FUEL PRICE HIKE - As usual, we will go on a merry go round and back to square one and no one is any wiser

Lately every blogger is taking pot shot at our Malaysian government, mainly on the price hike in fuel and energy.
Do they know what is happening? The Malaysians are angry. We had been given ever changing figures that the government is doing its best to contain the inflation. Their inflation rate was 2% before and lately with the 40% hike in fuel, they said the inflation can only be felt at 4.5%.
We all knew how much we had to pay, to survive before and it cost more than 2% in inflation. It is not going to be 4.5% with this 40% hike in fuel.
At one time, they said the subsidy in fuel was at 45 billion and in a matter of days another leader said it was 75 billion. These people in government just hide behind their veil of secrecies. There is little wonder why every Ahmad, Arumugam and Ah Chong try to guesstimate if the government is taking us for a ride, at a time like this, to pile on the confusion and make more money for their cronies. As the saying goes, there is no opportunity without disaster.

When the price hike was announced, it said it would save the government 17 billion in subsidy and towards the end of the week it had gone up to 28 billion.
It seems even the people in government is having a guess. For all you know, even at USD150 per barrel of crude, no subsidy is needed at the old pump price. Apparently nobody knows exactly how much Petronas is making except the PM and a privileged few in the company. The government kept on saying it is inevitable not to raise the pump price because of the price of crude now.
It is so difficult to give us a breakdown and exactly how much it cost for the refined product. This lack of transparency and to certain extends in honesty, will keep the public guessing.
This is not the first time that the government wants to hide information from the public. There must be something sinister that cannot see the light of day, as had happen before.

When the government increased the price of fuel and electricity, they never consulted the public but rely on their bunch of half witted cronies.
When the serving public were to increase the prices, they stamped their feet and forbid them to do the same.
The reason being, these essential goods suppliers are still enjoying the subsidy and have no reason to do likewise.
What is not considered, there will be a general rise in the cost of living and these people may not be able to carry on with their trade any longer. Particular reference is taken to the public transport providers.

Everybody seems to agree that fuel hike is inevitable.
The price of crude is much higher than before, the difference has to come from somewhere.
The government think their present method is the best.
What we have now is uncertainty to every level of goods & services, and everyone at the moment is either trying to take advantage of it or to plainly survive.
No one knows the fair price level for every individual goods & services.

At a time like this, the government will create a bigger mess if they still allow monopoly in our economic system.
Like in the transportation sector, free competition should be allowed and the price will find its level very quickly, likewise for any other sectors where there is exclusive monopoly but again this may destroy the government effort to protect the underprivileged group.

Today, the government is again talking about giving further subsidy to certain group of services.
The government is working overtime with sacrifices and announcement will be made next week.
The more they are trying to repair the damage they had started the more loopholes they are going to create for unscrupulous people to take advantage.
Now it is onus to the government as how to stop it. As usual, we will go on a merry go round and back to square one and no one is any wiser.

A COMPETITIVE STICK UP?

The domino effect has started since the Malaysian government hiked the fuel price of around 40% on 5th June.

The lorry transportation association had announced an immediate increment on the transportation charge of at least 45%.

We can expect, the overall effect can be heavily felt in the coming months; with less money to spend, the whole internal economy in Malaysia may slow down drastically. An average working person in Malaysia has an income of around Rm2000 per month and with this increment, the government is removing at least Rm500 additional spending power from him, i.e. 25%.
Food and other essentials will also take its toll and we can anticipate a slowdown of more than 35%. Businesses that had cash flow problem will have to close down and individuals that have just enough to meet their credit commitment will default.
We can only hope that there is no financial fallout from this move by our government.

Malaysia is a net exporter of petroleum. No doubt, this product may not last forever, but given another 6 years or so, we still have the time to correct our strategy for our future requirement and stability.
We were jolted to the reality that our basic necessity investments were neglected.
There were a huge sector of our people trained with the wrong disciplines and capabilities; our industries had the wrongly emphasized.
In fact, what we can do, can be done in any 3rd world country but only maybe slightly better, there is nothing to shout about. The industries we have were non-competitive and will be the first in-line to be affected, should there be any adversity.

For what reason, that Malaysia cannot attract high calibre form of investment (FDI).
The people that had been in the government should know it by now. It takes more than 25 years to feel the effect now. We had the wrong set of policies then.
We had not emphasised on what malaysians and our climatic conditions allow us to do best, we copied developed country set of data, which was already in the stage of phasing out. The car industry itself was the biggest mistake of all.

We could have opted for hefty income tax increment to solve our problem.
There must be quite a bit of personal reasons as to why the government is not taking this approach.
The majority of industries are already not competitive enough? The government wants more billionaires in Malaysia? Or these rich people will just run off to another country? Or the government has to protect the cronies.

