I borrowed extra sugars from a saucy mGf Blogger. I hear the price of sugar has goneUP!
First the SERIOUS Jokes!:(courtesy of www.promptus.blogspot.com:)
(The "blank spaces" are where the pix were but I ain't no Leonardo Da Vinci! I remember I told you o'lady!:( Please visit the sailor boy at his abode to see the real mscoy,ship ahoy, o boy!)
Saturday, 7 June 2008
Saturday again!
Osama O' Laden's T Shirt!
A Quote:"I wouldn't be seen dead with a woman old enoughto be my wife" - Actor, Tony Curtis, at age 83.
A misunderstanding! (With a nautical flavour)
A man is in bed with his wife.The phone rings at 3am, the man answers andthen yells out: "Why don't you ring the bloody Met Office?"Wife asks:"Who was that?" The man replies:"Some silly sod asking if the coast was clear." The Irish Husband The woman was in bed with her lover and had just toldhim how stupid her Irish husband was when the door wasthrown open and there stood herhusband. He glared at her lover and bellowed, "What are you doing?" "There," said the wife, "didn't I tell you he was stupid?"
The Scotsman
Mark called in to see his friend Angus (a Scotsman) to find
he was stripping the wallpaper from the walls.
Rather obviously, he remarked;
"You're decorating, I see."
to which Angus replied;
"No. I'm moving house."
Relief
Jim was speeding along the road one fine day when the local policeman,
a friend of his, pulled him over.
"What's wrong, Eric?" Jim asked.
"Well didn't you know, Jim, that your wife fell out of the car about five miles back?" said Eric.
"Ah, praise God!" he replied with relief. "I thought I'd gone deaf!"
I'm God
Father McGee walked into the church and spotted a man sitting cross-legged on the altar.
"My son,' said the priest, "What are you doing? Who are you?"
"I'm God," said the stranger.
"Pardon?"
"I'm God," he repeated. "This is my house!"
Father McGee ran into the presbytery and, in total panic, rang the archbishop.
"Your reverence," said he, "I hate to trouble you, but there's a man sat on the altar who claims he's God. What'll we do?"
"Take no chances," said the archbishop. "Get back in the church and look busy!"
Sant Hilari, Sant Hilari, fill de puta qui no se l'acabi!
DESI: Sdr Stu R: Is the lust line somethin' Profane, Profound, or Seditious or Superstitions? -- I dunno Greek! U C? I no I-I-I to C:)
Yes, JOKERS from The Star Online: JOKERS!
Saturday June 7, 2008
MCA wants the people heard loud and clear
ALOR STAR: MCA elected representatives have been told to be vocal when delivering messages from the masses but in doing so they must not compromise the spirit of the Barisan Nasional.
Its 15 MPs have been asked to ensure the voices of the people, regardless of their race, should be heard loud and clear as the party takes new approaches to regain public confidence.
Kedah MCA chairman Datuk Chor Chee Heung said that this was among the strategies highlighted by the national MCA leaders to the 625 grassroots leaders from 252 branches in Kedah during a closed-door briefing yesterday.
“Leaders should be daring to voice out the various communities’ desires, in line with the aim to make Malaysia a progressive nation,” said Chor, who is also the Alor Star MP.
Warm greetings: Ong shaking hands with Kedah MCA grassroots leaders at Lye Huat Garden in Changlun, Kedah yesterday.
He said MCA would also be more “outspoken” when informing the public about its contributions. “The public was not aware of our leaders’ contributions as many of the good things were done behind closed doors. Now we will be more outspoken,” he said.
The closed-door briefing, held at Lye Huat Garden about 27km from here, lasted more than three hours.
Also present were MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting, deputy president Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy and vice-presidents Datuk Ong Tee Keat, Datuk Seri Dr Fong Chan Onn and Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai.
It was part of a nationwide roadshow by the national MCA leaders following the aftermath of the 12th general election. It kicked off in Penang on Thursday night.
The leaders also had similar briefing in Kangar yesterday, which was the last stop for the northern region. The next venue is Ipoh.
Chor said the party also placed strong emphasis on team spirit to forge forward and that grassroots leaders had raised several questions during yesterday’s briefing.
Among these were the bad attitude of civil servants and distribution of Public Service Department scholarships.
“The emphasis is on making changes to keep up with time,'' said Chor.
And finally, from mGf's @www.dinmerican.wordpress.com, Desi stole this Laughing Post in the steal of the Subang Jaya night,by a Furongknight!:) NO JOKE!:(
Ahmad Mustapha: We, Malaysians, are a bunch of Jokers
June 6, 2008 – 2:41 am
Posted by Din Merican (June 6, 2008 )
Joke, Jokers and Joking!
by Ahmad Mustapha Hassan
Ahmad Mustapha Hassan Writes On The Lingam Tape and Says That You Can Joke With Some People Some Of The Time But You Cannot Joke With All The People All The Time.
Everything is a joke according to some Malaysians. They go through no entry signs and say that the sign is a joke. You ask how the Police Force is performing and the answer will be that the Police are a joke. And if you confront a ‘mat rempit’ and ask why he put up such a stupid act that endangers not only himself but also other innocent people Answer will again be that it is all a joke. ‘Saja Seronok’, meaning it is all done just for fun.
This culture only emerged a couple of decades back. Previously, it would be a sin and a crime to treat things as jokes. This was so when I was a child. Nobody dared to treat anything as a joke. Things were serious and proper.
I believe it is the frustration in facing the current malaise in the Badawi administration that resulted in the birth of this negative culture. The Government does not take things seriously and the Prime Minister is a big joke himself and so his Islam Hadhari.
The administration is more concerned with creating their own bunch of cronies and flatterers. The leadership enjoys having jokers around.
The leadership feels this can be an anecdote to their inability to forge a united Malaysian nation and also to cure all the social ills facing the nation. By creating divisions, they feel their presence will forever be needed. The jokers can provide entertainment to a frustrated the nation.
Another aspect is the lack of creativity in the leadership. And thus the leadership becomes too engaged in this pastime to compensate for their intellectual deficiency. Everyone is trying to entertain everyone else. Even our honorific awards are becoming one big national joke (watch June 7, 2008 national award ceremony on television).
We take the ‘UMNO’ general assembly as a case in point. Due to lack of positive brain power, the ‘kris’ was used as a symbol of manhood and courage. After this show of socalled belligerence, the stand up comic, Hishamuddin Tun Hussein Onn would then take over the proceedings of the assembly.E ach speaker would try to outdo the other in coming out with hilarious and so-called witty comments and flattering pantuns.The leadership was entertained and so were the other participants. Serious talkers would be out of place in such a gathering.
This assembly has become an annual comical affair. Poking fun has become a kind of national pastime. Everybody had a good laugh; everybody gave loud clapping and everybody roared with heartiest laughter while they spend their lunch time and evening doing big deals with hardpressed businessmen.
Once this culture emerged, it then took strong root especially with the UMNO Malays. And they did sometimes forget where they were. So they also tried to play jokes in Parliament. The leaking of the Parliament roof was equated with some crude remarks. Again the joking trait seemed to have no boundaries.
Parliament too had become a theatre for vulgar and dirty jokes. Recall the “bucor” remarks by that despicable Barisan Nasional Parliamentarian from Kinabatangan, Sabah. And the jokers were UMNO Malays and fortunately enough not from the opposition political parties. This culture was, however, peculiar to UMNO politicians as it was seldom found among the non-Malays. That is most telling.
The latter are more serious in the performance of their duties. They may be construed as being colourless. One should know where and when to be serious, not joke all the time. Things should not be lumped together all over the place and all the time. There is a time and a place for everything.
Jokes would be much appreciated in pubs and drinking bars. At these places politics and religion were taboo. These are places for relaxation and light conversation. These are places to let one’s hair down. And so jokes will be much appreciated. The jokers in Parliament should dispense their witty remarks at these watering holes.
Not being serious and joking most of the time only showed that some people were suffering from some kind inferiority complex. Not being able to come to par socially and economically even with affirmative action being lavishly accorded to them ,these UMNO politicians would try to overcome the sense of guilt by creating jokes; and these jokes were usually at the expense of those who have achieved economic success on their own steam.
So when the Government set up a Royal Commission to look into the Lingam tape episode, many took this Commission to be a joke. The main actor in the tape even told the Commission that the character in the tape “looks like him and sounds like him” instead of either confirming or denying that it was him. This is some kind of a sick joke.
Once this tempo was set by the main actor, others too followed. They simply treated the Commission as a joke. Vincent Tan, the tycoon in the corridors of power, also played to the tune of the principal actor. He thought he was being very clever in taking such a posture. Tunku/Teuku Adnan Mansor too played his role in concert with Vincent Tan and Lingam. When it came to the turn of Dr. Mahathir, he conveniently chose what to remember and what not to remember. I have this feeling, that all felt that they were taking part in some kind of comedy.
But now, the last laugh is with the Commission. The Commission members did not treat the whole thing as a joke. This was a serious affair. The credibility of the judiciary was at stake. They did what they had been entrusted to do. They came out with a report that caused the various actors in this episode to lose their appetite for jokes.
Malaysians must not treat every single thing as a joke in order to cover up their weakness or embarrassment. They should not feel that they were above the law and that they could treat all and sundry with laughable contempt.
This high and mighty attitude was due to their being close to the seat of power. But the occupant of that seat had already vacated the place in 2003, and he himself was also implicated in this incident. Vincent Tan was all smiles in appearing at the hearing of this Commission and thought himself to be very clever in acting the way he did.
‘You can joke with some people some time but you cannot joke with all the people all the time.’ Wealth and position did not merit the kind of attitude that should be shown to a Royal Commission set up to determine the authenticity of the Lingam tape.
Each and every one that was connected with the tape was duty bound to tell the truth to assist the Commission in coming to a truthful conclusion. That it did come out with its much awaited report was very commendable, especially in an a environment that was treating the whole exercise as a matter to be taken lightly.
Now the Commissioners knew that the whole affair was no laughing matter. But in Malaysia, there always emerges some wise character who would throw a damper on what the Commission wants done. The Deputy Prime Minister, Najib Razak opined that investigation may not mean prosecution!!
But there are agencies of the government that will look into the findings of the Commission, and why not just allow them to do the needful. The ball is in Badawi’s court, not in the hands of Gani Patail, the Attorney-General to commence investigation on the former Prime Minister, Vincent Tan, V K Lingam and the two former Lord Presidents, Eusoff Chin and Ahmad Fairuz.
DESIDERATA: The emphasis (thus BOLDED) is done by Desi. I thank the original writer Ahmad Mustapha Hassan, a former EIC of BERNAMAI believe (Desi stands/sits to be corrected:), and Sdr Din M whose "banter" I miss as he's now not so easily available to tehtari'!
Blame it all on the BEE GEES if you find Malaysians are truly a bunch of Jokers, or the late SA of IJOKof Port Klang, whose constituencies enjoyed greAter develoment when they said goodBUY underground than when they were clowing around on solid land!
I started a joke,
which started the whole world crying,
But I didn't see that the joke was on me, oh no.
I started to cry, which started the whole world laughing,
Oh, if I'd only seen that the joke was on me.
I looked at the skies, running my hands over my eyes,
And I fell out of bed, hurting my head from things that I'd said.
Til I finally died, which started the whole world living,
Oh, if I'd only seen that the joke was on me.
I looked at the skies, running my hands over my eyes,
And I fell out of bed, hurting my head from things that I'd said.
till I finally died, which started the whole world living,
Oh, if I'd only seen that the joke was one me.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Ah, Mukhriz Says Something SENsible!
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.
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.
Should Malaysians Jump With JOY?...OR
Should we Continue to Shed Tears?
The latter state of affairs is expected to continue if WE THE CITIZENS DON'T WAKE TO THE FACT WE HAVE BEEN FED LIE, AFTER LIE, AFTER LIE, like what mGf Blogger "A VOICE" said. To Be Led Down To the Slaughter House by the Barisan Nasional Leaders-cum-NinComPoops and their ar(SE)dent followers like "bigmac"?
Oil rises jump almost $7, closing in on record
By ADAM SCHRECK, AP Business Writer
About 15 minutes ago
(Msian time now 12.26AM Saturday)
NEW YORK - Oil prices shot up nearly $7 a barrel Friday, extending big gains from the previous day and racing toward an all-time high after a Morgan Stanley analyst predicted prices could hit $150 by the Fourth of July.
A further weakening of the dollar helped keep prices high by enticing overseas buyers armed with stronger currencies and other investors looking for a hedge against the greenback.
Light, sweet crude for July delivery jumped as much as $6.96 to $134.75 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, before easing slightly to trade at $134.40, up $6.61.
Prices pushed sharply higher Friday after Morgan Stanley analyst Ole Slorer said he expected strong demand in Asia could drive prices to $150 by Independence Day, when millions of Americans are expected to take to the roads. Shipments from the Middle East are mimicking patterns seen in the third quarter last year, when Morgan Stanley based its "oil price spike" predictions on falling supplies in the Atlantic, he said.
"We made the same call using the same parameters, but now we are starting from much lower inventory levels," Slorer said.
Friday's surge builds on a $5.49 gain Thursday, which was the biggest single-day price increase in the history of the Nymex crude contract. That spike came as the dollar fell after the European Central Bank suggesting it could raise interest rates.
"We had a rally of something like $12 in about 24 hours. It makes no fundamental sense," said Stephen Schork, an analyst and trader in Villanova, Pa. "With oil pushing back up to the mid-$130s, it's the make it or break it point. If we go past that, we set the course for uncharted waters and head up toward $150."
Meanwhile, U.S. gas prices at the pump continued to hover just shy of an average $4 a gallon, easing only 0.3 cent from Thursday's record.
Drivers are now paying an average of $3.99 for a gallon of regular gas nationwide, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service; in many parts of the country, consumers are already paying well over $4. Retail diesel slipped a penny overnight to $4.76.
Pump prices are bound to rise even further if oil sustains its advance. James Cordier, president of Tampa, Fla.-based trading firm Liberty Trading Group, predicted prices could rise to $4.25 as early as the end of the month.
"Unfortunately, drivers cutting back isn't going to lower the price of gasoline any time soon," he said.
The dramatic reversal in what had been a weakening oil market began Thursday after ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet suggested the bank could raise interest rates and the euro climbed against the dollar. When interest rates rise in Europe, or fall in the U.S., the dollar tends to weaken against the euro.
Many investors tend to buy commodities such as oil as a hedge against inflation when the dollar is falling. Also, a weaker dollar makes oil less expensive to investors dealing in other currencies. Analysts believe the dollar's protracted decline has been a major reason why oil prices have nearly doubled in the past year.
The euro strengthened further against the greenback Friday. A Labor Department report showing the U.S. unemployment rate jumped half a percentage point to 5.5 percent last month — its biggest monthly increase since 1986 — could drag the greenback even lower in the days ahead.
"Unemployment jumping as it did today will be in the market for a long time and will continue to pressure the U.S. dollar," Cordier said.
Growing tensions in the Middle East may also have helped prop up oil prices. Israel sent aircraft, tanks and ground troops into the Gaza Strip on Friday, and a Cabinet minister hoping to replace embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was quoted as saying Israel will attack Iran if it doesn't abandon its nuclear program.
In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose 21.54 cents to $3.8962 a gallon while gasoline prices rose 12.32 cents to $3.4577 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 24.8 cents to $12.767 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, July Brent crude shot up $5.65 to $133.19 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
UPDATEd at 2.18PM, Saturday, June 7, 2008, C&P from the Malaysian Insider:
Anwar says fuel price hike ‘unconscionable’
MANILA, June 7 — Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said his government's decision to sharply raise fuel prices was "unconscionable”.
In a move to end decades of heavy subsidies that have kept Malaysian fuel prices among Southeast Asia's lowest, the Malaysian government recently jacked up the pump price of gasoline by 41 per cent to RM2.70 (US$0.87) a litre, or RM10.23 (US$3.30) a gallon.
Diesel prices shot up 63 per cent to RM2.58 (US$0.80) per litre.
Speaking at a forum in Manila yesterday, Anwar noted that Malaysia is a net exporter of petroleum, which annually generates "huge resources and profit."
"To decide summarily, without regard to the plight of the vast majority, particularly the poor and the marginalised, to me, is unconscionable," he said.
In Kuala Lumpur, Domestic Trade Minister Shahrir Samad said yesterday that the government will not revise the price increases despite opposition protests, but gave an assurance that there would not be further hikes anytime soon.
Like some other Asian countries, Malaysia had faced a spiralling fuel subsidy bill that could have been more than RM56 billion (US$17 billion) this year due to rising world oil prices.
