From the NEW SABAH TIMES Online:
FUEL MOAN
6th June, 2008
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) has warned that the fuel price hikes can result in serious political fallout for the Barisan Nasional government.
Wondering aloud as to whether the overall consequences of the fuel subsidy cuts had been carefully considered, SAPP president Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee said the immediate reaction to the fuel price hikes among Sabahans was that of despair.
“If a government loses the faith of the people, then it will find it even more difficult to govern,” the former Chief Minister told reporters during a news conference held at SAPP Headquarters in Luyang here yesterday.
He said political parties, elected representatives and civil servants were likely to feel more pressure from the people to “do something” to ease their economic woes.
Noting that the fuel price increases came almost immediately after people were finding they had to pay more for some types of rice (imported ones), he said those most affected were low and middle-income earners.
“For those who have just been earning enough to make ends meet every month, the fuel price increases will be a serious blow as, they will have to now pay more at the petrol pump and when they buy groceries,” Yong elaborated.
He said even middle income earners with salaries of between RM4,000 and RM5,000 would be reeling from the inflationary effect resulting from the fuel price hike.
In this regard Yong doubted the impact of the one-off RM625 rebate for vehicle owners and RM125 for motorcyclists as there is a time lapse between when money is spent on the most costly fuel and when they could receive rebates.
Yong further noted that many people continued to question why Malaysia as a net petroleum exporting nation till 2014 was experiencing a negative impact from a spike in global oil prices.
“The man on the street is puzzled as to why Petronas is making so much money while the ordinary folk are losing out,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile Jerlun MP Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir said being a net oil exporter, Malaysia should not have overly reacted to the artificially inflated global fuel price,.
Instead of restructuring the country’s subsidy package according to the volatile global market price, the authorities concerned should have formulated strategies to cushion the impact, he said.
He described the petrol price increase by 78 sen per litre and diesel by RM1 per litre as too drastic.
“The rakyat are already burdened by the rising cost of living. We cannot justify the increase by saying that our fuel price is still lower than Singapore.
“We cannot compare with Singapore, as their per capita income is three times higher than ours,” he said, adding that the people were not prepared for the additional burden.
He appealed to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to look into the possibility of imposing the fuel increase on a staggered basis.
“If Pak Lah is not up to it, please make way for someone who is willing to do it (impose measures that would ease the public burden),” he said.
Abdullah had not taken into consideration the feelings of the rakyat when he made such a drastic decision, which had a spiralling effect on consumer goods and food.
“Although we read in papers that the economy is thriving, men on the street are not feeling it. They also do not have the means to absorb the sudden increase in fuel price,” he said.
He called on the authorities to formulate workable solution to avert a crisis.
“We can look into unconventional methods to address the problem. For example, during the Asian financial crisis, Malaysia pegged the ringgit to shield currency onslaught.
“During that time, we were criticised for ignoring the principles of economy. But such unconventional measure proved to have worked in our favour,” he said.
Mukhriz also criticised an article that highlighted Singaporeans expressing relief that the Malaysian government would not imposed a ban on sales of fuel to foreign-registered vehicles at petrol stations located within 50km from the border.
“It sounds ironic, as if we are doing this for the Singaporeans, not for us (locals),” he said.
He said the implications were not only felt by rural folk but also by urban residents who would be faced with rising food prices, transportation cost and other costs.
“I’m quite taken aback by the prime minister’s statement in which he asked the people to adjust their lifestyle to the current situation.
“If you look in the interior areas like Jerlun, many people are living from hand-to-mouth. How are they to adjust to the fuel price hike?” he asked.
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim also spoke against the measure which he felt was burdening the people. He said with the increase in the fuel prices, electricity tariff would similarly go up and this would aggravate the situation further.
Ipoh Timur MP Lim Kit Siang said the annual cash rebate would not be able to fully cushion the low and middle income Malaysians from inflationary spiral.
He said equally of concern would be the deterioration of public safety index with expected worsening of the crime situation.
“The prime minister and all the cabinet ministers owe Malaysians a full and acceptable explanation why they could not fully involve the Malaysian public in the structuring of the fuel pricing system,” Lim added.
DAP Socialist Youth secretary and MP for Rasah Loke Siew Fook said the movement strongly opposed the price hike.
He said although the increase was expected, in some ways the drastic move by the government would definitely cause hardship to ordinary people.
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