UMNO Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin said during the UMNO General Assembly about our subsidy system…
“Why should we give subsidised petrol to the already rich, who drive luxurious cars with high capacity engines? It should be meant only for the man riding a kapcai (low-cc motorcycle).”
He added that billions of ringgit could be saved and the money used instead to develop village roads, build more public infrastructure and construct schools.
His statement is half true. Malaysians have been pampered with all kind of subsidies all these years… perhaps it’s time to let the petrol price roamed freely and save the money for other benefits, to help the poor for example.
I would applaud if the billions Ringgit saved could be used to develop our villages… but I am afraid that we might use it for something else… paying for a crook bridge (that was never built), spending on new toys or sending a traveller to space. Who can guarantee that the money saved from the cut subsidy would be well spent?
In my words…
“Why should we spent money to send a man to space, who rides on a billion dollar spaceship with super capacity engines? It should be meant only for the men riding on wheels.”
[...] Jamaluddin was right though when he said on Umno’s General Assembly in Nov 2007 that the petrol subsidy could be better spent on other developments. My point of view is still the same… that it would be a wise move to [...]
Who owns ePetrol Holdings Sdn Bhd?
Surprisingly one of the owners is Tan Sri Rashid Hussain (founder of RHB, Rashid Hussain Berhad) while the other owner is Dialog Group Bhd chairman and group MD Ngau Boon Keat.
malaysia is producing petrol more than the country use. Meaning if the world petrol price is up, malaysia earns more. So subsidy on petrol in malaysia is nothing. Malaysia is earning even they are giving us free petrol to use. do you believe that?
why government always says we got the cheapest petrol in asia? what about brunei? they are enjoying petrol price at 50cents++ per litre.
we shouldn’t listen so much from the government
Malaysian… yupe, Malaysia is making more from the rising crude oil price, more than our losses from the subsidy. It doesn’t mean that it’s logical that we spent all those profit on subsidies instead of using it for other developments though.
Brunei is pretty much developed in every social needs and don’t require too many funds for continuous improvements. Malaysia is a different entity and shouldn’t be compared to other countries with different social economy structure. Fact remains though, that we still have one of the cheapest petrol around the region.
The biggest problem with our government is corruption and wastage. Where did we spend all the extra money saved from the subsidy (and from the extra Petronas profit)… that is THE question.
Singapore has a much higher fuel price, but most of them actually have the option to not drive but to opt for public transport instead. This is the facility that we are lacking, and our government is not doing enough to upgrade the infrastructures… that’s probably why Malaysians are really really mad about the price hike.