Anwar, a former deputy prime minister and finance minister who now leads an opposition coalition, said: "We cannot opt for any other thing except for market economy ... but this cannot be done without regard to the issues of good governance and accountability."
Anwar was fired by then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1998 in a power struggle. He was expelled from the ruling party and convicted of sodomy and corruption, charges he says were politically motivated.
He was released from prison in 2004 after the sodomy conviction was overturned, but the corruption conviction barred him from holding political office until April 15, 2008.
He was invited to Manila by former Philippine President Joseph Estrada, whom he considered a loyal friend and "part of my family."
Anwar and his wife Wan Azizah had dinner late yesterday at Estrada's suburban San Juan residence with former President Corazon Aquino.
Estrada was ousted amid massive anti-corruption protests in 2001 in what he says was a conspiracy of the elite, some military officers and Roman Catholic church leaders.
He was convicted of plunder last year and sentenced to life in prison but was pardoned a month later by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. — AP
DESIDERATA: I hope the ilks of "bigmac" raed the above and still believe Malaysians should NOT ask of Petronas WHERE THE NATIONAL OIL CORPORATION'S ANNUAL REVENUES AND PROFITS OF MULTI-BILLION RINGGIT GONE, then Desi tells these BUGGERS: "GO EAT SHIT AND DIE!", borrowing a phrase from one mGf-cum-saucyy mariner I often celebrate wit' at LINGAM'S CURRY HOUSE, the frf=requency of which VVE NOW MUST CUT DOWN.Looking at the bright side, IT"S GOoD FOR HEALTH!:)
The latter state of affairs is expected to continue if WE THE CITIZENS DON'T WAKE TO THE FACT WE HAVE BEEN FED LIE, AFTER LIE, AFTER LIE, like what mGf Blogger "A VOICE" said. To Be Led Down To the Slaughter House by the Barisan Nasional Leaders-cum-NinComPoops and their ar(SE)dent followers like "bigmac"?
Oil rises jump almost $7, closing in on record
By ADAM SCHRECK, AP Business Writer
About 15 minutes ago
(Msian time now 12.26AM Saturday)
NEW YORK - Oil prices shot up nearly $7 a barrel Friday, extending big gains from the previous day and racing toward an all-time high after a Morgan Stanley analyst predicted prices could hit $150 by the Fourth of July.
A further weakening of the dollar helped keep prices high by enticing overseas buyers armed with stronger currencies and other investors looking for a hedge against the greenback.
Light, sweet crude for July delivery jumped as much as $6.96 to $134.75 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, before easing slightly to trade at $134.40, up $6.61.
Prices pushed sharply higher Friday after Morgan Stanley analyst Ole Slorer said he expected strong demand in Asia could drive prices to $150 by Independence Day, when millions of Americans are expected to take to the roads. Shipments from the Middle East are mimicking patterns seen in the third quarter last year, when Morgan Stanley based its "oil price spike" predictions on falling supplies in the Atlantic, he said.
"We made the same call using the same parameters, but now we are starting from much lower inventory levels," Slorer said.
Friday's surge builds on a $5.49 gain Thursday, which was the biggest single-day price increase in the history of the Nymex crude contract. That spike came as the dollar fell after the European Central Bank suggesting it could raise interest rates.
"We had a rally of something like $12 in about 24 hours. It makes no fundamental sense," said Stephen Schork, an analyst and trader in Villanova, Pa. "With oil pushing back up to the mid-$130s, it's the make it or break it point. If we go past that, we set the course for uncharted waters and head up toward $150."
Meanwhile, U.S. gas prices at the pump continued to hover just shy of an average $4 a gallon, easing only 0.3 cent from Thursday's record.
Drivers are now paying an average of $3.99 for a gallon of regular gas nationwide, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service; in many parts of the country, consumers are already paying well over $4. Retail diesel slipped a penny overnight to $4.76.
Pump prices are bound to rise even further if oil sustains its advance. James Cordier, president of Tampa, Fla.-based trading firm Liberty Trading Group, predicted prices could rise to $4.25 as early as the end of the month.
"Unfortunately, drivers cutting back isn't going to lower the price of gasoline any time soon," he said.
The dramatic reversal in what had been a weakening oil market began Thursday after ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet suggested the bank could raise interest rates and the euro climbed against the dollar. When interest rates rise in Europe, or fall in the U.S., the dollar tends to weaken against the euro.
Many investors tend to buy commodities such as oil as a hedge against inflation when the dollar is falling. Also, a weaker dollar makes oil less expensive to investors dealing in other currencies. Analysts believe the dollar's protracted decline has been a major reason why oil prices have nearly doubled in the past year.
The euro strengthened further against the greenback Friday. A Labor Department report showing the U.S. unemployment rate jumped half a percentage point to 5.5 percent last month — its biggest monthly increase since 1986 — could drag the greenback even lower in the days ahead.
"Unemployment jumping as it did today will be in the market for a long time and will continue to pressure the U.S. dollar," Cordier said.
Growing tensions in the Middle East may also have helped prop up oil prices. Israel sent aircraft, tanks and ground troops into the Gaza Strip on Friday, and a Cabinet minister hoping to replace embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was quoted as saying Israel will attack Iran if it doesn't abandon its nuclear program.
In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose 21.54 cents to $3.8962 a gallon while gasoline prices rose 12.32 cents to $3.4577 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 24.8 cents to $12.767 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, July Brent crude shot up $5.65 to $133.19 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
UPDATEd at 2.18PM, Saturday, June 7, 2008, C&P from the Malaysian Insider:
Anwar says fuel price hike ‘unconscionable’
MANILA, June 7 — Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said his government's decision to sharply raise fuel prices was "unconscionable”.
In a move to end decades of heavy subsidies that have kept Malaysian fuel prices among Southeast Asia's lowest, the Malaysian government recently jacked up the pump price of gasoline by 41 per cent to RM2.70 (US$0.87) a litre, or RM10.23 (US$3.30) a gallon.
Diesel prices shot up 63 per cent to RM2.58 (US$0.80) per litre.
Speaking at a forum in Manila yesterday, Anwar noted that Malaysia is a net exporter of petroleum, which annually generates "huge resources and profit."
"To decide summarily, without regard to the plight of the vast majority, particularly the poor and the marginalised, to me, is unconscionable," he said.
In Kuala Lumpur, Domestic Trade Minister Shahrir Samad said yesterday that the government will not revise the price increases despite opposition protests, but gave an assurance that there would not be further hikes anytime soon.
Like some other Asian countries, Malaysia had faced a spiralling fuel subsidy bill that could have been more than RM56 billion (US$17 billion) this year due to rising world oil prices.
Anwar, a former deputy prime minister and finance minister who now leads an opposition coalition, said: "We cannot opt for any other thing except for market economy ... but this cannot be done without regard to the issues of good governance and accountability."
Anwar was fired by then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1998 in a power struggle. He was expelled from the ruling party and convicted of sodomy and corruption, charges he says were politically motivated.
He was released from prison in 2004 after the sodomy conviction was overturned, but the corruption conviction barred him from holding political office until April 15, 2008.
He was invited to Manila by former Philippine President Joseph Estrada, whom he considered a loyal friend and "part of my family."
Anwar and his wife Wan Azizah had dinner late yesterday at Estrada's suburban San Juan residence with former President Corazon Aquino.
Estrada was ousted amid massive anti-corruption protests in 2001 in what he says was a conspiracy of the elite, some military officers and Roman Catholic church leaders.
He was convicted of plunder last year and sentenced to life in prison but was pardoned a month later by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. — AP
DESIDERATA: I hope the ilks of "bigmac" raed the above and still believe Malaysians should NOT ask of Petronas WHERE THE NATIONAL OIL CORPORATION'S ANNUAL REVENUES AND PROFITS OF MULTI-BILLION RINGGIT GONE, then Desi tells these BUGGERS: "GO EAT SHIT AND DIE!", borrowing a phrase from one mGf-cum-saucyy mariner I often celebrate wit' at LINGAM'S CURRY HOUSE, the frf=requency of which VVE NOW MUST CUT DOWN.Looking at the bright side, IT"S GOoD FOR HEALTH!:)
Friday, June 06, 2008
A Sane "VOICE" on the Oil Price Hike
Nowadays I spend twice the time of my normal 1-2 hours pre-March 8, 2008 surfing the blogosphere - it's not just passion (which had led Desi to start his Blue Heaven on March 15, 2005), neither is it mere altruism motivated to serveDANpamper my ER, but the main driving force is doing work for an exciting project including a new Website started recently by Dr LIM TECK GHEE, aided much by a fellow Founder-Director Dr Azly Rahman plus a small teAm at a modest office housed at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall downcity Kuala Lumpur.
Go visit www.cpiasia.org
and the current FEATURED THEME is on OIL & GAS
which highlights the latest dominant issue occupying the Malaysian public consciousness,via Media, both mainstream and new, Blogs and commenters.
Among the blog posts the past 48 hours that I surveyed,I came across one written by mGf "A Voice" which summarises what to my mind, are the core elements surrounding this hot issue. Desiderata has in fact written several posts whenever PETRONAS -- the national oil corpoartion -- announced its financial rsults every year the past three years, and believe me, I to questioned WHY AREN'T THE PEOPLE, THE RAKYAT, BENEFITING DIRECTLY FROM THE MULTI_BILLION RINGGIT "NET PROFITS" THAT PETRONAS HAD BEEN REPORTING FOR THE PAST THREE FY (FINASNCIAL YEARS) OF 2005, 2006 and 2007?
My core aurgument is:
*** Malaysia is a net exporter of oil i.e. we in fact do import lower-grade oil fror domestic use, and export our higher grade oil;
*** Being of higher grade, the oil Malaysia exports commands a PREMIUM price over the price we pay for imported oil, hence every time the world oil price rises,
MALYASIA GAINS IN TERMS OF GREATER REVENUES;
*** The only trouble is that the GOVERNMENT IS ALWAYS HARPING ON RISING SUBSIDIES, BUT MY ARGUMENT (also Sdr SALAHUDDIN's I infer) IS THAT THE GOVERNMENT KEEPS "MUM"ON WHERE THE "EXTRA" REVENUES GAINED BY PETRONAS ARE GOING TO, assuming everything being equal from the preceding year... since I started tracking the FY reporting for past three years? I will C&P and insert the numbers later today, PATIENCE, eh? You can tighten your belt, can surely be Miss Patience's companion!:(
I am awaiting its FY results for FY ending March 31, 2008 which is due for announcement any time now. If my dear ER sight the announcement, please Cut&Paste to forward to chongyl2000@yahoo.com. I'll buy ye tehtari', NO KAMNING as PM and DPM ask us to "tighten our belts and adjust our lavish styles" and we are obedient servants in deed and word. Wonder these leaders are also leading by example? THINKING ALLOWED AND ALOUD. Steal! We miss Jeff Ooi, (who, BTW, is also a director at CPI...) don't we?
Now surf to www.cpiasia.orgafter a "long" detour:)
Oil Price Hike: It’s Not The Best of Effort, Pak Lah
Bloggers Buzz
Written by Blogger, "A Voice", NOT yet midnight, nyet!
Thursday, 05 June 2008 16:00
Thursday, June 05, 2008
The extract of June 4th, 2008 Reuters report, “Malaysia revamps energy price system, risks backlash” reads below:
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, June 4 (Reuters) - Malaysia announced on Wednesday a broad overhaul of its energy price system, sharply raising fuel and gas prices but taxing palm oil and power producers in a move that would drive inflation to a 10-year high.
The reforms would save the government 13.7 billion ringgit ($4.23 billion) but risk further stoking public anger against Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, already fighting for his political survival.
Petrol prices would rise 41% (78 sen higher) to 2.70 ringgit a litre and diesel 63 percent to 2.58 ringgit from Thursday, Abdullah said, in a reform that would eventually lift Asia's second-cheapest pump prices to market rates.
Power distributor Tenaga Nasional's tariffs would go up by as much 26 percent while the price of gas supplied by state oil firm Petronas to the power sector would be more than doubled, he said.
"We try our best," Abdullah told reporters in the country's administrative capital near Kuala Lumpur...
:
:
:
Abdullah doesn’t seem to understand many things, does he? It is not the best of effort.
And, he got the cheek to put up a 62nd UMNO Anniversary banner at PWTC that reads, "Kita Sentiasa Prihatin Kepada Rakyat" or something to that effect.
For one, Pak Lah lied.
Secondly, why can’t the people benefit as a net oil exporter? What so sinful about high expenditure? Can’t there be a creative way to not account as subsidy? Don't tell me we can't have cheap oil.
Third, the talk of removing subsidy for development needs does not jive. Who will benefit up-front from these economic corridors? Why must these developments be based on abnormal oil profit? Why must there be these economic corridors, in the first place?
Geez, such incompetence! Can we have a truly qualified Finance Ministers, not Economic Faculty reject and gambler of colossal losses? A Domestic Trade and Consumer Affair Minister that is merely a good talking burung tiung, but turn out to be a disaster when given responsibility.
This is just not about politics, the people need to have confidence in the ability of its leader to communicate, creatively handle problems and soften the blow to the people.
He Lied Again!
In the recent General Election, people can still remember the Prime Minister denied he is dissolving Parliament and actually dissolved it the next day.
Yesterday, the mainstream newspapers put up headlines that fuel prices would be up in August. Shahrir, in is usual twisted of talking, can the fine print in the report is consistent in saying it is fuel subsidy that would be totally withdrawn in August.
By midnight last night, oil prices were raised by a hefty 78 sen and when the words leaked in the evening, there was a mad rush for the petrol stations.
Basically, Pak Lah lied again! Shahrir lied!
People Still Can’t Get It
The fact that international oil prices have been on the rise has not gone unnoticed by the people. No one really believed Anwar’s General Election claim that he could reduce oil prices by 10 sen.
For the common people, it is illogical that we can’t continue to have cheap oil. Malaysia may have the one of the lowest in the region but comparing to the other oil producing nations, we have the highest! The comparative prices were circulating by SMS throughout the General Election campaign.
With subsidy about to be totally withdrawn, it is unthinkable for the common people for us to not benefit from cheaper oil and be paying international market price meant for oil importing nations!
The immediate issue that clings in the mind of many now is that Abdullah said and repeatedly said that we can’t afford a higher subsidy. It seems he claim, which reluctantly have to be taken in good faith, subsidy has taken up a third of expenditure.
Remember that he said the money is needed for development.
Malaysia is a net oil exporter and earns 250 million ringgit a year in revenue for every $1 rise in crude prices. Petronas is making extraordinary unexpected profits in the multibillions. Last year alone, was in the tune of RM70-80 billion, compared what it used to be RM10-20 billion.
Anwar’s argument that the Government can afford it makes sense to the common people.
How are we to dispute his simplistic logic that went well with the common people that the people are made to suffer for sake of development that only benefits the few?
Since oil revenue are extraordinary or out of the normal profit, Government can’t depend on it to be included in their development budget.
Pak Lah announced economic corridors in the billions, trillions and gazillions, knowing so well we do not have that kind of money.
With everything channeled to and through GLCs, which the normal businessmen aren’t accessible and only the Tingkat 4 linked project brokers are able to, how are the UMNO party people to defend against Anwar’s allegation?
A Matter of Accounting
Subsidy or no subsidy, it is a matter of accounting. We can retain cheap fuel for the consumers without having to resort to subsidy at all.
For one, retail oil prices are calculated based on international spot oil prices added the various cost and profit margin plus subsidy. As an oil producer, we could instead replace the international market price with cost of production plus profit margin.
With the technology today, there is no more the striking oil by sheer luck any more. Exploration cost can be controlled and technology has enable to reduce the probability of missing
In one trip to Dungun, this blogger was told that in the oil business, payback period does not wait for years, even six months is unusually long. That is the reason, time is the essence and cost is immaterial in the oil & gas supply support business.
The cost of oil is actually next to nothing, after all it is god given for Malaysia. We can have cheap oil. Thus, why is it sinful for the people to directly benefit from cheap oil prices?
Think about this, while the people are to suffer from expensive oil, the export driven industries and IPPs have been making billions from preferential fuel prices. The beneficiaries are the foreign shareholders of these PLCs, foreign providers of good and services, fat cat billionaire-shareholders, and GLC power brokers.
Is that fair and just, Accountant Amir-shame?
Alas, the government already pretty much decided that it will use global market rates for fuel in August.
Careless
The manner the oil hike is handled is very careless.
The political economic structure of this country is dependent on these subsidies to share the benefit of the bounty with the people. Inflation is kept and controlled at minimal to ensure rising prices do not cancel out the growth achieved
It a foregone conclusion that the hike in energy - fuel and electricity, and basic food prices – cooking oil, rice, sugar and flour, will have a devastating impact and at its worst a possible runaway inflation.
