MyFuelCost
Driving in Sabah and Sarawak is a different kind of fuel maths
In the Peninsular, working out what a drive costs means adding fuel to tolls — the North–South Expressway alone can add thirty or forty ringgit to a long run. In Borneo that second number simply does not exist. There are no toll plazas anywhere in Sabah or Sarawak, including on the Pan Borneo Highway, so whatever you spend at the pump is what the journey cost you. That makes the arithmetic simpler, but it also means fuel efficiency matters more here than anywhere else in the country.
The distances are the other difference. Kuching to Miri is roughly eight hundred kilometres of mostly single-carriageway road — further than Kuala Lumpur to Singapore and back, done in one state. Kota Kinabalu to Tawau is a full day behind the wheel. On those runs the gap between stations matters as much as the price: around the two capitals you are never far from a Petronas or a Shell, but on the interior roads over the Crocker Range, or the long quiet stretch up to Kudat, sixty to a hundred kilometres between pumps is normal. The local habit of filling up whenever you pass a station on a long leg, rather than running down to the warning light, exists for a good reason.
On price itself, the thing most drivers get wrong is assuming East Malaysia pays more. It does not. RON95 and RON97 ceiling prices are set nationally and apply identically in Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Labuan and Kuala Lumpur. What genuinely used to differ was diesel: for years Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan had a fixed subsidised diesel price of RM2.15 a litre, deliberately held below the Peninsular float to keep the cost of shipping goods around Borneo down. If you remember pumping diesel cheaper than your friends across the sea, that is why.
That arrangement ended on 1 July 2026. With the launch of Budi Diesel nationwide, the East Malaysian fixed price was retired and pumps in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan now display the same floating market price that changes every Thursday. The subsidy did not disappear — it moved. Eligible Malaysians anywhere in the country, Borneo included, buy diesel at RM2.10 a litre with MyKad verification at the pump, within a monthly quota of up to 200 litres shared with RON95. For most private drivers the amount paid barely moved; what changed is that the discount now follows the person rather than the postcode.
Memandu di Sabah dan Sarawak melibatkan kiraan minyak yang berbeza
Di Semenanjung, mengira kos pemanduan bermakna menambah minyak dengan tol — Lebuhraya Utara–Selatan sahaja boleh menambah tiga puluh hingga empat puluh ringgit untuk perjalanan jauh. Di Borneo, angka kedua itu tidak wujud langsung. Tiada plaza tol di mana-mana di Sabah atau Sarawak, termasuk Lebuhraya Pan Borneo, jadi apa yang anda belanjakan di pam adalah kos sebenar perjalanan. Ini memudahkan kiraan, tetapi ia juga bermakna penjimatan minyak lebih penting di sini berbanding mana-mana tempat lain di negara ini.
Jarak adalah perbezaan kedua. Kuching ke Miri kira-kira lapan ratus kilometer jalan yang kebanyakannya satu lorang setiap arah — lebih jauh daripada Kuala Lumpur ke Singapura dan balik, dalam satu negeri sahaja. Kota Kinabalu ke Tawau memakan sehari penuh memandu. Dalam perjalanan begini, jurang antara stesen sama pentingnya dengan harga: di sekitar dua ibu negeri anda sentiasa dekat dengan Petronas atau Shell, tetapi di jalan pedalaman melalui Banjaran Crocker, atau perjalanan sunyi ke Kudat, jarak enam puluh hingga seratus kilometer antara pam adalah perkara biasa.
Mengenai harga pula, perkara yang paling kerap disalahfahami ialah anggapan Malaysia Timur membayar lebih. Tidak. Harga siling RON95 dan RON97 ditetapkan secara kebangsaan dan terpakai sama di Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Labuan dan Kuala Lumpur. Yang benar-benar berbeza dahulunya ialah diesel: selama bertahun-tahun Sabah, Sarawak dan Labuan mempunyai harga diesel subsidi tetap RM2.15 seliter, sengaja ditahan di bawah apungan Semenanjung untuk mengekalkan kos penghantaran barangan di Borneo.
Susunan itu berakhir pada 1 Julai 2026. Dengan pelancaran Budi Diesel di seluruh negara, harga tetap Malaysia Timur ditamatkan dan pam di Sabah, Sarawak dan Labuan kini memaparkan harga pasaran terapung yang sama, berubah setiap Khamis. Subsidi tidak hilang — ia berpindah. Rakyat Malaysia yang layak di mana-mana, termasuk Borneo, membeli diesel pada RM2.10 seliter dengan pengesahan MyKad di pam, dalam kuota bulanan sehingga 200 liter yang dikongsi dengan RON95.