Cowboy Caleb the liberal arts, grown-up stuff & random mischief

Let The Floodgates of Woe, Open - KNNBCCB!!!

In case you didn’t know, the 30 cent price hike for petrol has triggered riots in Malaysia. Jeff Ooi has the complete story.

I have one thing to say about this.

PM Abdullah Badawi is a handsome wise gandalf-like figure that has proved to be ultimately utterly useless in serving the people. Under him, life has gotten really rotten. Everything is more expensive. Crime is on the rise. I actually have to pay a private security force a monthly stipend to patrol my parent’s neighbourhood. The only time I see a policeman is when they pull my car over for some imaginary offense. Things are so terribly expensive. The middle-class is getting squeezed like crazy.

A 30 cent hike may mean nothing to the rich - but to everybody else, it’s absolutely frightful. A full tank of fuel is now obscenely dear.

I am definitely voting for the opposition in the next elections!

I believe thirty cents is only a fraction of what fuel used to cost in Malaysia. Look at Indonesia where fuel prices have doubled in the past year or so (or more drastically, increased tenfold in the past 5 years), where a litre of the cheapest fuel costs a quarter of the legal minimum daily wage. People will bitch and moan for a month or so, then they’ll just accept it as part and parcel of life.

DK: Petrol used to be 1.11 not 2-3 years ago (I believe). It steadily rose 10 sen, 3 times a year until RM1.92. The 30 sen is not a one time increase.

Is Indonesia an exporter of oil? I’m not sure, but Malaysia *is*. So, Petronas is exporting all these oil to make money, instead of selling it domestically. Petronas declared record profits for 2005.

Think of it as if Singapore had lots of water, but sells the water to Malaysia, and makes the citizens drink Newater (and at higher prices too).

The problem is not so simple. The public transporation is also ill-managed. So people are FORCED to use cars, vans and bikes.

Not like in Singapore, where even if the cars and petrol is expensive, the poor can still use the bus and the MRT.

In case you haven’t dig into enough research, let me just say that the gov has been subsidising petrol for faaarrr too long. The money COULD have been used for far better things like education and social security, instead the subsidy lead to sky-high prices on cars (in order to fund the subsidy, ironic). Also don’t forget it is unsustainable for any country to subsidise an unrenewable resource. Sooner or later, the gov is going to go bankrupt (going a bit extreme, but hey, it happened to Argentina). Would you want that?

Furthermore, one shouldn’t be too short sighted on the hike of 30cents in petrol. A sudden surge of price, and maintaining it for a good number of years is always better for the consumer than gradual increase every year (the theory is, gradual increase = higher costs in the long run). Also, this increase in price would encourage the consumer to use their scarce resources more wisely. If you ask me, Malaysians use too much of their cars and air-cons.

Think for the good of the country as a whole, sometimes what seems like total unfairness to you at first is actually a much better thing for everyone in the long run.

that happened so near where i work
hoho

Indonesia is a net importer of processed oils (ie: fuels, kerosene etc) but a net exporter of crude oil - we have wayyyyy more reserves than malaysia. Most of Indonesia’s crude oil gets exported and then reimported back for domestic concumption simply because the country doesnt have enough refining and processing capacity; pumping the stuff from the ground is cheap, its the processing thats a bitch.

Besides, why cant Badawi do what the Indonesian government did; give cash out as compensation to those who were really affected by the price hike. That way, you guys wont be subsiding (as much) the corprrate helicopters, the Mercedes SLKs etc? Besides, no country can support fuel subsidies at this scale, the Indonesian President made a courageous choice, but really, it was simply to stop the country going bankrupt. Also, it looks really stupid if the government spends more on fuel subsidies than on healthcare, social security and education combined.

You guys have failed to mention that the price of crude oil has come up to USD60+ per barrel from USD10 per barrel 10 years ago. Subsidies are good for now, but what happens when the oil runs out? Fuel price rises to 2.62 overnight. Would we be able to cope then? FYI, transport companies receive subsidised diesel thru a special scheme. It’s the unethical people who are trying to find an excuse to raise their prices.

People have been complaining about public transport for a long time, it’s about time something was done to improve it.

Police ask for bribes because the people keep giving bribes. Why give if you have done no wrong? Both of you are just as wrong. I have been stopped a few times, but when I don’t give them any money, they let me go for free. They have tried to charge me in court but the state prosecutor found that I have done no wrong. I dare you to take a stand and make a police report against corrupt police personnel.

Speaking about the opposition, what have they ever done for this country?

did you call me? wassup?

out of curiosity, which opposition party would you vote for?

http://vbglau.blogspot.com/2006/03/tipu.html

baca ni la

That idiot at comment number 9 wasn’t me btw.