Inflation this year could be between 4% and 5%, the highest rate since 5.3 percent in 1998. Inflation last year was 2 percent. By the end of the year, interest rates will raise.
Shahrir had earlier said the fuel subsidy would cost the government as much as 56 billion ringgit this year based on current crude oil prices, or about a third of government expenditure in 2008.
Let’s not talk of the devastation of this new reform policy based free market approach, but just ponder with everything about meeting up to global benchmark and market, will we still have control on the direction of our economy?
If you could appreciate that the answer is no, beyond the cancelled crooked bridge, fall of Pulau Batu Puteh, WPI, strategic military manouvre, etc, this is another hegemonic policy of neo-colonialism.
And, it is masked beautifully under such jargons like free market, market determined, global competitiveness, efficiency, risk to return, quantifiable return on social policies, etc.
PS: Recently a participant to BUM2008 named Shankar had caughtUP wit' Desi to banter lots, and here are two comments seconding my call to my ER: DON'T LEAVE HoME!:):)
donplaypuks said...
As they say 'The revolution has come after it has happened.'
This massive 40% rise in pump prices is ill-conceived for a nation that produces oil and is still a net exporter. This will be THE reason for the demise of 50 years of misrule and maladministration by that party for Croneys and Elites.
It shows that billions have been wasted on floating mosques, monsoon cup runneth over, PKZ, unwanted tol roads, bridges & IPP's and extortionate charges, BN belly-dance junkets to Libya & cairo etc etc etc, that could have been saved to cushion our landing.
Watch S'pore. Are they panicking?
Can you believe the news in Wed's STAR (section 2) that d Cabinet approved FT's only BN MP (and presumably an entourage of about 50-100 BN & DBKL officials)to go on a taxpayers' junket to Germany & Canada to study how better to run a City?
Why, at 1/0000th the cost they can go to S'pore and see how one of the top 3-most effiecient Cities in the world manages its administration and integrated transport systems, and learn from them at first hand.
No, BN has to go. I am prepared to gamble with DSAI any time!!
donplaypuks said...
'Don't Leave Home, Without It?'
Roberto Calvi of Bank Ambrosiano, dubbed 'God's Banker' for his links to the Vatican, was mysteriously found hung from Blackfriars Bridge in London circa '80's. He had apparently once proposed to the Pope a Vatican sponsored Credit Card, whose tag-line would have been:
"Never Leave Rome Without It!"
With the price of petrol at RM2.70 p/litre and rumoured to hit RM4 soon to finance all these dead-end corridors as proposed by Rip van Winkle who hasn't a clue where the money is coming from, now we cannot drive out of our home without our piece of plastic in our wallets. Gunny sacks of cash is impractical.
We will have to Mobil-ise our savings to Shell out big bucks to fill our tanks with Asso.
But of course its all free for our Wakil Rakyats from whose ivory towers everything appears hunky-dory!
UPDATEd for the sakes of BIGmac MORONS hydeing in their mothers' A**sholes who can't see the light, my parting gft of eye-opener from an OUTSIDE PARTY, hence OBJECTIVE...
DAILY EXPRESS NEWS from its Online Edition June 6, 2008:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Entire Federal Cabinet should step down: DAP
Kota Kinabalu: The entire Federal Cabinet should step down for failing to manage the nation's wealth and resources prudently, said DAP MP for Kota Kinabalu, Dr Hiew King Cheu.
"The latest abrupt announcement of fuel price increase by the Prime Minister again reflected the poor management of the nation's wealth and resources by the Barisan Nasional-led government. It is better for them (Federal Cabinet) to step down and let the Pakatan Rakyat take over," he said.
He noted that the Government had promised during the election that there will be no fuel price increase for this year.
"The people are going to suffer as prices of most goods and services are expected to go up," he said in a statement.
He also described the latest fuel price increase of 40pc for petrol and 60pc for diesel as unreasonable and unacceptable, since Malaysia is an oil-producing and exporting country.
By right Malaysia should be reaping a major profit from the export of crude oil, he said, adding the government "is not telling the people concerning the nation's crude oil sale".
He asked if it was true that our crude oil was being sold at a 'fixed price' without any fluctuation allowed in the selling price for a set number of years.
If true, it would be even more unfair to the people of Sabah since the State is also a major contributor for the nation's crude oil export.'
Dr Hiew also claimed the Government had over the years wasted billions of ringgit on mega projects, some of which have become "white elephants".
As for proposed rebate of RM625 for motorists in the country as a joke, he said:
"There are at least 10 million vehicles in Malaysia that are entitled to this fuel rebate. That means the government will have to pay out at least RM6 billion a year. Why not use this amount to subsidise our fuel?," he asked.
DESIDERATA:
Those points emphasised (BOLDED thus) are done by Desi.
I second all the points expressed by Dr Hiew, and re-echo here his questions too, all fair and square asked on the Rakyat's behalf as he is a Yang Berhormat/Berkdidmat Opposition MP.
Go visit www.cpiasia.org
and the current FEATURED THEME is on OIL & GAS
which highlights the latest dominant issue occupying the Malaysian public consciousness,via Media, both mainstream and new, Blogs and commenters.
Among the blog posts the past 48 hours that I surveyed,I came across one written by mGf "A Voice" which summarises what to my mind, are the core elements surrounding this hot issue. Desiderata has in fact written several posts whenever PETRONAS -- the national oil corpoartion -- announced its financial rsults every year the past three years, and believe me, I to questioned WHY AREN'T THE PEOPLE, THE RAKYAT, BENEFITING DIRECTLY FROM THE MULTI_BILLION RINGGIT "NET PROFITS" THAT PETRONAS HAD BEEN REPORTING FOR THE PAST THREE FY (FINASNCIAL YEARS) OF 2005, 2006 and 2007?
My core aurgument is:
*** Malaysia is a net exporter of oil i.e. we in fact do import lower-grade oil fror domestic use, and export our higher grade oil;
*** Being of higher grade, the oil Malaysia exports commands a PREMIUM price over the price we pay for imported oil, hence every time the world oil price rises,
MALYASIA GAINS IN TERMS OF GREATER REVENUES;
*** The only trouble is that the GOVERNMENT IS ALWAYS HARPING ON RISING SUBSIDIES, BUT MY ARGUMENT (also Sdr SALAHUDDIN's I infer) IS THAT THE GOVERNMENT KEEPS "MUM"ON WHERE THE "EXTRA" REVENUES GAINED BY PETRONAS ARE GOING TO, assuming everything being equal from the preceding year... since I started tracking the FY reporting for past three years? I will C&P and insert the numbers later today, PATIENCE, eh? You can tighten your belt, can surely be Miss Patience's companion!:(
I am awaiting its FY results for FY ending March 31, 2008 which is due for announcement any time now. If my dear ER sight the announcement, please Cut&Paste to forward to chongyl2000@yahoo.com. I'll buy ye tehtari', NO KAMNING as PM and DPM ask us to "tighten our belts and adjust our lavish styles" and we are obedient servants in deed and word. Wonder these leaders are also leading by example? THINKING ALLOWED AND ALOUD. Steal! We miss Jeff Ooi, (who, BTW, is also a director at CPI...) don't we?
Now surf to www.cpiasia.orgafter a "long" detour:)
Oil Price Hike: It’s Not The Best of Effort, Pak Lah
Bloggers Buzz
Written by Blogger, "A Voice", NOT yet midnight, nyet!
Thursday, 05 June 2008 16:00
Thursday, June 05, 2008
The extract of June 4th, 2008 Reuters report, “Malaysia revamps energy price system, risks backlash” reads below:
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, June 4 (Reuters) - Malaysia announced on Wednesday a broad overhaul of its energy price system, sharply raising fuel and gas prices but taxing palm oil and power producers in a move that would drive inflation to a 10-year high.
The reforms would save the government 13.7 billion ringgit ($4.23 billion) but risk further stoking public anger against Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, already fighting for his political survival.
Petrol prices would rise 41% (78 sen higher) to 2.70 ringgit a litre and diesel 63 percent to 2.58 ringgit from Thursday, Abdullah said, in a reform that would eventually lift Asia's second-cheapest pump prices to market rates.
Power distributor Tenaga Nasional's tariffs would go up by as much 26 percent while the price of gas supplied by state oil firm Petronas to the power sector would be more than doubled, he said.
"We try our best," Abdullah told reporters in the country's administrative capital near Kuala Lumpur...
:
:
:
Abdullah doesn’t seem to understand many things, does he? It is not the best of effort.
And, he got the cheek to put up a 62nd UMNO Anniversary banner at PWTC that reads, "Kita Sentiasa Prihatin Kepada Rakyat" or something to that effect.
For one, Pak Lah lied.
Secondly, why can’t the people benefit as a net oil exporter? What so sinful about high expenditure? Can’t there be a creative way to not account as subsidy? Don't tell me we can't have cheap oil.
Third, the talk of removing subsidy for development needs does not jive. Who will benefit up-front from these economic corridors? Why must these developments be based on abnormal oil profit? Why must there be these economic corridors, in the first place?
Geez, such incompetence! Can we have a truly qualified Finance Ministers, not Economic Faculty reject and gambler of colossal losses? A Domestic Trade and Consumer Affair Minister that is merely a good talking burung tiung, but turn out to be a disaster when given responsibility.
This is just not about politics, the people need to have confidence in the ability of its leader to communicate, creatively handle problems and soften the blow to the people.
He Lied Again!
In the recent General Election, people can still remember the Prime Minister denied he is dissolving Parliament and actually dissolved it the next day.
Yesterday, the mainstream newspapers put up headlines that fuel prices would be up in August. Shahrir, in is usual twisted of talking, can the fine print in the report is consistent in saying it is fuel subsidy that would be totally withdrawn in August.
By midnight last night, oil prices were raised by a hefty 78 sen and when the words leaked in the evening, there was a mad rush for the petrol stations.
Basically, Pak Lah lied again! Shahrir lied!
People Still Can’t Get It
The fact that international oil prices have been on the rise has not gone unnoticed by the people. No one really believed Anwar’s General Election claim that he could reduce oil prices by 10 sen.
For the common people, it is illogical that we can’t continue to have cheap oil. Malaysia may have the one of the lowest in the region but comparing to the other oil producing nations, we have the highest! The comparative prices were circulating by SMS throughout the General Election campaign.
With subsidy about to be totally withdrawn, it is unthinkable for the common people for us to not benefit from cheaper oil and be paying international market price meant for oil importing nations!
The immediate issue that clings in the mind of many now is that Abdullah said and repeatedly said that we can’t afford a higher subsidy. It seems he claim, which reluctantly have to be taken in good faith, subsidy has taken up a third of expenditure.
Remember that he said the money is needed for development.
Malaysia is a net oil exporter and earns 250 million ringgit a year in revenue for every $1 rise in crude prices. Petronas is making extraordinary unexpected profits in the multibillions. Last year alone, was in the tune of RM70-80 billion, compared what it used to be RM10-20 billion.
Anwar’s argument that the Government can afford it makes sense to the common people.
How are we to dispute his simplistic logic that went well with the common people that the people are made to suffer for sake of development that only benefits the few?
Since oil revenue are extraordinary or out of the normal profit, Government can’t depend on it to be included in their development budget.
Pak Lah announced economic corridors in the billions, trillions and gazillions, knowing so well we do not have that kind of money.
With everything channeled to and through GLCs, which the normal businessmen aren’t accessible and only the Tingkat 4 linked project brokers are able to, how are the UMNO party people to defend against Anwar’s allegation?
A Matter of Accounting
Subsidy or no subsidy, it is a matter of accounting. We can retain cheap fuel for the consumers without having to resort to subsidy at all.
For one, retail oil prices are calculated based on international spot oil prices added the various cost and profit margin plus subsidy. As an oil producer, we could instead replace the international market price with cost of production plus profit margin.
With the technology today, there is no more the striking oil by sheer luck any more. Exploration cost can be controlled and technology has enable to reduce the probability of missing
In one trip to Dungun, this blogger was told that in the oil business, payback period does not wait for years, even six months is unusually long. That is the reason, time is the essence and cost is immaterial in the oil & gas supply support business.
The cost of oil is actually next to nothing, after all it is god given for Malaysia. We can have cheap oil. Thus, why is it sinful for the people to directly benefit from cheap oil prices?
Think about this, while the people are to suffer from expensive oil, the export driven industries and IPPs have been making billions from preferential fuel prices. The beneficiaries are the foreign shareholders of these PLCs, foreign providers of good and services, fat cat billionaire-shareholders, and GLC power brokers.
Is that fair and just, Accountant Amir-shame?
Alas, the government already pretty much decided that it will use global market rates for fuel in August.
Careless
The manner the oil hike is handled is very careless.
The political economic structure of this country is dependent on these subsidies to share the benefit of the bounty with the people. Inflation is kept and controlled at minimal to ensure rising prices do not cancel out the growth achieved
It a foregone conclusion that the hike in energy - fuel and electricity, and basic food prices – cooking oil, rice, sugar and flour, will have a devastating impact and at its worst a possible runaway inflation.
Inflation this year could be between 4% and 5%, the highest rate since 5.3 percent in 1998. Inflation last year was 2 percent. By the end of the year, interest rates will raise.
Shahrir had earlier said the fuel subsidy would cost the government as much as 56 billion ringgit this year based on current crude oil prices, or about a third of government expenditure in 2008.
Let’s not talk of the devastation of this new reform policy based free market approach, but just ponder with everything about meeting up to global benchmark and market, will we still have control on the direction of our economy?
If you could appreciate that the answer is no, beyond the cancelled crooked bridge, fall of Pulau Batu Puteh, WPI, strategic military manouvre, etc, this is another hegemonic policy of neo-colonialism.
And, it is masked beautifully under such jargons like free market, market determined, global competitiveness, efficiency, risk to return, quantifiable return on social policies, etc.
PS: Recently a participant to BUM2008 named Shankar had caughtUP wit' Desi to banter lots, and here are two comments seconding my call to my ER: DON'T LEAVE HoME!:):)
donplaypuks said...
As they say 'The revolution has come after it has happened.'
This massive 40% rise in pump prices is ill-conceived for a nation that produces oil and is still a net exporter. This will be THE reason for the demise of 50 years of misrule and maladministration by that party for Croneys and Elites.
It shows that billions have been wasted on floating mosques, monsoon cup runneth over, PKZ, unwanted tol roads, bridges & IPP's and extortionate charges, BN belly-dance junkets to Libya & cairo etc etc etc, that could have been saved to cushion our landing.
Watch S'pore. Are they panicking?
Can you believe the news in Wed's STAR (section 2) that d Cabinet approved FT's only BN MP (and presumably an entourage of about 50-100 BN & DBKL officials)to go on a taxpayers' junket to Germany & Canada to study how better to run a City?
Why, at 1/0000th the cost they can go to S'pore and see how one of the top 3-most effiecient Cities in the world manages its administration and integrated transport systems, and learn from them at first hand.
No, BN has to go. I am prepared to gamble with DSAI any time!!
donplaypuks said...
'Don't Leave Home, Without It?'
Roberto Calvi of Bank Ambrosiano, dubbed 'God's Banker' for his links to the Vatican, was mysteriously found hung from Blackfriars Bridge in London circa '80's. He had apparently once proposed to the Pope a Vatican sponsored Credit Card, whose tag-line would have been:
"Never Leave Rome Without It!"
With the price of petrol at RM2.70 p/litre and rumoured to hit RM4 soon to finance all these dead-end corridors as proposed by Rip van Winkle who hasn't a clue where the money is coming from, now we cannot drive out of our home without our piece of plastic in our wallets. Gunny sacks of cash is impractical.
We will have to Mobil-ise our savings to Shell out big bucks to fill our tanks with Asso.
But of course its all free for our Wakil Rakyats from whose ivory towers everything appears hunky-dory!
UPDATEd for the sakes of BIGmac MORONS hydeing in their mothers' A**sholes who can't see the light, my parting gft of eye-opener from an OUTSIDE PARTY, hence OBJECTIVE...
DAILY EXPRESS NEWS from its Online Edition June 6, 2008:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Entire Federal Cabinet should step down: DAP
Kota Kinabalu: The entire Federal Cabinet should step down for failing to manage the nation's wealth and resources prudently, said DAP MP for Kota Kinabalu, Dr Hiew King Cheu.
"The latest abrupt announcement of fuel price increase by the Prime Minister again reflected the poor management of the nation's wealth and resources by the Barisan Nasional-led government. It is better for them (Federal Cabinet) to step down and let the Pakatan Rakyat take over," he said.
