What is national distress?
When we are invaded.
When nature disaster strike; something huge like the Asian Tsunami.
When food crisis strike; not just temporarily shortage of sugar or cooking oil… but when people started to feel the hunger because of food shortage.
When hyperinflation… not when people are chatting in Starbucks on how expensive our fuel is, but when people can’t even afford a cup of coffee in mamak stall.
When people are started losing jobs and couldn’t find new jobs. When unemployment is largely due to lack of jobs and not because of the poor qualities (and some laziness) of our young graduates.
When the police and armed forces are becoming thugs. This is the one hanging on borderline… but set aside a few political cases, the police are still doing their job to fight crimes. Remember this, some of them are risking their lives to protect ours.
When democracy is irrelevant. Don’t tell me that our democracy is dead… we are given the rights to vote, and despite not being perfectly fair, we do have the power to determine which parties and people we want to form our government.
If Malaysia is in distress, what should we call other countries like Philippines or India? For name sake I don’t even think the likes of Philippines and India are in distress yet, let alone Malaysia?
Some Malaysians are just too pampered these days… distress? WTF.
Seems like tomorrow’s fuel-hike demo is going ahead in Kelana Jaya; hope that there won’t be any violent crash during the rally, and I hope that the protestors are fighting on the right cause and not for political reasons.
There is no point protesting against the petrol hike… the fuel subsidy was wrong and should have been gone long ago. It there is anything to complain about… it’s about corruption, poor public transportation and the government failure in improving our living standard for the past decade.
Inflation is something inevitable; what really strike Malaysians these days is the failure to improve our earning-capability since the 1997 economic crisis. With exceptions of a few professions, the salary and income levels of most jobs are not on par with inflation rate for the past decade… some sectors are actually falling behind the pre-1997 era.
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Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has announced on Monday some government cost cutting measures to save public spending amounting to RM2 billion anually, which include freezing of paid leave for Cabinet members, aspects on travels for ministers, deputy ministers, government officers abroad, prohibiting renovation works on offices, postponement in asset purchases and the holding of official functions etc. [Bernama]
The measurements include a 10% reduction on entertainment allowance and restrictions on paid vacation for ministers and deputy ministers, which would be limited to the Asean region only and the duration should not exceed one week. Previously, the paid vacation is borne by the government to any destination once a year.
It’s a step forward for the government to cut wasteful spending, kudos for that… but they could really try a bit harder. 10% cut on the entertainment allowances mean nothing much; the ministers (and deputies) will still get a decent allowance to spend on I-don’t-know-what entertainment purposes.
Besides, why should we pay for their overseas vacation when we can’t afford to bring our family for overseas holidays? It’s not like the ministers are not getting paid… their monthly salary is higher than 70% (probably close to 90) of the Malaysians for goodness sake.
The paid vacation should be scrapped completely; and unless there is a good reason for the entertainment allowance, it should be scrapped as well. There are probably some other dubious expenses not mentioned in the plan… and there are definitely rooms for further improvements.
If the government has the determination to cut the petrol subsidy and forced the people to change our lifestyle, at least show their own determination to make a strong cut. It’s a good start, but not good enough.
Sharing a few stories…
The hawker: Cash strapped, TV, handphone
I have a friend that always complained on how tough life is, and how difficult it is to make ends meet. He is a hawker, his wife the helper, and has three kids.
Some hawkers are rich, but he is not… I am not really sure why. A couple of years ago, his eldest son finished Form Five, came out to work, got his first pay… and the first thing they did was spending most (if not all) of the salary to buy a new TV.
My friend is still crying on how tough life is… but he got a new company now, with his dear son complaining just about the same thing.
Last I checked, the son use a handphone that is five times more expensive than mine.
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Some thoughts from other bloggers (and their readers) about the latest petrol price hike on June 5…
Kean Jin ll Undebug ll Paul Tan ll Fireangel ll Lobaksoup ll Lucia Lai ll Emily ll Beng ll Stocktube ll Foongpc ll Messyc ll Cyberpartygal ll Silflay ll Jeff Ooi ll Galvin ll Hanief ll Eddie Law ll Rocky ll Kenneth Lee ll SK Thew ll Audie ll Kuan Chong ll Malaysiacity ll Mindspring ll Zubli ll Susan Loone ll Anwar Ibrahim ll Eli Wong ll Damien Tan ll Crankshaft ll Kit Siang ll KY ll BJ
Comment is closed here, please share your thoughts at the previous post instead.
Petrol price is hiking up 78 cents to RM2.70 per litre by Wednesday midnight, while the diesel is going up RM1 to RM2.58. Seems like it’s worth being kiasu after all.
With the continous record breaking rise of crude oil price, our price hike seems inevitable. It’s a logical decision for the government to cut the subsidy… the only question that always puzzle me is how they are going to spend the extra money saved from the reduced subsidy.
So far I haven’t heard anything to improve our public transportation system, or to find alternative ways to reduce petrol consumptions in the country… nobody really knows where the money saved from the previous price hike had been used.
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The petrol stations’ business is extra-good these two days with rumours flying around that the fuel prices will increase today (or tomorrow).
The phenomenon showed two things…
1. Some Malaysians are kiasu
2. Some Malaysians believe in rumours rather easily
Are you one of those kiasu Malaysians that love to believe in rumours?
Update - The rumours turn out to be true this time… fuel price going up 40%.
With the price of crude oil rising above 100 dollars a barrel, it’s inevitable that our petrol price is going up pretty soon.
Malaysia is not facing bankruptcy danger even if we keep the price level… what Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak claimed prior to the New Year Day was obviously to demean the opposition parties instead of solid economic facts. Najib said that the opposition’s promises to reduce oil prices if it were to form a government will only bankrupt the country, because it’s not possible…
It doesn’t take a genius to realise that the government controlled Petronas would be making extra money following the rising oil price as well… the government is probably not losing too much with the subsidies compared to a few years ago (if there is any loses at all).
Khairy 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 cut the petrol subsidy ONLY IF the money are spent at the right place (education, health care etc.) and not going to dubious projects like Angkasawan or buying a new submarine… or perhaps the worst - to waste and corruption.
Considering that Malaysia won’t be having much petroleum resources left (probably finished in a decade or two without new findings)… our government need to be proactive in finding new energy resources (bio-diesel, solar power etc.) and reducing petroleum consumption. We need a better public transport system to start with; it’s a pain to travel in Malaysia without a car.
At the meantime, we the common citizens just have to be prepared for the next price hike.