Malaysians Say The Darndest Things!

RM2.70 Petrol? Ouch. So What’s Next?

June 5, 2008

Photo credit: thestar.com.my

Our Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi and Shahrir Samad have done the politically suicidal thing by raising fuel costs by 78 sen to RM2.70. That’s a whopping 40% increase. Is the government to blame? How do people view this increase? That really depends on who you talk to.

Some will say that AAB is to blame, that he has caused this by relaxing currency controls, etc. (written by who else but Mr. Che Det himself over at his blog).

Some will say that by virtue of rising oil prices, Petronas will reap more profit and this profit should be used to fund the petrol subsidies.

Some will say that Independent Power Producers (IPP) are to blame for being the ones who reap the most subsidies from gas, and these subsidies should be channeled to petroleum sold at the pump instead.

Some will say this is a great move and it is economically sound to remove subsidies.

Some will say we should remove excise duties on imported cars since petrol is no longer subsidized.

The above arguments are the most commonly found across the blogosphere, and I am in not going to argue any of these points (due to the fact that I am economically stupid). But honestly, I only want to know 2 things:

1. With the RM13.7 billion saved this year, how is this money going to be used?

I have no interest in knowing the breakdown of where the money will be spent, I am more interested in knowing what concrete plans or policies will be implemented using this 13.7 billion dollars, and the additional billions ’saved’ in subsequent years.

For example, there’s always talk about improving public transport, but what the people want to hear are real plans, concrete plans. Something that we can touch and feel and smell and taste. For example, should more park-and-ride facilities be introduced to encourage people to take public transportation? Should the government introduce incentives for people to actually purchase a more fuel-efficient and less polluting car like the Honda Civic Hybrid (and cancel the damn excise duties on such cars)? Should the government encourage more renewable energy research in the private sector by giving them tax breaks? It’s all these actual policies that I want to hear of, and not just “we will be using the money to improve public transportation”.

2. With the billions and possibly trillions of dollars earned by Petronas since its founding, how has the money been used? How do we avoid further wastage of this limited supply of money?

Petronas accounts are top secret. No one except the top echelon in government knows how much was earned, and how much was used, and on what. It is high time that Petronas accounts be scrutinized by Parliament, and identify the things that we should no longer be spending Petronas money on. Things like Putrajaya for example. Things like Petronas Twin Towers (no matter how much it beautifies the skyline of KL). Things like the bail-out of failed projects by government cronies. We need to really stop and really demand fiscal accountability from our leaders.

We, the people, who have average earning and spending power are rightfully concerned that we have to pay more (a lot more) for petrol. To survive this, most of us will have to change our lifestyles for sure. However, I hope this will be an impetus for Malaysians to be more concerned about fiscal responsibility in governance (especially those that continously vote BN, who have been proven to waste a LOT of money), and not just use this experience to bitch and bitch and in the end do nothing about it.

For my Top 10 ways to deal with this price increase, click here.

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