He noted that the Government had promised during the election that there will be no fuel price increase for this year.
"The people are going to suffer as prices of most goods and services are expected to go up," he said in a statement.
He also described the latest fuel price increase of 40pc for petrol and 60pc for diesel as unreasonable and unacceptable, since Malaysia is an oil-producing and exporting country.
By right Malaysia should be reaping a major profit from the export of crude oil, he said, adding the government "is not telling the people concerning the nation's crude oil sale".
He asked if it was true that our crude oil was being sold at a 'fixed price' without any fluctuation allowed in the selling price for a set number of years.
If true, it would be even more unfair to the people of Sabah since the State is also a major contributor for the nation's crude oil export.'
Dr Hiew also claimed the Government had over the years wasted billions of ringgit on mega projects, some of which have become "white elephants".
As for proposed rebate of RM625 for motorists in the country as a joke, he said:
"There are at least 10 million vehicles in Malaysia that are entitled to this fuel rebate. That means the government will have to pay out at least RM6 billion a year. Why not use this amount to subsidise our fuel?," he asked.
DESIDERATA:
Those points emphasised (BOLDED thus) are done by Desi.
I second all the points expressed by Dr Hiew, and re-echo here his questions too, all fair and square asked on the Rakyat's behalf as he is a Yang Berhormat/Berkdidmat Opposition MP.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
No Case Against SC Officials, BUT...
WHAT ABOUT THE BIG GUNS WHO CONVENIENTLY RETIRED?
OR some bigor small nuts who quietly crept away from the Boards like someone in the steal of the night?
From theSUN, Thursday, 05 Jun 2008
WEB EDITION :: Local News
ACA: No case against SC officials
PETALING JAYA (June 5, 2008): The Anti-Corruption Agency has found no evidence to charge any Securities Commission official for criminal offence, arising from its investigations into two companies, Nasioncom and GP Ocean.
In a press statement in response to theSun report on June 3 headlined "ACA probes top SC official", the ACA headquarters said its director of investigations Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdull has denied telling theSun that the ACA is filing charges against SC officials.
"According to Datuk Mohd Shukri, theSun did contact him to ask whether there was an investigation into SC officials following a probe on the two companies.
He confirmed to the reporter that investigations showed no evidence of criminal offence committed by SC officials and that it only showed the involvement of one individual who was charged in court recently," the ACA said.
"He also asked for the reporter's cooperation if he should come across fresh evidence so that action can be taken."
The statement said the recent court case involved a businessman who was said to have received a bribe on behalf of the SC.
"We wish to stress that investigation into this case only started in 2007. No investigation was carried out on any SC official in 2006 as reported in theSun of June 2.”
The ACA advised the public against giving bribes to middlemen who use the name of specific government officials to get approvals or consideration from the department concerned.
The payment of such a bribe, even though not solicited by the official, is an offence under the Anti-Corruption Act 1997. Failure to report such a request is also an offence. The penalty is a RM10,000 fine or imprisonment of up to two years or both.
theSun wishes to state that although the ACA statement was issued on June 3, a copy was not sent to the newspaper’s office. Neither were we told to expect one.
The SC, in a statement sent on Wednesday to theSun following the publication of the ACA’s denial in another newspaper, welcomed the development.
SC chairman Datuk Zarinah Anwar said: “We will continue to work with the ACA to eliminate these abuses in the market place and we welcome the recent charge by the ACA against one such individual.”
She reminded capital market participants to deal directly with the SC.
“Unfortunately, there are unscrupulous individuals who claim that for a fee, they are able to influence the SC’s decision-making. The SC does not condone this kind of behaviour.”
DESIDERATA: I think the bl**dy asses have yet to conduct a proper investigation on GP OCEAN's former BIG GUN/S who conveniently left the scene. And one other HIGH PROFILE CASE -- do you people remember TRANSMILE.
My dear EsteemedReaders, badder informed ones, tell Desi-lah!
OR some bigor small nuts who quietly crept away from the Boards like someone in the steal of the night?
From theSUN, Thursday, 05 Jun 2008
WEB EDITION :: Local News
ACA: No case against SC officials
PETALING JAYA (June 5, 2008): The Anti-Corruption Agency has found no evidence to charge any Securities Commission official for criminal offence, arising from its investigations into two companies, Nasioncom and GP Ocean.
In a press statement in response to theSun report on June 3 headlined "ACA probes top SC official", the ACA headquarters said its director of investigations Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdull has denied telling theSun that the ACA is filing charges against SC officials.
"According to Datuk Mohd Shukri, theSun did contact him to ask whether there was an investigation into SC officials following a probe on the two companies.
He confirmed to the reporter that investigations showed no evidence of criminal offence committed by SC officials and that it only showed the involvement of one individual who was charged in court recently," the ACA said.
"He also asked for the reporter's cooperation if he should come across fresh evidence so that action can be taken."
The statement said the recent court case involved a businessman who was said to have received a bribe on behalf of the SC.
"We wish to stress that investigation into this case only started in 2007. No investigation was carried out on any SC official in 2006 as reported in theSun of June 2.”
The ACA advised the public against giving bribes to middlemen who use the name of specific government officials to get approvals or consideration from the department concerned.
The payment of such a bribe, even though not solicited by the official, is an offence under the Anti-Corruption Act 1997. Failure to report such a request is also an offence. The penalty is a RM10,000 fine or imprisonment of up to two years or both.
theSun wishes to state that although the ACA statement was issued on June 3, a copy was not sent to the newspaper’s office. Neither were we told to expect one.
The SC, in a statement sent on Wednesday to theSun following the publication of the ACA’s denial in another newspaper, welcomed the development.
SC chairman Datuk Zarinah Anwar said: “We will continue to work with the ACA to eliminate these abuses in the market place and we welcome the recent charge by the ACA against one such individual.”
She reminded capital market participants to deal directly with the SC.
“Unfortunately, there are unscrupulous individuals who claim that for a fee, they are able to influence the SC’s decision-making. The SC does not condone this kind of behaviour.”
DESIDERATA: I think the bl**dy asses have yet to conduct a proper investigation on GP OCEAN's former BIG GUN/S who conveniently left the scene. And one other HIGH PROFILE CASE -- do you people remember TRANSMILE.
My dear EsteemedReaders, badder informed ones, tell Desi-lah!
DON'T LEAVE HoME...!
Yes, that's DP's new *TAGLINE for the month of June, when the one-eyed open PM who set up a Special Committe to fight Inflation just a few months ago (and Desi asked WHY -- we are a model nation if for deacdes CPI is just at 2.0-3.0percent only what!:(, NOW HE LETS OUT THE BIGGEST INFLATIONARY/INCENDIARY BOMB!
* Wit' endless rounds of tehtariiiiiiiiak! APologies to the company that advises you to: DON'T LEAVE hOme WIT'OUT IT!
*********" SELAMAT DATANG TO THE CARING GOVERNMENT'S DOMAIN " ***********
From the Star Online:
Thursday June 5, 2008
Petrol price up by 78 sen - and will be reviewed monthly
PUTRAJAYA: The Government announced yesterday an increase in petrol and diesel prices, stating that it can no longer continue to subsidise fuel.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the new prices were still at a 30-sen per litre discount from market prices.
In other words, if the market price is RM3 per litre, Malaysians will be charged RM2.70 at the pump. He said the price would be adjusted monthly based on the global oil price.
Half empty or half full?: Azhan Sharom showing the difference of how much petrol one can buy with RM1 Wednesday and today at a petrol station in Kuala Terengganu.
“Malaysians still pay lower than the market prices as far as petrol is concerned,” he told a packed press conference when announcing the restructuring of the subsidy package.
Abdullah said that although the restructuring would result in consumers having to pay more, prices were still lower compared with Singapore and Thailand.
He said the Government would save RM13.7bil through the restructuring.
From the savings, he said RM4bil would go to the National Food Supply Guarantee Policy, RM1.5bil for subsidising cooking oil and RM400mil to subsidise rice imports to make the price uniform in peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.
The Government would also spend RM200mil on flour subsidy, RM100mil on bread subsidy and RM7.5bil was meant for contributions to the subsidies for petrol, diesel and gas.
On top of that, Abdullah said, the Government would have to fork out RM5bil to pay to owners of cars and motorcycles eligible for rebates introduced under the restructuring of subsidy package.
“Our effort is certainly not an attempt to be popular but we try our best to help the people. We cannot satisfy everyone,” he said.
Abdullah said demand for public transport would go up with the rise in fuel prices and the Government was currently addressing the need to improve services.
He reiterated that the public should make changes to their lifestyle, saying they must ensure there was no wastage in resources such as water, energy and food.
He said if certain adjustments were made, the public would not be “too badly affected by price increases”.
He said the hike in fuel prices would cause a projected increase in inflation of around 4% to 5%. It would also have an impact on the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth but was confident that it could be maintained at 5% this year.
Abdullah said the Cabinet committee on anti-inflation had to come up with a system to ease the public’s burden from higher fuel prices.
“What is important is that we want to ensure the restructuring will encompass a mechanism that will protect and benefit those in the lower and middle income group.
“We are truly committed in ensuring these groups will not be burdened by the increase in petrol and food prices,” he said.
Asked if the subsidy restructuring would result in Malaysians going to the streets to demonstrate their unhappiness, Abdullah was confident the people would not resort to that.
The Changes
Price increase
Petrol – RM0.78/litre
Diesel – RM1/litre
Electricity:
Commercial and industrial – 26%
Retailers and small restaurant operators – 18% (for first 200kWh per month)
Residential – new pricing structure for users above 200kWh per month
Prices effective today (per litre)
Petrol – RM2.70 (previously RM1.92)
Diesel – RM2.58 (previously RM1.58)
Rebates
> RM625 per year
For private vehicle with engine capacity of 2000cc and below, including private pickup trucks and jeeps with engine capacity of 2500cc and below.
> RM150 per year
For each private motorcycle with engine capacity of 250cc and below
> RM200 reduction on road tax
For private petrol and diesel vehicles with engine capacity above 2000cc
> RM50 reduction on road tax
For private motorcycles with engine capacity above 250cc
Streamlined diesel subsidy
(for approved transportation companies, vessel owners and fishermen)
> Diesel – RM1.43 per litre (previously RM1 per litre for fishermen and RM1.20 per litre for vessel owners)
> RM200 per month for every owner and employee of Malaysian-owned vessels registered with the Fisheries Department
> 10sen per kilo incentive for every kilogram of fish caught by registered vessels
> 10sen per litre for every litre of diesel used by river transportation operators according to approved quota
Gas subsidies restructure
(for Peninsular Malaysia)
> For power producers – from RM6.40 per mmBtu to RM14.31 per mmBtu
> For industrial users (consuming less than 2mmscfd) – from RM9.40 per mmBtu to RM24.54 per mmBtu
> For industrial users (consuming above 2mmscfd) – from RM11.32 per mmBtu to RM32.56 per mmBtu
Electricity tariff restructure
> Households using 200kWh and below every month will not be affected. This covers 59% of households in Peninsular Malaysia with a monthly bill under RM43.60.
> Commercial and industrial users face 26% increase. Small retail and business outlets consuming under 200kWh per month face 18% increase.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and
Natural Gas for Vehicle (NGV)
> No change. Prices remain at RM1.75 per kg (LPG) and RM0.635 per litre (NGV)
Oil palm windfall tax
> For Peninsular Malaysia 15% for every tonne of CPO exceeding RM2,000
> Sabah and Sarawak 7.5% for every tonne of CPO exceeding RM2,000 > Abolition of cess tax
Service tax threshold for restaurants and eateries
> Service tax now for restaurants with annual sales of RM3mil (previously RM500,000)
Differing views on price policies
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/National/2258809/Article/index_html
By The New Straits Times
June 5, 2008
MALACCA: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam has described the fuel price increase and subsidy scheme as appropriate policy to ensure that the subsidy goes to the needy, reports Jason Gerald.
"Although those who do not deserve the subsidy would have to pay more, the poor will still receive a cash rebate
"This will ease the burden of those in the lower-income group."
He urged the people to change their lifestyle, stressing that the fuel price increase was inevitable, given rising global prices.
Mohd Ali suggested that Malaysians use public transport or carpool.
"Now is the time for Malaysians to rally around and help the government overcome the global oil crisis.
"We have to acknowledge the fact that the prices of petrol and diesel in Malaysia are still the lowest in the region."
In Kota Baru, a Pas government spokesman said they were supporting the price increase and subsidy scheme as the poor would still be assisted.
In Ipoh, Brenda Lim and Veena Babulal report that state Local Government and Public Transport Committee chairman Nga Kor Ming has described the subsidy scheme a failure.
"It has failed to address the crux of the issue, as a major portion of fuel subsidies is enjoyed by independent power producers."
He called on the government to reveal the contracts signed with IPPs.
Ipoh City Watch president Chan Kok Sun said money saved from reducing fuel subsidies should be used to improve the public transport system and subsidise transportation companies.
Chan said Malaysians would use public transport if the system was efficient and dependable.
On the proposal for higher power tariffs, he said Tenaga Nasional Bhd's monopoly in the peninsula should be abolished.
In George Town, Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy criticised the cash-back system for motorcyclists and owners of small cars, Phuah Ken Lin and Adie Suri Zulkefli report.
He said the rich could abuse the system by buying smaller cars and using motorcycles.
He also questioned the rationale behind the imminent increase in electricity tariff.
Ramasamy said he was concerned that the power tariff increase would have a domino effect on prices of goods and services.
"I do not think that it is a wise move to raise the tariff now in view of rising food prices."
State Umno liaison committee deputy chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Rashid Abdullah said the people should accept the fact that the government had been subsidising fuel prices for a long time and could no longer do so.
"The government has listened to suggestions that those who can afford luxury or bigger vehicles must pay more at the pump."
On the electricity tariffs, Abdul Rashid said the government should not be made to absorb the escalating cost of producing electricity.
In Shah Alam, Neville Spykerman reports that Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim was concerned about the implementation of the subsidy scheme.
Khalid said although the cash-back system was good in theory, owners of small cars may not necessarily be driving them.
He, however, welcomed the move not to increase the price of LPG cooking gas or compressed natural gas.
In Kota Kinabalu, Consumer Association of Sabah and Labuan (CASH) president Datuk Patrick Sindu urged the people to make changes to their lifestyle.
Sindu, who is attending a food security conference in Rome, said rising prices of fuel, food and other items was a global problem and Malaysians could not be insulated forever, Jaswinder Kaur reports.
Sindu said the decision not to increase the price of cooking gas was probably to "pacify" the people.
Voluntary price watch group Rakan Pengguna Sabah (Sabah Consumer Friend) chairperson Datuk Amisah Yassin said she hoped traders would not raise prices of goods and services.
"We welcome any move taken by the government to assist the lower-income group but if traders take advantage of the situation, we are back to square one."
Amisah urged consumers and Rakan Pengguna members to write to the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry to complain about traders who charged unreasonable rates for goods and services.
DESIDERATA: As is wont of politicians and some newshounds, the ADVICE/TAGLINE above does not apply to the owner:( Do as I tellllll you,so many times! -- not what you see I do, I do. Ido!:(:(
I'm now leaving my hOme without thy permit or permission, you think I care? To Koala Lumpuh hear I cometh, to cari makan-makan dan jalan-jalan; hopefoolly the journey back this evening won't take another 4 DAMNED HOURS OF MY PRECIOUS, PRECOCIOUS dan PENDEK TiME! Se ya, bye me lunch at Jalan Pudu where you collect your winnings -- Magnum Plaza?
UPDATEd @9.23PM: I picked this one up from REUTERS:)
UPDATE 3-Malaysia revamps energy price system, risks backlash
Wed Jun 4, 2008 7:58pm IST
By Soo Ai Peng
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, June 4 (Reuters) - Malaysia announced on Wednesday a broad overhaul of its energy price system, sharply raising fuel and gas prices but taxing palm oil and power producers in a move that would drive inflation to a 10-year high.
The reforms would save the government 13.7 billion ringgit ($4.23 billion) but risk further stoking public anger against Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, already fighting for his political survival.
Petrol prices would rise 41 percent to 2.70 ringgit a litre and diesel 63 percent to 2.58 ringgit from Thursday, Abdullah said, in a reform that would eventually lift Asia's second-cheapest pump prices to market rates.
Power distributor Tenaga Nasional's (TENA.KL: Quote, Profile, Research) tariffs would go up by as much 26 percent while the price of gas supplied by state oil firm Petronas [PETR.UL] to the power sector would be more than doubled, he said.
