Malaysians are surrounded by cars, trucks and motorcycles every single day, but have you ever wondered about the significance of vehicle registration plates?

Private and commercial motor vehicles in Malaysia usually have plates with a format such as “WTB 1956” (sincere apologies if this is actually your vehicle registration number).

The first letter stands for the state or territory – W, in this case, for Kuala Lumpur.

The next two letters are issued in sequence, but excludes I, O and Z. License plates bearing the letter Z are used by the military.

The numbers, too, are issued in sequence, although car owners can, for a fee, request for a specific combination – lucky numbers, memorable numbers or vanity numbers – if these have not already been issued.

The peninsular Malaysia state or territory prefixes are:

A – Perak
B – Selangor
C – Pahang
D – Kelantan
F – Putrajaya
J – Johor
K – Kedah
M – Melaka
N – Negeri Sembilan
P – Penang
R – Perlis
T – Terengganu
V – Kuala Lumpur
W – Kuala Lumpur

Note that when Kuala Lumpur exhausted the W series of license plates in 2013, an additional alphabetical suffix was added, e.g. “WTB 1956 A”.

This format, however, failed to gain popularity, so a new V-prefix series was begun for KL in 2016.

Putrajaya

When Putrajaya was founded in 1995, the first 9,999 license plates issued bore the name of the territory, e.g. “Putrajaya 1956”. Today, Putrajaya license plates begin with the letter F, for Federal.

Sarawak

The numbering system in Sarawak is slightly different, with all license plates beginning with the letter Q followed by a letter denoting the division, or district, of registration, e.g. “QAA 1956”.

The districts are as follows:

QK – Kuching
QA – Kuching
QB – Sri Aman and Betong
QC – Samarahan and Serian
QL – Limbang
QM – Miri
QP – Kapit
QR – Sarikei
QS – Sibu and Mukah
QT – Bintulu

Sabah

Similarly, Sabah number plates begin with the letter S followed by a letter denoting the division of registration, e.g. “SAA 1956”

SA – West Coast
SY – West Coast
SB – Beaufort
SD – Lahad Datu
SG – Sabah Government
SK – Kudat
SL – Labuan (now replaced by L)
SS – Sandakan
SM – Sandakan
ST – Tawau
SW – Tawau
SU – Keningau

Taxis in Malaysia usually have license plates beginning with the letter H, followed by another letter denoting the state of registration, e.g. “HP 1956” for a taxi in Penang.

Airport limousine taxis at KLIA bear the prefix LIMO.

Driving around Malaysia, you might see commemorative license plates with prefixes such as XXVIASEAN, which was issued to mark the 26th ASEAN Summit held in Malaysia in 2015.

Like many countries, prestigious or personalised number plates in Malaysia are highly sought. The number plate WWW1 was sold in an auction for RM520,000 in 2012, while the “Malaysia 1” license plate sold for RM1,111,111 in 2018.

This article first appeared in Malaysia Traveller.