So the petrol price has gone up by 78cents, approximately 40%…that’s a pretty hefty hike. I’m sure everyone knows about it by now.
Most people feel like this.
Judging by the horrific jams last night near every petrol station (3-4km tailbacks according to radio traffic reports) it seems like most of the country had heard about it.
I checked a few petrol stations and by 10pm they had actually run out of fuel, I didn’t bother queuing to pump fuel. The price is inevitable and I’m not going to waste an hour or two idling to save RM30.
So what do I think? I think as a net exporter of petroleum products Malaysia should be able to afford to give subsidy to their citizens.
But then, if they remove the subsidy (believing the economy can support it) they will free up a LOT of money for development of health care, education and public transport.
Now if public transport was adequate I don’t think anyone would be complaining about the fuel prices as you would have a viable option.
Also if car prices weren’t ridiculously inflated less people would complain.
Honestly I think removing the subsidy is fine….IF and it’s a BIG IF – the public transport system is effecient, effective and has enough spread to be available to everyone in the urban area (including suburbs) AND cars are sold at the true market price (around 60% of what they are currently being sold at).
I’ve seen the government propoganda showing fuel prices compared to other countries nearby – but when are they going to show the prices we pay for cars compared to other countries (and please factor in the pricing parity or economic strength).
Rumours have it that the price may go up again in August as the current 78 cent hike still has a 30 cent per litre subsidy.
The plan is to give those with cars under 2000cc RM600 per year back, that’s fine if you pump petrol once a month, but for everyone else it doesn’t cut it.
Even for those with 35 litre tanks a full tank will now cost around RM95 where previously it cost RM67.
Say on average they pump a full tank twice a month, they are losing out RM672 a year, so with the subsidy they aren’t too badly off. I think on average tho mostly people will pump a full tank once a week, so they will be losing out about RM600 a year.
It’s still an additional headache however and we have yet to see how effecient the system will be.
Interesting times, I want to see what they are proposing to do with all the saved funds.
Give back the savings??? I doubt any of it is coming our way.. they haven’t given any specific rebates to speak of after previous price hikes.. I suspect there are horrendous holes in the coffers that they can barely plug, so they need to resort to cutting back the goodies in a desperate effort to break even.
“But then, if they remove the subsidy (believing the economy can support it) they will free up a LOT of money for development of health care, education and public transport.”
it will.
but the sad thing is, they’re not going to use it for that.
Yup, I’d like to know what they’re going to do with the saved money too.
I remember the last time they raised prices, they were to divert them to improve public transportation. No word of that yet…
we shall see we shall see.
true. personally i wouldn’t be so pissed if the public transport system is adequate. and if they didn’t already overcharge us on our freaking cars in the first place.
i’m really pissed off at the fact that the chances of the extra money they are getting out of this winding up in their own pockets are pretty high.
bah.
Good point about fuel subsidies, public transport and healthcare and education.
good points that tallies with each other. but in the end, sounds like their ‘good intention’ will draw to a blank. no point, man. i believe we’ve all lost faith with their so-called ‘promises’.
as for the saved funds? maybe spend a little on Sichuan victims…? hmmph, fat chance.
Agreed with you. If not that our public tranportation systems is so badly planned, there won’t be much need of a car anyway. I can travel to most places using public transport in Singapore, Hong Kong and even London.
Totally agreed.
RM 625 per year for is RM 52.08 per month. Which is about 19.3L worth of ‘FREE’ petrol for us every month. A LOT HOR????
On top of that,the Government pays for projects for Highway companies. We pay Highway companies to use roads. WTF is this?
What can I say??