"We try our best," Abdullah told reporters in the country's administrative capital near Kuala Lumpur.
"This is not an attempt to be popular, we cannot satisfy everybody, naturally people will not be happy."
The government has said it plans to start using global market rates for fuel in August to prevent subsidies from eating up a third of its budget.
Malaysia would save 4 billion ringgit on fuel subsidies and twice as much by raising the price of natural gas, Abdullah said.
That would lift inflation this year to between 4 percent and 5 percent, he added, making it the highest rate since 5.3 percent in 1998. Inflation last year was 2 percent.
"Malaysia started with one of the lowest inflation rates in the region, so maybe they can be a bit more patient, but I think by the end of the year, they'll probably have to raise interest rates," said economist David Cohen of Action Economics.
Annual inflation hit a 15-month high of 3.0 percent in April. Malaysia's key policy rate is one of the region's lowest.
Malaysia follows other countries such as Indonesia and India in lifting fuel prices, in a nod to the growing strain of record oil prices on state finances.
SUPPORT
The government would also impose a windfall tax on independent power producers and palm oil millers, which could affect plantation firms such as Sime Darby (SIME.KL: Quote, Profile, Research) and IOI Corp (IOIB.KL: Quote, Profile, Research).
To cushion the blow on a population accustomed to pump prices less than half those in neighbouring Singapore and significantly lower than in the United States, the government is planning cash handouts for motorcyclists and small car owners, Abdullah said.
Still, Tricia Yeoh, director of the Center for Public Policy Studies in Kuala Lumpur, said the increase in fuel prices could spark dissatisfaction among Malaysians.
"We may see protests similar to the ones that took place in March 2006, when petrol prices were last raised.
"The masses obviously would not be happy with this despite the fact that the government needed to do this," she said. "People do not see this being matched by a plan that will help them meet the growing cost of living."
Oil's rise to records above $130 a barrel has forced governments from Jakarta to New Delhi to risk public discontent and consider reforms to subsidies that are draining their coffers.
India raised fuel prices by 10 percent on Wednesday in the biggest increase this decade.
In Asia only Myanmar has slightly lower pump prices than Malaysia, although sales in Myanmar are rationed to two gallons per car a day.
Domestic Trade Minister Shahrir Samad said on Wednesday all fuel price controls would be scrapped by August. Based on the latest floating market prices in Singapore, the Asian oil trading hub, Malaysian prices would have to rise 69 percent to 86 U.S. cents a litre of petrol and 157 percent to $1.08 for diesel.
Malaysia is a net oil exporter and earns 250 million ringgit a year in revenue for every $1 rise in crude prices.
Shahrir had earlier said the fuel subsidy would cost the government as much as 56 billion ringgit this year based on current crude oil prices, or about a third of government expenditure in 2008.
DESIDERATA: I will come back to make comments -- InsyaAllah if my spirit and body are willing to work in unison! -- but meanwhile, chew on this and do some calculations whether Malaysians have been taken for another ride because the TRUTH lies in the Petronas true accounts!
"***
Malaysia is a net oil exporter and earns 250 million ringgit a year in revenue for every $1 rise in crude prices.
****"
* Wit' endless rounds of tehtariiiiiiiiak! APologies to the company that advises you to: DON'T LEAVE hOme WIT'OUT IT!
*********" SELAMAT DATANG TO THE CARING GOVERNMENT'S DOMAIN " ***********
From the Star Online:
Thursday June 5, 2008
Petrol price up by 78 sen - and will be reviewed monthly
PUTRAJAYA: The Government announced yesterday an increase in petrol and diesel prices, stating that it can no longer continue to subsidise fuel.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the new prices were still at a 30-sen per litre discount from market prices.
In other words, if the market price is RM3 per litre, Malaysians will be charged RM2.70 at the pump. He said the price would be adjusted monthly based on the global oil price.
Half empty or half full?: Azhan Sharom showing the difference of how much petrol one can buy with RM1 Wednesday and today at a petrol station in Kuala Terengganu.
“Malaysians still pay lower than the market prices as far as petrol is concerned,” he told a packed press conference when announcing the restructuring of the subsidy package.
Abdullah said that although the restructuring would result in consumers having to pay more, prices were still lower compared with Singapore and Thailand.
He said the Government would save RM13.7bil through the restructuring.
From the savings, he said RM4bil would go to the National Food Supply Guarantee Policy, RM1.5bil for subsidising cooking oil and RM400mil to subsidise rice imports to make the price uniform in peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.
The Government would also spend RM200mil on flour subsidy, RM100mil on bread subsidy and RM7.5bil was meant for contributions to the subsidies for petrol, diesel and gas.
On top of that, Abdullah said, the Government would have to fork out RM5bil to pay to owners of cars and motorcycles eligible for rebates introduced under the restructuring of subsidy package.
“Our effort is certainly not an attempt to be popular but we try our best to help the people. We cannot satisfy everyone,” he said.
Abdullah said demand for public transport would go up with the rise in fuel prices and the Government was currently addressing the need to improve services.
He reiterated that the public should make changes to their lifestyle, saying they must ensure there was no wastage in resources such as water, energy and food.
He said if certain adjustments were made, the public would not be “too badly affected by price increases”.
He said the hike in fuel prices would cause a projected increase in inflation of around 4% to 5%. It would also have an impact on the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth but was confident that it could be maintained at 5% this year.
Abdullah said the Cabinet committee on anti-inflation had to come up with a system to ease the public’s burden from higher fuel prices.
“What is important is that we want to ensure the restructuring will encompass a mechanism that will protect and benefit those in the lower and middle income group.
“We are truly committed in ensuring these groups will not be burdened by the increase in petrol and food prices,” he said.
Asked if the subsidy restructuring would result in Malaysians going to the streets to demonstrate their unhappiness, Abdullah was confident the people would not resort to that.
The Changes
Price increase
Petrol – RM0.78/litre
Diesel – RM1/litre
Electricity:
Commercial and industrial – 26%
Retailers and small restaurant operators – 18% (for first 200kWh per month)
Residential – new pricing structure for users above 200kWh per month
Prices effective today (per litre)
Petrol – RM2.70 (previously RM1.92)
Diesel – RM2.58 (previously RM1.58)
Rebates
> RM625 per year
For private vehicle with engine capacity of 2000cc and below, including private pickup trucks and jeeps with engine capacity of 2500cc and below.
> RM150 per year
For each private motorcycle with engine capacity of 250cc and below
> RM200 reduction on road tax
For private petrol and diesel vehicles with engine capacity above 2000cc
> RM50 reduction on road tax
For private motorcycles with engine capacity above 250cc
Streamlined diesel subsidy
(for approved transportation companies, vessel owners and fishermen)
> Diesel – RM1.43 per litre (previously RM1 per litre for fishermen and RM1.20 per litre for vessel owners)
> RM200 per month for every owner and employee of Malaysian-owned vessels registered with the Fisheries Department
> 10sen per kilo incentive for every kilogram of fish caught by registered vessels
> 10sen per litre for every litre of diesel used by river transportation operators according to approved quota
Gas subsidies restructure
(for Peninsular Malaysia)
> For power producers – from RM6.40 per mmBtu to RM14.31 per mmBtu
> For industrial users (consuming less than 2mmscfd) – from RM9.40 per mmBtu to RM24.54 per mmBtu
> For industrial users (consuming above 2mmscfd) – from RM11.32 per mmBtu to RM32.56 per mmBtu
Electricity tariff restructure
> Households using 200kWh and below every month will not be affected. This covers 59% of households in Peninsular Malaysia with a monthly bill under RM43.60.
> Commercial and industrial users face 26% increase. Small retail and business outlets consuming under 200kWh per month face 18% increase.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and
Natural Gas for Vehicle (NGV)
> No change. Prices remain at RM1.75 per kg (LPG) and RM0.635 per litre (NGV)
Oil palm windfall tax
> For Peninsular Malaysia 15% for every tonne of CPO exceeding RM2,000
> Sabah and Sarawak 7.5% for every tonne of CPO exceeding RM2,000 > Abolition of cess tax
Service tax threshold for restaurants and eateries
> Service tax now for restaurants with annual sales of RM3mil (previously RM500,000)
Differing views on price policies
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/National/2258809/Article/index_html
By The New Straits Times
June 5, 2008
MALACCA: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam has described the fuel price increase and subsidy scheme as appropriate policy to ensure that the subsidy goes to the needy, reports Jason Gerald.
"Although those who do not deserve the subsidy would have to pay more, the poor will still receive a cash rebate
"This will ease the burden of those in the lower-income group."
He urged the people to change their lifestyle, stressing that the fuel price increase was inevitable, given rising global prices.
Mohd Ali suggested that Malaysians use public transport or carpool.
"Now is the time for Malaysians to rally around and help the government overcome the global oil crisis.
"We have to acknowledge the fact that the prices of petrol and diesel in Malaysia are still the lowest in the region."
In Kota Baru, a Pas government spokesman said they were supporting the price increase and subsidy scheme as the poor would still be assisted.
In Ipoh, Brenda Lim and Veena Babulal report that state Local Government and Public Transport Committee chairman Nga Kor Ming has described the subsidy scheme a failure.
"It has failed to address the crux of the issue, as a major portion of fuel subsidies is enjoyed by independent power producers."
He called on the government to reveal the contracts signed with IPPs.
Ipoh City Watch president Chan Kok Sun said money saved from reducing fuel subsidies should be used to improve the public transport system and subsidise transportation companies.
Chan said Malaysians would use public transport if the system was efficient and dependable.
On the proposal for higher power tariffs, he said Tenaga Nasional Bhd's monopoly in the peninsula should be abolished.
In George Town, Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy criticised the cash-back system for motorcyclists and owners of small cars, Phuah Ken Lin and Adie Suri Zulkefli report.
He said the rich could abuse the system by buying smaller cars and using motorcycles.
He also questioned the rationale behind the imminent increase in electricity tariff.
Ramasamy said he was concerned that the power tariff increase would have a domino effect on prices of goods and services.
"I do not think that it is a wise move to raise the tariff now in view of rising food prices."
State Umno liaison committee deputy chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Rashid Abdullah said the people should accept the fact that the government had been subsidising fuel prices for a long time and could no longer do so.
"The government has listened to suggestions that those who can afford luxury or bigger vehicles must pay more at the pump."
On the electricity tariffs, Abdul Rashid said the government should not be made to absorb the escalating cost of producing electricity.
In Shah Alam, Neville Spykerman reports that Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim was concerned about the implementation of the subsidy scheme.
Khalid said although the cash-back system was good in theory, owners of small cars may not necessarily be driving them.
He, however, welcomed the move not to increase the price of LPG cooking gas or compressed natural gas.
In Kota Kinabalu, Consumer Association of Sabah and Labuan (CASH) president Datuk Patrick Sindu urged the people to make changes to their lifestyle.
Sindu, who is attending a food security conference in Rome, said rising prices of fuel, food and other items was a global problem and Malaysians could not be insulated forever, Jaswinder Kaur reports.
Sindu said the decision not to increase the price of cooking gas was probably to "pacify" the people.
Voluntary price watch group Rakan Pengguna Sabah (Sabah Consumer Friend) chairperson Datuk Amisah Yassin said she hoped traders would not raise prices of goods and services.
"We welcome any move taken by the government to assist the lower-income group but if traders take advantage of the situation, we are back to square one."
Amisah urged consumers and Rakan Pengguna members to write to the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry to complain about traders who charged unreasonable rates for goods and services.
DESIDERATA: As is wont of politicians and some newshounds, the ADVICE/TAGLINE above does not apply to the owner:( Do as I tellllll you,so many times! -- not what you see I do, I do. Ido!:(:(
I'm now leaving my hOme without thy permit or permission, you think I care? To Koala Lumpuh hear I cometh, to cari makan-makan dan jalan-jalan; hopefoolly the journey back this evening won't take another 4 DAMNED HOURS OF MY PRECIOUS, PRECOCIOUS dan PENDEK TiME! Se ya, bye me lunch at Jalan Pudu where you collect your winnings -- Magnum Plaza?
UPDATEd @9.23PM: I picked this one up from REUTERS:)
UPDATE 3-Malaysia revamps energy price system, risks backlash
Wed Jun 4, 2008 7:58pm IST
By Soo Ai Peng
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, June 4 (Reuters) - Malaysia announced on Wednesday a broad overhaul of its energy price system, sharply raising fuel and gas prices but taxing palm oil and power producers in a move that would drive inflation to a 10-year high.
The reforms would save the government 13.7 billion ringgit ($4.23 billion) but risk further stoking public anger against Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, already fighting for his political survival.
Petrol prices would rise 41 percent to 2.70 ringgit a litre and diesel 63 percent to 2.58 ringgit from Thursday, Abdullah said, in a reform that would eventually lift Asia's second-cheapest pump prices to market rates.
Power distributor Tenaga Nasional's (TENA.KL: Quote, Profile, Research) tariffs would go up by as much 26 percent while the price of gas supplied by state oil firm Petronas [PETR.UL] to the power sector would be more than doubled, he said.
"We try our best," Abdullah told reporters in the country's administrative capital near Kuala Lumpur.
"This is not an attempt to be popular, we cannot satisfy everybody, naturally people will not be happy."
The government has said it plans to start using global market rates for fuel in August to prevent subsidies from eating up a third of its budget.
Malaysia would save 4 billion ringgit on fuel subsidies and twice as much by raising the price of natural gas, Abdullah said.
That would lift inflation this year to between 4 percent and 5 percent, he added, making it the highest rate since 5.3 percent in 1998. Inflation last year was 2 percent.
"Malaysia started with one of the lowest inflation rates in the region, so maybe they can be a bit more patient, but I think by the end of the year, they'll probably have to raise interest rates," said economist David Cohen of Action Economics.
Annual inflation hit a 15-month high of 3.0 percent in April. Malaysia's key policy rate is one of the region's lowest.
Malaysia follows other countries such as Indonesia and India in lifting fuel prices, in a nod to the growing strain of record oil prices on state finances.
SUPPORT
The government would also impose a windfall tax on independent power producers and palm oil millers, which could affect plantation firms such as Sime Darby (SIME.KL: Quote, Profile, Research) and IOI Corp (IOIB.KL: Quote, Profile, Research).
To cushion the blow on a population accustomed to pump prices less than half those in neighbouring Singapore and significantly lower than in the United States, the government is planning cash handouts for motorcyclists and small car owners, Abdullah said.
Still, Tricia Yeoh, director of the Center for Public Policy Studies in Kuala Lumpur, said the increase in fuel prices could spark dissatisfaction among Malaysians.
"We may see protests similar to the ones that took place in March 2006, when petrol prices were last raised.
"The masses obviously would not be happy with this despite the fact that the government needed to do this," she said. "People do not see this being matched by a plan that will help them meet the growing cost of living."
Oil's rise to records above $130 a barrel has forced governments from Jakarta to New Delhi to risk public discontent and consider reforms to subsidies that are draining their coffers.
India raised fuel prices by 10 percent on Wednesday in the biggest increase this decade.
In Asia only Myanmar has slightly lower pump prices than Malaysia, although sales in Myanmar are rationed to two gallons per car a day.
Domestic Trade Minister Shahrir Samad said on Wednesday all fuel price controls would be scrapped by August. Based on the latest floating market prices in Singapore, the Asian oil trading hub, Malaysian prices would have to rise 69 percent to 86 U.S. cents a litre of petrol and 157 percent to $1.08 for diesel.
Malaysia is a net oil exporter and earns 250 million ringgit a year in revenue for every $1 rise in crude prices.
Shahrir had earlier said the fuel subsidy would cost the government as much as 56 billion ringgit this year based on current crude oil prices, or about a third of government expenditure in 2008.
DESIDERATA: I will come back to make comments -- InsyaAllah if my spirit and body are willing to work in unison! -- but meanwhile, chew on this and do some calculations whether Malaysians have been taken for another ride because the TRUTH lies in the Petronas true accounts!
"***
Malaysia is a net oil exporter and earns 250 million ringgit a year in revenue for every $1 rise in crude prices.
****"
Petrol pump price rises 40%...
Is Pak Lah attempting to commit "Hara Kiri" after a large section of the electorate gave him a "whipping" at the March 8 polls?
"Hari Kiri" is taking one's life, attributed to the citizens of Japan originally but being now emualted slowly by other nations showing some signs of nobility of Self. I deem Hara Kiri as an act not quite as despicable as "Suicide" in Asian societies; hence my description as "noble", but I am sure many among my readers would beg to disagree. Never mind -- One man's meat is another man's poson.