The world runs on meritocracy, protection, incentive and fair distribution of wealth, any effort to hinder this will affect the country and render it uncompetitive.
Malaysia will continue to suffer if the mindset of its lawmakers does not understand this.

Fuel Price - Malaysians are Cheap, Cheapest in the Region!

It had finally happened, earlier than expected. It seems that there is a controversy on the implementation date but at the end, it has to be immediate, meaning the PM is still on the driver seat. The way it is implemented may just unseat him as well, let us just wait and see.
At a time like this, after the hefty fuel price increment, whatever the PM said in consolation seemed so hollow, he can keep his sympathy. Whatever he did or advised, had so far nothing in line to raise the productivity and improve the income of the people, to meet this rising cost of living.
Nothing is changed, encourage the subsidy mentality, you can actually make a living with a few unserviceable junks(cars), as long as you have it registered and pay the road tax to claim the subsidy. It may just end up, people who are cars/junks collectors being subsidise to have this hobby. The subsidy encourages non-productive usage of vehicles.
Last night, TV7(local television station) made a survey on whether the law-makers, especially the cabinet ministers should walk-the-talk and change their life style. The response was 98% that the ministers should lead by example. The PM made excuses to the increment in fuel price (up to 40%) and that we should change our life style by adjusting to the inflation expected. This also includes using public transportation. Let us see if our ministers use public transportation and have their Nasi Lemak for breakfast at the 5-foot way or in a makeshift canteen under the tree.
The government only implement measures to collect more from the public and encourage unproductive usage of subsidy. For those who live and spend meticulously are left to further hardship and unprotected. Whatever you had saved for a rainy day is further eroded by at least 20% by a stroke of the PM’s pen and the PM is silent on how to address it. Maintaining the interest rate of 3.5% is ridiculous by bank Negara, unless it is out to help those who live beyond their means.
A working person would travel at least 50 km per day, meaning at least 3 litres of petrol and that will cost Rm2.34 extra per day (with price hike of 78 cents per litre), about Rm70 per month or Rm840 per year. It is a double whammy, not only with this extra cost in fuel, now the person has to face raising cost of living as well. The fuel price as it is, before the hefty increment is already a burden in comparison to the income of the ordinary worker. To say that our fuel prices are still the cheapest in comparison to our neighbour, is the worst load of rubbish that ever come out from our elite ministers and they kept on saying it, as if all Malaysians are idiots.
Our investment policy must be very wrong. Not only will our neighbours come in to fill up the petrol tanks but inefficient companies (FDIs) also come in to take advantage of our energy price. The subsidy to a large extend is enjoyed by the FDI companies. If these FDI companies are here just to provide employments and to use ‘slave’ labour but uncompetitive in world market, we can do without them, there is no need to polish the pride and say we attracted so much and so much of FDI every year. This, to a certain extend is confirmed by the government in saying that we still among the cheapest in the world in energy cost.

Kopivosian Tadau Do Kaamatan

Happy Harvest Festival

This is an event which falls on the 30th & 31st of May each year.
What had started as a religious ritual in the pagan time, involving God (Kinoingan), his sacrificed daughter (Huminodun) and thus the rice spirit (Bambazon), had turn into a cultural, secular festival.
The ritual, in essence gives thanks to god and appease with the rice spirit for another bountiful harvest the next season.
This deep culture is the soul of the native kadazan/dusun/murut group and sub-group of people of Sabah and through this they do find themselves.
In recent time, other traditional items such as food, sport and houses are showcased in this festival and organised by the Kadazan Dusun Cultural Association. The festival concludes with the selection of a beauty queen, symbolising Huminodun.

To The Native Group of Sabahans, Kopivosian Tadau Do Kaamatan.
May the force be with you.

KICK THE TOLL OPERATORS OUT

When it comes to concession road operation, I have always believed that we have the wrong people and companies operating them.
They operate unilaterally, oblivious to whatever consequences it may result.
They do not have the business acumen to run it in such a way that it is a win-win situation for everyone. It would be cheaper for the country to rid off this bad situation.

It costs us roughly 20 cents per kilometre, to run a small car like Kancil 850 and definitely more for higher capacity cars.
The cost is inclusive of petrol (major portion), tyres, oil and the scheduled maintenance.
It is indeed quite expensive to run a car, since the petrol price increased to RM1.92 per litre, not to mention the toll as well. I believe car owners are well aware of this.

The stand-off between Bandar Mahkota Cheras residents and Grand Saga is totally unnecessary, and I would blame it on the Grand Saga management for being so foolish or they think they can bully the residents, with the federal government on their side?
Grand Saga could not care less if you have to spend RM1.20 to get to their toll gate and waste unnecessary ‘heavily subsidised’ petrol, as long as they get their 90 cents.
According to the developer who built the access way to Cheras – Kajang highway, they had the approval from the authority for the access way then, but the concessionaire said it was an agreement that they were never a part of it.
The government must have realised then, it would create overall saving for the government and its people, but here, the concessionaire just could not care less. I can see it coming, they want compensation.
This toll system, intended for the country to have better road system, for the benefit of its people and economy, has turn out to be a burden and a waste of public funds under the wrong operators.

