They use their 4x4 trucks to help flood victims. Rising diesel costs in Malaysia may end this

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KUALA LUMPUR – When off-roading enthusiast Frankie Chan drives his 4x4 truck deep into the Malaysian jungle, he is not chasing thrills. He is delivering rice, medicine and hope to indigenous Orang Asli villages that no other vehicle can reach.

In June 2025, Mr Chan and a dozen others from the Northern 4x4 Offroad Adventure Team brought aid to an indigenous village in Perak that had been trampled by wild elephants. Another expedition was planned for June 2026. Then came the Iran war.

A sharp spike in diesel prices – triggered by the US-Israeli attack on Iran in late February – has doubled fuel costs in Malaysia in just over a month, from RM3.04 (97 Singapore cents) per litre to RM6.02 on April 1.

“It’s tough. Filling up feels like a heartache,” Mr Chan, 41, told The Straits Times.

The cost is not just financial. For Mr Chan, who runs a workshop specialising in 4x4 vehicles, his pickup truck was never a lifestyle symbol – it was how he showed up for people who had no one else.

His workshop in Simpang Ampat, Penang, works closely with volunteer firefighting groups like the one in Sungai Petani, Kedah, sponsoring pulleys and winches for the group’s 4x4 vehicles to be used in rescue missions.

“But now our own members are facing difficulty,” he said. “So how can we go out and help others?”

The Toyota Hilux, Mitsubishi Triton and Ford Ranger are among the most popular pickup trucks in Malaysia, with more than 700,000 registered since 2000, according to the Road Transport Department’s 2026 statistics.

Diesel vehicles account for only 7 per cent of the 14 million vehicles registered in that period, but they are a common sight during the country’s annual floods, often bridging gaps in relief efforts alongside government agencies.

The surge in diesel prices has left many of those owners in a difficult spot. Mr Chan said two customers have already asked him to help sell their trucks, as the cost of filling an 80-litre tank has jumped from about RM240 to RM480 in just a month.

“Maybe for the rich, that is not really felt, but not everyone is rich.”

Unlike petrol, which is capped at RM1.99 per litre for most Malaysians, diesel subsidies in Peninsular Malaysia are limited to commercial use, though they remain in place for all diesel-powered vehicles in Sabah and Sarawak.

Online, the community has received little sympathy, with some motorists viewing 4x4 vehicles – particularly pickup trucks – as luxury items and road bullies because of their imposing size. It is a perception that stings those who rely on them for more than just a school run.

While the Ford Ranger Raptor can cost up to RM250,000, more common models are far cheaper. The Toyota Hilux starts from RM117,880, while the base Ford Ranger is priced from RM98,888.

Communications executive Farhan Iqbal, who drives a diesel Toyota Prado, said the idea that only the wealthy own 4x4 vehicles is misplaced. He pointed to costly petrol cars that still benefit from subsidised fuel, such as the Toyota Camry Hybrid, which starts at RM248,000.

“These petrol cars and SUVs (sport utility vehicles) still enjoy subsidised petrol, so it’s safe to say the idea that diesel is for the rich while petrol is for the ordinary public is not true,” Mr Farhan told ST.

He described the government’s diesel policy as “rough”, arguing that many pickup owners use their vehicles for legitimate, if non-commercial, purposes.

“We end up getting treated as if we buy it as a lifestyle symbol, just for the image of a ‘trucker’,” he said.

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East is the latest blow for diesel users in Malaysia, where sales of diesel-powered vehicles have already fallen since blanket subsidies were removed in June 2024, causing prices to float with the market.

The government has defended the move as necessary to curb fuel smuggling across the Malaysia-Thailand border, driven by the price gap created by subsidies.

Some owners are now weighing a trade-in at a substantial loss. Others are looking into switching to electric vehicles altogether.

For healthcare executive Affan Hasyim, the decision to sell his Mazda CX-5 – a diesel-powered crossover SUV – the moment the subsidy was scrapped in 2024 has proven to be the right one, even if it was not an easy one.

“I love the car, it’s my first proper family car that my children grew up in,” he said. “But if I had kept it, I would be struggling to run it and feed my family.”

He now drives a Toyota Corolla Cross, which has significantly reduced his fuel costs thanks to its hybrid engine.

“It couldn’t have been any better,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Chan’s concern reaches further than his own dwindling fuel budget. He highlighted how every civil society group that serves Orang Asli communities relies on the same trucks, and faces the same reckoning.

“There are many NGOs (non-governmental organisations), but also many villages,” he said. “This fuel problem will surely have an effect.”