From 5.00pm, news via SMS had reached Desi's ears from two sources that the petrolpump price would rise substantially from Thursday June 5, 2008. As usual, I was expecting some"kiasu" Malaysians to queue up to save the "last tenner" for a finaltop-up. "Some" was a misjudgment, like many of us misjudged the peron of our Prime Minister who was generally termed "Mr Nice Guy" when he swept into truly elected office as PM in March 2005 General Elections.
I wrote a frined aftr I came back to Seremban from Kuala Lumpur using the old road via Cheras/Kajang/Mantin. The journey normally taking ONE hour plus a little took a dragging, hot and cursing FOUR hours.
"... I took the Cheras old road back to Seremban, starting at 6.15pm and only arrived 4 hours late because of 2-km long "jams" in the neighbourhood of ALL ptetrol stations once word spread from 5pm that the Govt wuld raise pump price from RM1.92 to RM2.70 per litre. Madness. I believe tomorrow many stations would report SUPPLIES WOULD BE NIL. I wonder if Pak Lah is trying to committing "hara kiri"!"
Four years later, the GRIM REALITY struck many Malaysians in more ways than one.
He ain't that nice anymore. His niceties did not extend beyong greetings and words of commitment well pronounced by hardly delivered on key promises to the Rakyat.
This is the latest bomb he pounded us ordinary folks with, after his deputy asked us to "tighten your belt" more than a year ago, and re-echoed by the Prime Minister himself just recently that the people have to adjust their life-style andlive within their means.
From The Star Online:
Wednesday June 4, 2008 MYT 9:49:43 PM
Petrol to cost RM2.70 from midnight (updated)
Drivers' reactions on petrol price hike
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Wednesday announced price hikes for petrol, diesel and electricity.
He said the new price for petrol is RM2.70 a litre, effective midnight tonight. The price goes up by 78sen from the current RM1.92, a hike of 40%.
Abdullah also announced that the price of diesel would be increased by RM1 from RM1.58 to RM2.58.
He also said that Tenaga Nasional Bhd would be raising electricity rates by 18% for homes and 26% for business users.
The announcements are part of the new fuel subsidy plan.
Abdullah also announced a RM625 annual cash rebate per vehicle, for owners of private vehicles with engine capacities of up to 2,000cc, as well as pickup trucks and jeeps with engine capacities of up to 2,500cc.
Owners of private motorcycles with engine capacities of up to 250cc will receive RM150.
Payment will be made via Money Order upon renewal of road tax, from July 1.
For owners of private vehicles with engine capacities exceeding 2000cc, road tax will be reduced by RM200.
Owners of private motorcycles with engine capacities above 250 cc will get RM50 reduction in road tax.
DESIDERATA: I posted this iitial report at about 1AM, tired and cursing; I will return after sound sleep (if I can!) to lend more thought, maybe some consideration to the numero uno trying HK, if you cae to listen.The "you" includes Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
DESIDERATA: AN UPDATE from a newbie Online newspaper carying a report date June 5, 2008 which is on a "similar" vein/vain as Desi's:)
Many may spurn Pak Lah's tough sell
http://malaysianinsider.com/mni/many-may-spurn-pak-lah-s-tough-sell.html
By The Malaysian Insider
June 5, 2008
KUALA LUMPUR, June 5 — Midway through yesterday’s press conference, just after Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had fleshed out the new subsidy regime for Malaysia, a journalist walked out of the room and uttered two words: political suicide.
His words are being repeated today in many places across the country. Many Malaysians cannot fathom why a prime minister who enjoys an approval rating of around 50 per cent (higher among Malays) and who is fighting for survival in Umno has increased the pump price for petrol by 78 sen per litre and RM1 per litre for diesel. Worse yet, economists warn that inflation could hit 6 per cent.
The last time the government increased the pump price by 30 cents in February 2006, the PM’s approval rating dropped 15 per cent.
So why is Abdullah committing political suicide? Probably because politics did not figure very much in Cabinet discussions on inflation and the way the subsidy scheme was structured. Those familiar with the discussions on Tuesday and during the four-hour Cabinet meeting yesterday said that there was unanimity among ministers that the time had come to pull the plug on the subsidy scheme which was benefiting everyone, regardless of their income levels.
The consensus was that the government could not sustain the subsidy bill which was in excess of RM50 billion. If nothing was done, it would drain funds needed for development projects and the mid-term review of the Ninth Malaysian Plan. The government also felt that it was time for Malaysia to have a more efficient economy, where businesses no longer relied on cheap fuel or electricity to be competitive.
Most of the RM13.7 billion which the government will save will be ploughed back as rebates and channelled to fund the food security policy.
Pushing the line the hardest were the economic ministers – Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop; Economic Planning Unit Minister Datuk Amirsham Aziz, Minister of International Trade and Industry Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad.
There were several options on the table. One called for the government to allow motorists to pay market rates at the pump. This was shot down because the ministers felt that the Malaysian economy would not be able to absorb such a shock to the system.
Another option called for smaller and more manageable increases in petrol prices, say 20 sen every few months. But the ministers felt that it made more sense in facing the wrath of Malaysians once rather than every few months. Finally, the Cabinet agreed that from today, petrol be sold at RM2.70 per litre and diesel at RM2.58 per litre. To ease the burden of those in the lower income group, owner of cars below 2,000cc will enjoy a cash payout of RM625.
Ibrahim Suffian of the Merdeka Center, a research and polling house, said that a straw poll just after the announcement showed that even government supporters were upset with the increase. Most of them are junior civil servants and they argued that the RM625 rebate would only help cushion the increase petrol price for three to four months.
Still, Ibrahim believed that the government had opted for the right strategy by announcing the increase at one go rather than incrementally. "You only face the anger once," he said, noting that Abdullah faced stinging attacks when his government increased the pump price by 20 sen in 2005 and 30 sen several months later.
On the flip side, Abdullah did not have to contend with a strong Opposition. Pakatan Rakyat are already organising protests and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim tapped the popular vein when he questioned why the government was imposing such a severe burden on the public when Petronas was making record profits.
The view from the man in the street is that Malaysians should continue enjoying low fuel prices as long as the national oil company is flush with cash.
"The only person who knows about Petronas financial position is the PM. People are being denied information and can’t feel any benefit from the national treasury," said Anwar.
The Edge Financial Daily in an editorial noted that public disaffection at the rising cost of living will need to be managed. Evidence of profligate spending on unnecessary projects will only increase the resentment on the ground against the country’s leadership.
"Indeed the astute political leader would seize this opportunity to correct mistakes of the past by reviewing prestige projects of questionable utility. Now is the time to embrace a new pragmatism in the economic management of the country...A failure to grasp the nettle at this juncture may cost a heavy political price," it said.
Abdullah’s supporters noted that before the general elections the PM spoke repeatedly about overhauling the subsidy system in the country. But they thought that he would put it on the backburner after four states fell to the Opposition and the Barisan Nasional lost its two-third majority in Parliament.
A government official told the Malaysian Insider: "He has done what he thinks is responsible and believes that the public will accept the reasons. Maybe his faith is touchingly misplaced."
"Hari Kiri" is taking one's life, attributed to the citizens of Japan originally but being now emualted slowly by other nations showing some signs of nobility of Self. I deem Hara Kiri as an act not quite as despicable as "Suicide" in Asian societies; hence my description as "noble", but I am sure many among my readers would beg to disagree. Never mind -- One man's meat is another man's poson.
From 5.00pm, news via SMS had reached Desi's ears from two sources that the petrolpump price would rise substantially from Thursday June 5, 2008. As usual, I was expecting some"kiasu" Malaysians to queue up to save the "last tenner" for a finaltop-up. "Some" was a misjudgment, like many of us misjudged the peron of our Prime Minister who was generally termed "Mr Nice Guy" when he swept into truly elected office as PM in March 2005 General Elections.
I wrote a frined aftr I came back to Seremban from Kuala Lumpur using the old road via Cheras/Kajang/Mantin. The journey normally taking ONE hour plus a little took a dragging, hot and cursing FOUR hours.
"... I took the Cheras old road back to Seremban, starting at 6.15pm and only arrived 4 hours late because of 2-km long "jams" in the neighbourhood of ALL ptetrol stations once word spread from 5pm that the Govt wuld raise pump price from RM1.92 to RM2.70 per litre. Madness. I believe tomorrow many stations would report SUPPLIES WOULD BE NIL. I wonder if Pak Lah is trying to committing "hara kiri"!"
Four years later, the GRIM REALITY struck many Malaysians in more ways than one.
He ain't that nice anymore. His niceties did not extend beyong greetings and words of commitment well pronounced by hardly delivered on key promises to the Rakyat.
This is the latest bomb he pounded us ordinary folks with, after his deputy asked us to "tighten your belt" more than a year ago, and re-echoed by the Prime Minister himself just recently that the people have to adjust their life-style andlive within their means.
From The Star Online:
Wednesday June 4, 2008 MYT 9:49:43 PM
Petrol to cost RM2.70 from midnight (updated)
Drivers' reactions on petrol price hike
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Wednesday announced price hikes for petrol, diesel and electricity.
He said the new price for petrol is RM2.70 a litre, effective midnight tonight. The price goes up by 78sen from the current RM1.92, a hike of 40%.
Abdullah also announced that the price of diesel would be increased by RM1 from RM1.58 to RM2.58.
He also said that Tenaga Nasional Bhd would be raising electricity rates by 18% for homes and 26% for business users.
The announcements are part of the new fuel subsidy plan.
Abdullah also announced a RM625 annual cash rebate per vehicle, for owners of private vehicles with engine capacities of up to 2,000cc, as well as pickup trucks and jeeps with engine capacities of up to 2,500cc.
Owners of private motorcycles with engine capacities of up to 250cc will receive RM150.
Payment will be made via Money Order upon renewal of road tax, from July 1.
For owners of private vehicles with engine capacities exceeding 2000cc, road tax will be reduced by RM200.
Owners of private motorcycles with engine capacities above 250 cc will get RM50 reduction in road tax.
DESIDERATA: I posted this iitial report at about 1AM, tired and cursing; I will return after sound sleep (if I can!) to lend more thought, maybe some consideration to the numero uno trying HK, if you cae to listen.The "you" includes Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
DESIDERATA: AN UPDATE from a newbie Online newspaper carying a report date June 5, 2008 which is on a "similar" vein/vain as Desi's:)
Many may spurn Pak Lah's tough sell
http://malaysianinsider.com/mni/many-may-spurn-pak-lah-s-tough-sell.html
By The Malaysian Insider
June 5, 2008
KUALA LUMPUR, June 5 — Midway through yesterday’s press conference, just after Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had fleshed out the new subsidy regime for Malaysia, a journalist walked out of the room and uttered two words: political suicide.
His words are being repeated today in many places across the country. Many Malaysians cannot fathom why a prime minister who enjoys an approval rating of around 50 per cent (higher among Malays) and who is fighting for survival in Umno has increased the pump price for petrol by 78 sen per litre and RM1 per litre for diesel. Worse yet, economists warn that inflation could hit 6 per cent.
The last time the government increased the pump price by 30 cents in February 2006, the PM’s approval rating dropped 15 per cent.
So why is Abdullah committing political suicide? Probably because politics did not figure very much in Cabinet discussions on inflation and the way the subsidy scheme was structured. Those familiar with the discussions on Tuesday and during the four-hour Cabinet meeting yesterday said that there was unanimity among ministers that the time had come to pull the plug on the subsidy scheme which was benefiting everyone, regardless of their income levels.
The consensus was that the government could not sustain the subsidy bill which was in excess of RM50 billion. If nothing was done, it would drain funds needed for development projects and the mid-term review of the Ninth Malaysian Plan. The government also felt that it was time for Malaysia to have a more efficient economy, where businesses no longer relied on cheap fuel or electricity to be competitive.
Most of the RM13.7 billion which the government will save will be ploughed back as rebates and channelled to fund the food security policy.
Pushing the line the hardest were the economic ministers – Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop; Economic Planning Unit Minister Datuk Amirsham Aziz, Minister of International Trade and Industry Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad.
There were several options on the table. One called for the government to allow motorists to pay market rates at the pump. This was shot down because the ministers felt that the Malaysian economy would not be able to absorb such a shock to the system.
Another option called for smaller and more manageable increases in petrol prices, say 20 sen every few months. But the ministers felt that it made more sense in facing the wrath of Malaysians once rather than every few months. Finally, the Cabinet agreed that from today, petrol be sold at RM2.70 per litre and diesel at RM2.58 per litre. To ease the burden of those in the lower income group, owner of cars below 2,000cc will enjoy a cash payout of RM625.
Ibrahim Suffian of the Merdeka Center, a research and polling house, said that a straw poll just after the announcement showed that even government supporters were upset with the increase. Most of them are junior civil servants and they argued that the RM625 rebate would only help cushion the increase petrol price for three to four months.
Still, Ibrahim believed that the government had opted for the right strategy by announcing the increase at one go rather than incrementally. "You only face the anger once," he said, noting that Abdullah faced stinging attacks when his government increased the pump price by 20 sen in 2005 and 30 sen several months later.
On the flip side, Abdullah did not have to contend with a strong Opposition. Pakatan Rakyat are already organising protests and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim tapped the popular vein when he questioned why the government was imposing such a severe burden on the public when Petronas was making record profits.
The view from the man in the street is that Malaysians should continue enjoying low fuel prices as long as the national oil company is flush with cash.
"The only person who knows about Petronas financial position is the PM. People are being denied information and can’t feel any benefit from the national treasury," said Anwar.
The Edge Financial Daily in an editorial noted that public disaffection at the rising cost of living will need to be managed. Evidence of profligate spending on unnecessary projects will only increase the resentment on the ground against the country’s leadership.
"Indeed the astute political leader would seize this opportunity to correct mistakes of the past by reviewing prestige projects of questionable utility. Now is the time to embrace a new pragmatism in the economic management of the country...A failure to grasp the nettle at this juncture may cost a heavy political price," it said.
Abdullah’s supporters noted that before the general elections the PM spoke repeatedly about overhauling the subsidy system in the country. But they thought that he would put it on the backburner after four states fell to the Opposition and the Barisan Nasional lost its two-third majority in Parliament.
A government official told the Malaysian Insider: "He has done what he thinks is responsible and believes that the public will accept the reasons. Maybe his faith is touchingly misplaced."
Monday, June 02, 2008
A Mindful Mariner Reminds Desi of...
WHAT IS RELIGION?
HERE ARE SOME OPINIONS:
Karl Heinrich Marx (1818 to 1883) was a 19th-century Prussian philosopher, political economist, sociologist, humanist, political theorist and revolutionary.
Karl Marx said: (emphasis added):
“Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering.
Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people…
The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness….
The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo….
Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers on the chain not in order that man shall continue to bear that chain without fantasy or consolation, but so that he shall throw off the chain and cull the living flower.”
The quote, above, could be perhaps interpreted as follows (emphasis added):
Religion is, indeed, the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again.
But man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. Man is the world of man-state, society.
This state and this society produce religion, which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted world.
Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d'honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation and justification.
It is the fantastic realization of the human essence since the human essence has not acquired any true reality.
The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion. Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering.
Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.
The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.
According to Marx, religion is an expression of material realities and economic injustice.
As a consequence of this, problems in religion are ultimately problems in society.
Religion is not the disease, but merely a symptom.
Religious beliefs and blind faith is used by dictators, oppressors, politicians, and many others, to make people feel better about the distress they experience due to being exploited, downtrodden and therefore uneducated, unhealthy and poor.
This is the true origin of his comment that religion is the “opium of the masses” — but as you will see if you study Karl Marx, his thoughts are much more complex than are commonly portrayed in the often quote phrase:
‘Religion is the opium of the people’
Some references:
Seven Theories of Religion. Daniel L. Pals.
Explaining Religion: Criticism and Theory from Bodin to Freud. J. Samuel Preus.
Karl Marx’s Interpretation of History. M.M. Bober.
Manifesto of the Communist Party. Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels.
The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers. Robert L. Heilbroner.
The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion. Peter L. Berger.
A History of God. Karen Armstrong.
Perspectives in the History of Religions. Jan de Vries.
Theories of Primitive Religion. E.E. Evans-Pritchard.
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM FRS (1872 to 1970), Welsh, philosopher, historian, logician, mathematician, advocate for social reform, and pacifist.
The well know thinker Bertrand Russell had lots to say about religion; here are a few quotes:
"My own view on religion is that of Lucretius.
I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race.
I cannot, however, deny that it has made some contributions to civilization. It helped in early days to fix the calendar, and it caused Egyptian priests to chronicle eclipses with such care that in time they became able to predict them. These two services I am prepared to acknowledge, but I do not know of any others."