Our LEADER is SOOOOOO GENEROUS, SOOOOO CLEVER……his mother must have feed him chicken milk when he is a baby.
couple this with petronas’s CEO bullshitting that their cost has increased how many how many fold la, this and that…
now that really pisses me off.
one thing that gets me ponder about – how are we gonna get the subsidy? directly cut off from the road tax we pay? or do we hafta go through their genius system of waiting for one whole day at the government’s newly established claim-ur-petrol-subsidy department due to the mad queues and inefficiency, just like the way it is when we’re trying to get our IC and passport done
I force to use the cheap petrol, which cost 2.62, full tank can save few buck more…lol
It pisses me off totally when I knew about the fuel hike.
it seriously ticks me off. RM625 rebate is not even enough to cover the hike. RM625 divide by 10 months = RM62.50 per month. I guess most of us are forking more than the 62.50 per month due to the fuel hike.
What can we do? Even the PM asks us to change our lifestyle when they are spending away like nobody’s business.
Suertes: The rebate is official, although many people think it’s annual when in fact it’s one off.
lulu: We can be optimistic.
Sashi: They are having problems with Subang residents not allowing building of the new section of LRT. Not sure what else is happening.
FA: That’s the sad part, and yeh if the public transport was reliable and better spread there wouldn’t be much complaints. Especially if they sold cars at market price..
yahui: You’re another pessimist eh? Hehe.
zagary: Forget that calculation, it’s a one off subsidy. But I agree paying Toll + Roadtax is bullshit.
kevin: Yah he’s saying all the money gained by the subsidy reduction is already lost by inflated oil prices.
nikz: You can claim it at the post office.
iCalvyn: Good idea, not always accessible to most people though.
grace: The RM625 is a ONE OFF payment too, it’s not even yearly…so forget those calculations.
Ugh, crazy oil prices. And here just as I’m planning to get my driving license rofl.
Today’s newspapers, 10% cut on expenditure, wtf? If the expenditure was low in the first place, 10% sounds good, however I seriously doubt so lol.
After getting everyone to pay so much tax when one purchases a car, you’d think they’d have the decency to cut the tax on cars after removing the fuel subsidy. But noooo, its a RM625 rebate lol.
Supposedly the fuel prices are going to go up soon again in August. tsk tsk tsk.
well…. i hate to be a wet blanket but i don’t think we should expect any announcement of where the well “saved” monies are going to be spent…
more likely, i believe the money “saved” on fuel sudsidies are there to compensate and balance the books in the govt coffers.
well… things are gonna be real ugly when ppl start to say.. hey where did all the petronas money go to?
i’m just wondering, how much “oil” money has petronas or malaysia has pumped out? and it be interesting to chart out a table among the oil producing countries… hmmm.
In the meantime, i’m going back to dream about efficient public transport and cheap taxes on cars. 🙂 where are you AFTA??
ish ish ~ its PISSED ME OFF when i know the increase price of fuel ~ CI LA Ka betul !!!
aaaaaaaaaaaarggh~ totally cannot be optimistic abt tis !!
WTF !! !
I honestly don’t know what we can do to reduce the price of fuel 🙁
We are not having it any better here either.. the rise of gas .. has been happening .. for a few years now.. this weekend.. it was at 1.45/litre. Not much fun here either..! 🙁
Gotta get the bicycle out soon.. !
Bah.. do you know how the RM 625 rebate came from? The stupid government assumes all the car driver use RM 120 per month for fuel.. Is that possible? gov think all we are driving kancil 660… That’s non-sense!
Anyway.. I will go to sell my Viva 850 soon if the fuel price go beyond RM 3.. fu¢k you! government.. Abdullah eat sh!t !
moons: Yah unsubsidized price should be closer to RM4 per litre I guess…*sigh* and yeah 10% cut? Who gives a shit, 80% cut maybe.
Dave: Pessimist eh? But yeah….dreams of effecient public transport and market price cars are in everyones minds.
chyu: Yah what to do…really have to change lifestyle.
Komodo Dragon: We can’t, we just have to use less.
Mama BoK: Yah back in UK it’s about GBP1.30 a litre now, insane!
baka: It’s a quick and dirty solution, hopefully they will come out with a long term, robust subsidy solution that is fairer to the poorest people.
*LOL* at the pic 🙂