport Act 1987, and JPJ will not compromise in taking action against the vehicles involved."
Good. Keep going.
Because on the roads of Malaysia, a Vellfire and an Alza travel the same tarmac. They should follow the same rules. And they should face the same consequences when they do not.
Kamarul Azwan (k.azwan@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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