(Bertrand Russell / Has Religion Made Useful Contributions to Civilization? / 1930)
"An atheist, like a Christian, holds that we can know whether or not there is a God.
The Christian holds that we can know there is a God; the atheist, that we can know there is not.
The Agnostic suspends judgment, saying that there are not sufficient grounds either for affirmation or for denial.
At the same time, an Agnostic may hold that the existence of God, though not impossible, is very improbable; he may even hold it so improbable that it is not worth considering in practice. In that case, he is not far removed from atheism."
(Bertrand Russell)
"And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence."
(Bertrand Russell)
*****I agree with both Karl Marx and Bertrand Russell, but to each his own; religions are many, and in my opinion they are all the same, they teach how to live ones life well, to be harmonious, to be peaceful, to honour and respect others, to do good, and avoid evilness and wickedness.*****
Alas history has shown that many, if not all wars and conflicts have religion at their roots, of course it is not religion per se which has caused confrontations, but the way man has used religion as a means to an end.
Perhaps Buddhism is the only religion which has, thus far, managed to have not been polluted by wicked men, and remains a bright beacon of hope for the future of humankind.
As for me, I am an open-minded freethinker.
Race, religion, ethnicity, sex, ability, wealth, status, caste, age, intellectuality, or any other artificial barriers do not interest me.
To me, a person’s actions and behaviour are the only indicators of his character and humanity.
I recall this Christian saying:
“Do unto others, as you would have others do unto you”
If each and everyone took heed and followed that simple credo; the world would be a far far better place than it is today.
Posted by mindful mariner at 23:08
DESIDERATA: Pay the writer a visit at promptus.blogspot.com -- he may serve Thee tehtari' from Furong2! He and I cometh from the Peyton Place of Malaysia where the best burung dwell, and the mails, and females, are s-WELL!:)
PS: All those blanks in between are pictures as can be peeped at at MM's place; I can't reproduce as I am no Da Vinci. I can sometimes do a Peanuts cartun when I am nutty/knotty, whatever!
HERE ARE SOME OPINIONS:
Karl Heinrich Marx (1818 to 1883) was a 19th-century Prussian philosopher, political economist, sociologist, humanist, political theorist and revolutionary.
Karl Marx said: (emphasis added):
“Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering.
Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people…
The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness….
The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo….
Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers on the chain not in order that man shall continue to bear that chain without fantasy or consolation, but so that he shall throw off the chain and cull the living flower.”
The quote, above, could be perhaps interpreted as follows (emphasis added):
Religion is, indeed, the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again.
But man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. Man is the world of man-state, society.
This state and this society produce religion, which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted world.
Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d'honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation and justification.
It is the fantastic realization of the human essence since the human essence has not acquired any true reality.
The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion. Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering.
Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.
The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.
According to Marx, religion is an expression of material realities and economic injustice.
As a consequence of this, problems in religion are ultimately problems in society.
Religion is not the disease, but merely a symptom.
Religious beliefs and blind faith is used by dictators, oppressors, politicians, and many others, to make people feel better about the distress they experience due to being exploited, downtrodden and therefore uneducated, unhealthy and poor.
This is the true origin of his comment that religion is the “opium of the masses” — but as you will see if you study Karl Marx, his thoughts are much more complex than are commonly portrayed in the often quote phrase:
‘Religion is the opium of the people’
Some references:
Seven Theories of Religion. Daniel L. Pals.
Explaining Religion: Criticism and Theory from Bodin to Freud. J. Samuel Preus.
Karl Marx’s Interpretation of History. M.M. Bober.
Manifesto of the Communist Party. Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels.
The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers. Robert L. Heilbroner.
The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion. Peter L. Berger.
A History of God. Karen Armstrong.
Perspectives in the History of Religions. Jan de Vries.
Theories of Primitive Religion. E.E. Evans-Pritchard.
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM FRS (1872 to 1970), Welsh, philosopher, historian, logician, mathematician, advocate for social reform, and pacifist.
The well know thinker Bertrand Russell had lots to say about religion; here are a few quotes:
"My own view on religion is that of Lucretius.
I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race.
I cannot, however, deny that it has made some contributions to civilization. It helped in early days to fix the calendar, and it caused Egyptian priests to chronicle eclipses with such care that in time they became able to predict them. These two services I am prepared to acknowledge, but I do not know of any others."
(Bertrand Russell / Has Religion Made Useful Contributions to Civilization? / 1930)
"An atheist, like a Christian, holds that we can know whether or not there is a God.
The Christian holds that we can know there is a God; the atheist, that we can know there is not.
The Agnostic suspends judgment, saying that there are not sufficient grounds either for affirmation or for denial.
At the same time, an Agnostic may hold that the existence of God, though not impossible, is very improbable; he may even hold it so improbable that it is not worth considering in practice. In that case, he is not far removed from atheism."
(Bertrand Russell)
"And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence."
(Bertrand Russell)
*****I agree with both Karl Marx and Bertrand Russell, but to each his own; religions are many, and in my opinion they are all the same, they teach how to live ones life well, to be harmonious, to be peaceful, to honour and respect others, to do good, and avoid evilness and wickedness.*****
Alas history has shown that many, if not all wars and conflicts have religion at their roots, of course it is not religion per se which has caused confrontations, but the way man has used religion as a means to an end.
Perhaps Buddhism is the only religion which has, thus far, managed to have not been polluted by wicked men, and remains a bright beacon of hope for the future of humankind.
As for me, I am an open-minded freethinker.
Race, religion, ethnicity, sex, ability, wealth, status, caste, age, intellectuality, or any other artificial barriers do not interest me.
To me, a person’s actions and behaviour are the only indicators of his character and humanity.
I recall this Christian saying:
“Do unto others, as you would have others do unto you”
If each and everyone took heed and followed that simple credo; the world would be a far far better place than it is today.
Posted by mindful mariner at 23:08
DESIDERATA: Pay the writer a visit at promptus.blogspot.com -- he may serve Thee tehtari' from Furong2! He and I cometh from the Peyton Place of Malaysia where the best burung dwell, and the mails, and females, are s-WELL!:)
PS: All those blanks in between are pictures as can be peeped at at MM's place; I can't reproduce as I am no Da Vinci. I can sometimes do a Peanuts cartun when I am nutty/knotty, whatever!
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Azly's Ode to Bloggers
desiderata.english revived occasionally.
WARNING: Some DDC resorted to, can't resist
'cos Desi is in the mood to tease and thunder, not cease and desist
If a newbie knoweth not what DDC's, go visit allofhelen.blogspot.com, insist
Gift on my behalf a cuplet of Pu-erh
Yes, you can represent Desi, dear
**************************************
Lately I have been interacting with A Malaysian resident abroad, Dr Azly Rahman, because of my work at the Centre for Policy Initiatives where Dr Azly also contributes artciles voraciously at www.cpiasia.org. "Voraciously" normally is used to describe a consumer taking in,like food from mamak stall after being rescued from one-week exile in the Zahara Desert, but Desi aSsual, knottily used this word in reverse just to teAse some newbies at My Blue Heaven, temporarily browned a li'l by Pu-erh tea. I don't no whether my Treasurer did receive any donations in cash or kind for my PR-ing the tea from KunMing, but I'm sure my philantrphy is AP by the citizens from China which indirectly had given my bloodline some flow, even if "tainted" by some banana colour. Why banana? Go aRsEk the host resident at allofhelen.blogspot.com, he/she's responsible for my speaking, and writHing in tongue, and chick! The "he or she" is used here because one CANKNOT assume the other party is mail or fe-mail just looking at the nama, like I hear "Niamah" is femail. The boys are more friendly, they yell "NM" followed by a Hi!:)
As one used to rambling aweways, and sometimes in line with training aSs a veteran journalist -- some folks expert-ed in archeology say I'm from Jurassic(K) Fark! -- I find it tremendously stimulating, and timely after March 8, 2008 to lend some media experience to what I deem a pretty exciting civil society initiative headed by Dr Lim Teck Ghee who created a sort of political buzz almost two years ago with a report (during his days at ASLI) on Bumiputra equities ownership under the NEP the details of which I won't reprise here because today's focus is on Azly's writes, not the NEP. (We will discuss the NEP in passing when I write on the New Economic Agenda.)
I have read Azly's pieces pre-CPI encounter, at malaysiakini.com and at RPK's Malaysia-Today. It's only recently I surfed to his personal Weblog -- http://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com/ -- and ths Sunday, I reprised his Ode for fellow Bloggers' entertainment becasue the Ode was meant for you. For readers here who have not got on board the BBandwagon, please buy a ticket frm Desi immediately. VVe negotiate the price at Lingam's and a newbie generous enough to part with 20million -- yeah, I trut among you maybe that rare billionaire at age 27! -- so that Desi can retire. Yes, set up a tryre shop and re-cycle those old worn-out tyres to help conserve the dwindling environment.
Didn't I tell you I am also a sometimes greenie besides being a socialist most times?
A greenie must also imply I am a re-cyclist, meaning I'm taking my physician's advice seriously as I restore my body shape befitting a teenager's. This long Introduction digressing into a Sunday's walk or cycle in the park -- Seremban Lake Gardens qualifies as one if someone removed the A&W! -- is to work my ER's appetite up for leisurely munch of an Ode, which is a sort of cake made of words -- not oat -- that are flowery -- not flour-y -- because I always have a soft spot for Odes. I too have composed some Odes in my time; maybe if I could recover one, I'd follow it as a PS, or PmyAss. After Azly's, spelt wirth a Zee, knot an Ass:)
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
An Ode to Bloggers
By Azly Rahman
Mar 19, 07 12:41pm
Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.
Denis Diderot, French Enlightenment thinker
There was non among the myriads of men that existed who would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness towards my enemies? No: from that moment I declared everlasting war against the species, and, more than all, against him who had formed me and sent me forth to this insupportable misery.
'Frankenstein' by Mary Shelley-Wollstonecraft
Sometime ago, after reading Plato's narration of a conversation between King Thamus and the inventor Theuth concerning the impact of new technologies on society, after reading media guru Neil Postman's work Technopoly, and after deep reflection on the idea of the Luddites (a movement that "raged against the machine" during the Industrial Revolution), I penned verses which I find suitable to honour Malaysian bloggers in their onward march towards creating a spectre that will haunt the state-owned print media.
Here it goes:
P H A E D R U S II The Last Judgement of Thamus
Circa A.D. 2020
Lines composed near the banks of Hudson River, New York city
Background notes: They say that there dwelt at Naucratis in Egypt one of the old gods of that country, to whom the bird they call Ibis was sacred, and the name of the god himself was Theuth. Among his inventions were number and calculation . . . and, above all, writing. . . . To [the king, Thamus] came Theuth and exhibited his inventions . . . when it came to writing, Theuth declared: "There is an accomplishment, my lord the kind, which will improve both the wisdom and the mentory of the Egyptians. I have discovered a sure receipt for memory and wisdom."
"Theuth, my paragon of inventors," replied the king, "the discoverer of an art is not the best judge of the good or harm which will accrue to those who practise it. . . . Those who acquire [writing] will cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful. . . . What you have discovered is a receipt for recollection, not for memory . . . ( Phaedrus, 95-96)
And it was in the year 2020
In a not-too-distant cybercity
As Socrates' narratives on cybertechnology
Laments King Thamus's concern for the fate of academies
And Theuth my inventor par excellence
What say you concerning educational excellence?
Of the methods and principles of teaching
Brought about by new technologies of communicating?
O' Thamus, Wise King of Cyberjaya
Indeed our children will undergo Karma
Of one imbued with Dharma
Which will bring us all to Moksha
Karma is Rebirth
Dharma is Devotion and Duty
And Moksha is art of being one with Creation
Of which educational practice will assume a new reality
This invention called blogging
Of which for many ages we have waited so patiently
Will transform the meaning of Reality
and Democracy as it marries Virtuality
More than what print media has guaranteed
O' wise King Thamus
We are witnessing the death of Papyrus
the demise of Gutenberg legacy
As we witness the birth of PERSONACRACY
A deeply personalized form of postmodern democracy
In the brilliance of anarchy
To be cultivated with the media of blogging
By way of this ideology called PERSONACRACY,
O' King
Our children, the true song of democracy they will sing
Of which the teacher will die a slow death
Like the first teacher Socrates
whose fate was a choice he once had
Our children will be Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu
The Creator, Destroyer, and the One who Renews
Our children will make history and create Knowledge
Destroy paradigms
and like Vishnu, preserve what is old and what is new
They will be Renaissance men and women
In their mind neural connections will be made, synapses will be woven
And the boundaries of the Real and the Imagined
we can no longer ascertain
In this onward march towards Virtuality
Classrooms will cease to exist nor too the concept of teaching
The sage of Russia Illich will be singing
In honor of this day when education means deschooling
O' Thamus wise ruler of Cyberjaya
The days wherein authorities rule capital cities
Will be gone with the advent of my invention called blogging
Pedagogy will be replaced with METAPHYSICAL TRANSITION THEORIES
And Plato's academy will be history
Buried underneath the magnificence of blogging
Gone will be the idea of faculties
In their place will emerge knowledge patterned like fractal geometries
And Chaos will be the order of the day
And Complexity will be king of pedagogies
For the sage Mandelbrott did once spoke
Of the patterns inherent in knowledge and wisdom
O' Theuth my kingdom's most honored inventor,
What say you of the blogger's impact on the teacher?
One who holds the key to any civilization's treasure
And who guards the principles of a moral character?
Wise King Thamus,
this is my conjecture: My invention is Frankensteinish in nature
Aren't we already at the end of history?
Wherein the Knower and the Known has no longer a boundary?
This technology will destroy authorities
Including values we guard with jealousy
Slain like the dragon in Beowulf's story
Buried with Socrates and Dante Alighieri
A further elaboration concerning the death of authority:
O' King, I call this an Age of Subalternity
In which we will witness the dawn of PERSONACRACY
Of which with the help of blogging,
the child constructs his customized version of democracy
O' Theuth Master Inventor
Yours is a song of conjectures
For, can you as a creator
Be the judge of what good and bad blogging will bring into our future?
My greatest apologies Wisest of all Kings
Do you not remember that we are in the year 2020?
In which kingdoms have been crushed under the weight of technologies of virtual realities?
And you dear king - are you not already ancient history?
You and your kingdom destroyed by technologies of Virtuality?
Posted by DR. AZLY RAHMAN at 9:45 PM
Labels: media and cybernetics
*********************************************
After dawn, DESIDERATA pondered on the above piece, and it's timely to recall aweOFhelen's gift of honour to me named "DDC" alias Da Desi Code when she first encountered my write/ride/writHe, see I'm democratic even before my CON BF on Sunday! Normally Sunday sees me put on a CAPitalist front, and as you know -- although I know some of you don't! -- capitalists are seldom democrats... You know Y? They think they can use USD or SIN$ or even AUS$ to kau tim everybody, including the Queensland judge/s. You wanna details -- go ask an ex-MB of RPK's terrortry.
On thing I share in common with the host of MT, we have a GOoD-given SENse of humour and rumour, it's GOoD currency to take a dig/dick at thy enemy/friend/in-between. Especially when I don't have money rolling in via ADsenSE!
So todie, not in Ozland, I want to ask Helen a sensitive/SENsible Q which she can use to answer (not hear!) to raise some fun-D at her own Blog by exchanging wit' some ipoh white kopi dan past&PRESENTries:
Q: Can you grasp 30% of Azli's Ode, like what you initially shared about grasping for breath regarding Desi's writHes?
PS: I reprise here something I wrote when Pak Lah was still the Deputy PM. PM can mean post meridien which implies it's time to go to bed.
Also, I pamper thee todae as there's the Ode I promised ye, yeah! -- hope it's still readable from se7en feet underground. Y 7? Hey, my fave number, now go and buy 7777, 7BIG and 7small, and if you smoke Lucky Strike, buy Desi kambing at Lingam's. Throw in a VK-tion in the LOTR terrortry if thou art that damnedNlucky this wickedend:):):):):):):)
9.2 Toward a Civil Society
Our country aims to become a fully developed, First World nation by 2020 – in materialistic, economic terms, the objective implied by developed nation status can be well defined, as measured in gross domestic product terms and other economic such as per capita figures. But in the intangibles – the character, soul and spirit, and the mindset of the people, that’s where the difficulty lies! We are still far from having attained a mature, civil society. Recently, many quarters, including deputy premier Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, have lamented that while the country can boast of infrastructure that rival the best in First World countries like the US, Britain or Japan. the people’s mindset is still of the Third World. This is evidenced by the people’s general lack of civic consciousness, with daily media reports of common littering, unkempt public toilets and “uncivil” behaviour when motorists take to the highway. Hence, while the country focuses on physical development, the mental and spiritual life of the individual Malaysian must not be neglected. For Vision 2020 to be achieved in the “holistic” sense, then both physical and economic features, and the soul and character of the nation. must progress in unison and tandem. Poetry has a significant role to play in the “civilisation” process of Malaysians. May the day dawn quickly so that while we proudly trumpet the Petronas Twin Towers as the highest such structure in the world, the citizens can also stand tall in terms of their grace, culture and heritage, displaying first World civic behaviour and tastes.
Malaysians may do well to heed this wise observation from Thoughts on Virtue11 by one of history’s great thinkers, Charles Darwin (who propounded the ‘Theory of Evolution’ in his opus, “Origin of Species”):
If I had my life
to live over again,
I would have made a rule
to read some poetry
and listen to some music
at least once a week….
The loss of these tastes
is a loss of happiness,
and may possibly be injurious
to the intellect,
and more probably
to the moral character.
I conclude with Bell’s recall in his Introduction (p.7) to Desiderata that Ehrmann once told an interviewer: “At De Pauw I contracted a disease which I have never shaken off. The disease was idealism. Because of it, I did the thing in life I wanted to do – Writing.”
*******
Ah a rime before the Ode
Cheaper in two, you buy one, get wan free
Gift me a kiss, you ugly toAd
Thou might turn into a Puteri, for Desi
Once upon a crooked...
rime.
There once was a crooked man
He walked a crooked mile
He found a crooked sixpense
in a crooked stile
He returned to his crooked house
Greeted by his wife in a golden blouse
His wife excitedly told how A-men
She had met an ol' lamp salesman
Who traded her a new lamp for olde
She then rubbed on the nu'e lamp
And appeared a smilin' genie
Promise her a nu'e destiny
"I give thee one wish, ma'am,
But there is a price I claim."
She said Yes and asked that their house
be turned into a huge and sately mansion
So the olde man returned to a new abode
A palace in the place of the crooked lot
The price? Ah, not a surprise
He became the first crooked President
and she the first crooked Lady
Of the most developed precinct
The first Couple have attained vision 2020
Desi:
An AP for adaptation of a NURSEry Rime
I learnt in primary school
I hope it's no crime
That my memory is not so cool
I could not recall the rhyme in full
So I added in some shit and bull
*******
An Odd Ode to Da Wolfe
yes, you read desi rite
i've gone bonkers
like the rest of negaraku
right is left or wrong
the captain obeys the private
who is left to sing his song
the council man is given a royal hug
he didn't get an AP for his small house
he re-APpears with a smile so smug
wearing a lion's s:mile whence he enter'd as a mouse
the ruler orders Come
the commoner says Go
the lamb wears a coat so handsome
on being led to the slaughter so
mary bows her head to the wolf
here's my sacrifice
the Wolfe roars his APproval
opens his orifice
thus mary and her litle lamb
entrance the Big Mouth
who with his loot and boot and moot
is headed South
A PR in hand
And the prettiest lass in the land
NOTE: The above Ode was Composed before the stately State of Selangor fell into Mary's little hands on March 8, 2008 whence the Lambs finally overcame Da Wolfe.
WARNING: Some DDC resorted to, can't resist
'cos Desi is in the mood to tease and thunder, not cease and desist
If a newbie knoweth not what DDC's, go visit allofhelen.blogspot.com, insist
Gift on my behalf a cuplet of Pu-erh
Yes, you can represent Desi, dear
**************************************
Lately I have been interacting with A Malaysian resident abroad, Dr Azly Rahman, because of my work at the Centre for Policy Initiatives where Dr Azly also contributes artciles voraciously at www.cpiasia.org. "Voraciously" normally is used to describe a consumer taking in,like food from mamak stall after being rescued from one-week exile in the Zahara Desert, but Desi aSsual, knottily used this word in reverse just to teAse some newbies at My Blue Heaven, temporarily browned a li'l by Pu-erh tea. I don't no whether my Treasurer did receive any donations in cash or kind for my PR-ing the tea from KunMing, but I'm sure my philantrphy is AP by the citizens from China which indirectly had given my bloodline some flow, even if "tainted" by some banana colour. Why banana? Go aRsEk the host resident at allofhelen.blogspot.com, he/she's responsible for my speaking, and writHing in tongue, and chick! The "he or she" is used here because one CANKNOT assume the other party is mail or fe-mail just looking at the nama, like I hear "Niamah" is femail. The boys are more friendly, they yell "NM" followed by a Hi!:)
As one used to rambling aweways, and sometimes in line with training aSs a veteran journalist -- some folks expert-ed in archeology say I'm from Jurassic(K) Fark! -- I find it tremendously stimulating, and timely after March 8, 2008 to lend some media experience to what I deem a pretty exciting civil society initiative headed by Dr Lim Teck Ghee who created a sort of political buzz almost two years ago with a report (during his days at ASLI) on Bumiputra equities ownership under the NEP the details of which I won't reprise here because today's focus is on Azly's writes, not the NEP. (We will discuss the NEP in passing when I write on the New Economic Agenda.)
I have read Azly's pieces pre-CPI encounter, at malaysiakini.com and at RPK's Malaysia-Today. It's only recently I surfed to his personal Weblog -- http://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com/ -- and ths Sunday, I reprised his Ode for fellow Bloggers' entertainment becasue the Ode was meant for you. For readers here who have not got on board the BBandwagon, please buy a ticket frm Desi immediately. VVe negotiate the price at Lingam's and a newbie generous enough to part with 20million -- yeah, I trut among you maybe that rare billionaire at age 27! -- so that Desi can retire. Yes, set up a tryre shop and re-cycle those old worn-out tyres to help conserve the dwindling environment.
Didn't I tell you I am also a sometimes greenie besides being a socialist most times?
A greenie must also imply I am a re-cyclist, meaning I'm taking my physician's advice seriously as I restore my body shape befitting a teenager's. This long Introduction digressing into a Sunday's walk or cycle in the park -- Seremban Lake Gardens qualifies as one if someone removed the A&W! -- is to work my ER's appetite up for leisurely munch of an Ode, which is a sort of cake made of words -- not oat -- that are flowery -- not flour-y -- because I always have a soft spot for Odes. I too have composed some Odes in my time; maybe if I could recover one, I'd follow it as a PS, or PmyAss. After Azly's, spelt wirth a Zee, knot an Ass:)
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
An Ode to Bloggers
By Azly Rahman
Mar 19, 07 12:41pm
Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.
Denis Diderot, French Enlightenment thinker
There was non among the myriads of men that existed who would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness towards my enemies? No: from that moment I declared everlasting war against the species, and, more than all, against him who had formed me and sent me forth to this insupportable misery.
'Frankenstein' by Mary Shelley-Wollstonecraft
Sometime ago, after reading Plato's narration of a conversation between King Thamus and the inventor Theuth concerning the impact of new technologies on society, after reading media guru Neil Postman's work Technopoly, and after deep reflection on the idea of the Luddites (a movement that "raged against the machine" during the Industrial Revolution), I penned verses which I find suitable to honour Malaysian bloggers in their onward march towards creating a spectre that will haunt the state-owned print media.
Here it goes:
P H A E D R U S II The Last Judgement of Thamus
Circa A.D. 2020
Lines composed near the banks of Hudson River, New York city
Background notes: They say that there dwelt at Naucratis in Egypt one of the old gods of that country, to whom the bird they call Ibis was sacred, and the name of the god himself was Theuth. Among his inventions were number and calculation . . . and, above all, writing. . . . To [the king, Thamus] came Theuth and exhibited his inventions . . . when it came to writing, Theuth declared: "There is an accomplishment, my lord the kind, which will improve both the wisdom and the mentory of the Egyptians. I have discovered a sure receipt for memory and wisdom."
"Theuth, my paragon of inventors," replied the king, "the discoverer of an art is not the best judge of the good or harm which will accrue to those who practise it. . . . Those who acquire [writing] will cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful. . . . What you have discovered is a receipt for recollection, not for memory . . . ( Phaedrus, 95-96)
And it was in the year 2020
In a not-too-distant cybercity
As Socrates' narratives on cybertechnology
Laments King Thamus's concern for the fate of academies
And Theuth my inventor par excellence
What say you concerning educational excellence?
Of the methods and principles of teaching
Brought about by new technologies of communicating?
O' Thamus, Wise King of Cyberjaya
Indeed our children will undergo Karma
Of one imbued with Dharma
Which will bring us all to Moksha
Karma is Rebirth
Dharma is Devotion and Duty
And Moksha is art of being one with Creation
Of which educational practice will assume a new reality
This invention called blogging
Of which for many ages we have waited so patiently
Will transform the meaning of Reality
and Democracy as it marries Virtuality
More than what print media has guaranteed
O' wise King Thamus
We are witnessing the death of Papyrus
the demise of Gutenberg legacy
As we witness the birth of PERSONACRACY
A deeply personalized form of postmodern democracy
In the brilliance of anarchy
To be cultivated with the media of blogging
By way of this ideology called PERSONACRACY,
O' King
Our children, the true song of democracy they will sing
Of which the teacher will die a slow death
Like the first teacher Socrates
whose fate was a choice he once had
Our children will be Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu
The Creator, Destroyer, and the One who Renews
Our children will make history and create Knowledge
Destroy paradigms
and like Vishnu, preserve what is old and what is new
They will be Renaissance men and women
In their mind neural connections will be made, synapses will be woven
And the boundaries of the Real and the Imagined
we can no longer ascertain
In this onward march towards Virtuality
Classrooms will cease to exist nor too the concept of teaching
The sage of Russia Illich will be singing
In honor of this day when education means deschooling
O' Thamus wise ruler of Cyberjaya
The days wherein authorities rule capital cities
Will be gone with the advent of my invention called blogging
Pedagogy will be replaced with METAPHYSICAL TRANSITION THEORIES
And Plato's academy will be history
Buried underneath the magnificence of blogging
Gone will be the idea of faculties
In their place will emerge knowledge patterned like fractal geometries
And Chaos will be the order of the day
And Complexity will be king of pedagogies
For the sage Mandelbrott did once spoke
Of the patterns inherent in knowledge and wisdom
O' Theuth my kingdom's most honored inventor,
What say you of the blogger's impact on the teacher?
One who holds the key to any civilization's treasure
And who guards the principles of a moral character?
Wise King Thamus,
this is my conjecture: My invention is Frankensteinish in nature
Aren't we already at the end of history?
Wherein the Knower and the Known has no longer a boundary?
This technology will destroy authorities
Including values we guard with jealousy
Slain like the dragon in Beowulf's story
Buried with Socrates and Dante Alighieri
A further elaboration concerning the death of authority:
O' King, I call this an Age of Subalternity
In which we will witness the dawn of PERSONACRACY
Of which with the help of blogging,
the child constructs his customized version of democracy
O' Theuth Master Inventor
Yours is a song of conjectures
For, can you as a creator
Be the judge of what good and bad blogging will bring into our future?
My greatest apologies Wisest of all Kings
Do you not remember that we are in the year 2020?
In which kingdoms have been crushed under the weight of technologies of virtual realities?
And you dear king - are you not already ancient history?
You and your kingdom destroyed by technologies of Virtuality?
Posted by DR. AZLY RAHMAN at 9:45 PM
Labels: media and cybernetics
*********************************************
After dawn, DESIDERATA pondered on the above piece, and it's timely to recall aweOFhelen's gift of honour to me named "DDC" alias Da Desi Code when she first encountered my write/ride/writHe, see I'm democratic even before my CON BF on Sunday! Normally Sunday sees me put on a CAPitalist front, and as you know -- although I know some of you don't! -- capitalists are seldom democrats... You know Y? They think they can use USD or SIN$ or even AUS$ to kau tim everybody, including the Queensland judge/s. You wanna details -- go ask an ex-MB of RPK's terrortry.
On thing I share in common with the host of MT, we have a GOoD-given SENse of humour and rumour, it's GOoD currency to take a dig/dick at thy enemy/friend/in-between. Especially when I don't have money rolling in via ADsenSE!
So todie, not in Ozland, I want to ask Helen a sensitive/SENsible Q which she can use to answer (not hear!) to raise some fun-D at her own Blog by exchanging wit' some ipoh white kopi dan past&PRESENTries:
Q: Can you grasp 30% of Azli's Ode, like what you initially shared about grasping for breath regarding Desi's writHes?
PS: I reprise here something I wrote when Pak Lah was still the Deputy PM. PM can mean post meridien which implies it's time to go to bed.
Also, I pamper thee todae as there's the Ode I promised ye, yeah! -- hope it's still readable from se7en feet underground. Y 7? Hey, my fave number, now go and buy 7777, 7BIG and 7small, and if you smoke Lucky Strike, buy Desi kambing at Lingam's. Throw in a VK-tion in the LOTR terrortry if thou art that damnedNlucky this wickedend:):):):):):):)
9.2 Toward a Civil Society
Our country aims to become a fully developed, First World nation by 2020 – in materialistic, economic terms, the objective implied by developed nation status can be well defined, as measured in gross domestic product terms and other economic such as per capita figures. But in the intangibles – the character, soul and spirit, and the mindset of the people, that’s where the difficulty lies! We are still far from having attained a mature, civil society. Recently, many quarters, including deputy premier Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, have lamented that while the country can boast of infrastructure that rival the best in First World countries like the US, Britain or Japan. the people’s mindset is still of the Third World. This is evidenced by the people’s general lack of civic consciousness, with daily media reports of common littering, unkempt public toilets and “uncivil” behaviour when motorists take to the highway. Hence, while the country focuses on physical development, the mental and spiritual life of the individual Malaysian must not be neglected. For Vision 2020 to be achieved in the “holistic” sense, then both physical and economic features, and the soul and character of the nation. must progress in unison and tandem. Poetry has a significant role to play in the “civilisation” process of Malaysians. May the day dawn quickly so that while we proudly trumpet the Petronas Twin Towers as the highest such structure in the world, the citizens can also stand tall in terms of their grace, culture and heritage, displaying first World civic behaviour and tastes.
Malaysians may do well to heed this wise observation from Thoughts on Virtue11 by one of history’s great thinkers, Charles Darwin (who propounded the ‘Theory of Evolution’ in his opus, “Origin of Species”):
If I had my life
to live over again,
I would have made a rule
to read some poetry
and listen to some music
at least once a week….
The loss of these tastes
is a loss of happiness,
and may possibly be injurious
to the intellect,
and more probably
to the moral character.
I conclude with Bell’s recall in his Introduction (p.7) to Desiderata that Ehrmann once told an interviewer: “At De Pauw I contracted a disease which I have never shaken off. The disease was idealism. Because of it, I did the thing in life I wanted to do – Writing.”
*******
Ah a rime before the Ode
Cheaper in two, you buy one, get wan free
Gift me a kiss, you ugly toAd
Thou might turn into a Puteri, for Desi
Once upon a crooked...
rime.
There once was a crooked man
He walked a crooked mile
He found a crooked sixpense
in a crooked stile
He returned to his crooked house
Greeted by his wife in a golden blouse
His wife excitedly told how A-men
She had met an ol' lamp salesman
Who traded her a new lamp for olde
She then rubbed on the nu'e lamp
And appeared a smilin' genie
Promise her a nu'e destiny
"I give thee one wish, ma'am,
But there is a price I claim."
She said Yes and asked that their house
be turned into a huge and sately mansion
So the olde man returned to a new abode
A palace in the place of the crooked lot
The price? Ah, not a surprise
He became the first crooked President
and she the first crooked Lady
Of the most developed precinct
The first Couple have attained vision 2020
Desi:
An AP for adaptation of a NURSEry Rime
I learnt in primary school
I hope it's no crime
That my memory is not so cool
I could not recall the rhyme in full
So I added in some shit and bull
*******
An Odd Ode to Da Wolfe
yes, you read desi rite
i've gone bonkers
like the rest of negaraku
right is left or wrong
the captain obeys the private
who is left to sing his song
the council man is given a royal hug
he didn't get an AP for his small house
he re-APpears with a smile so smug
wearing a lion's s:mile whence he enter'd as a mouse
the ruler orders Come
the commoner says Go
the lamb wears a coat so handsome
on being led to the slaughter so
mary bows her head to the wolf
here's my sacrifice
the Wolfe roars his APproval
opens his orifice
thus mary and her litle lamb
entrance the Big Mouth
who with his loot and boot and moot
is headed South
A PR in hand
And the prettiest lass in the land
NOTE: The above Ode was Composed before the stately State of Selangor fell into Mary's little hands on March 8, 2008 whence the Lambs finally overcame Da Wolfe.
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