The present concession operators are here to screw the public funds.
They get compensation for not increasing up to the intended price, and at the same time, make sure that their highways are more expansive to use, than the longer but free, public road.
You cannot blame the public to think that the government work hand in hand with the concessionaires to siphon off the public funds.
So, we are swirled into having higher subsidised petrol, higher toll, higher compensation ..... in a deepening whirlpool.

Update (May, 31st 2008):
As reported, the access road from Bandar Mahkota Cheras to Cheras-Kajang highway will remain open, pending court decision.
Also reported, under concession agreement, the concessionaire could claim from the government up to RM9,000 daily.
Under simple calculation, there are 38,000 residents (as reported), up to 6 km to the operator’s toll gate, the operator had calculated there is roughly 1 car to every 4 residents and would spend 2 trips per day, i.e. Rm1.80 and at least half of these motorists will use the toll gate. This works out to be Rm8550. The operator conveniently ignored the fact that at least a third of these residents would pass through the toll gate anyway. How in the first place, can our government get themselves cornered into such position? Any dispute of this nature will be very welcomed by concessionaires, no wonder such news are always well covered by our mainstream media, the more disputes the merrier.

SABAH & MALAYSIA

What is the most effect way to get a recalcitrant to stay in line.
The art of this is practised in many ways. Some by offering incentives in the form of monetary gains, some by giving more power (of course, will also result in more money, a stupid repeat) and the best are those that can be ‘blackmailed’ to submission. None of the Malaysian politicians will ever admit they are subjected to such demeaning incentives or threats, all will insist that they work for the interest and harmony of the nation, very noble indeed!

As for Sabah politicians, the pattern is becoming clear, where you can distinguish the black sheep.
All the forays from politicians who initiated the determination to have illegal migrant issue in Sabah settled, turned pale when it came to real confrontation. It turned back to, tried and discarded plans, such as, select committee, another proper study on the situation, etc.
Perhaps the present guys think they can do a better job, they think the past selected people and the approach were ineffective. Or perhaps they just want another charade, hoping Sabahans ‘senang lupa’ and take the bait. This will at least buy them time to the next general election. Smart play.

It would be difficult to expect any favourable outcome from this present crop of Sabah parliamentarians, if they can be easily reign in by those in real power. They would not be given a chance to stand as candidates, if they are uncontrollable, given the fact that the federal government is never sincere in investigating this issue. One can also wonder will the Lingam case ever come before Royal Commission, if Dr. Mahathir had not been so provocative and determined to run down the PM.

While the state of Johor mauled the loss of Pulau Batu Puteh, due to their negligent effort to emphasise their sovereignty over it, over the past 60 years. This is only an outcrop of rocks and inhabitable by any standard and it takes only less than sixty years to be judged otherwise by ICJ.

With the incessant entry of illegal economic migrants, how long do you think it takes Sabah to become a foreign part of Malaysia.

CHERAS BARRIER

The barrier is again rebuilt to prevent the Cheras residence to access the Cheras-Kajang highway.
The reason is to prevent motorists from accessing to the highway without paying. Grand Saga is the the concessionaire to this highway.

For the past month, this barrier was consistently torn down by the residence there, but this time around, they met with a group, armed with sticks and are prepared for physical confrontation with the Cheras residence who dare to remove the barrier.

Though I do not fully understand the whole story and whether the concessionaire has the right to put up the barrier, but from the mainstream media reporting so far, something is very wrong.

If there is law and order in Malaysia, there is no need to resort to gangsterism. This group of gangsters, who threaten to beat up those who dare to remove the barrier, cannot be acting on their own. They must have been paid for ‘protection’.

Now, something is very wrong, if this kind of action is condone by the government. If not, then Grand Saga is not the right type of company for the government to deal with, for the interest of the Rakyat and do not talk about the mandate you had, and that the majority are with you!
Why is there such a need to have the gangsters around if we have our security force to maintain the law & order.

These gangsters should be rounded up and slapped with deterrents, we cannot allow such behaviour to perpetuate and there is no reason that these gangsters cannot be identified.

According to the mainstream media, a court order was obtained and that the concessionaire has the right to erect the barrier. It was later reported, that FRU arrived and used water cannon to disperse the crowd.

Common sense again, tells me something is very wrong here. You have this road from Cheras connecting to the Cheras-Kajang highway. How did this come about in the first place?
If the concessionaire is building a paid highway, why link it to a public road. The public road at this junction must have led to somewhere before or was part of the public road turned into a paid highway by the concessionaire by linking their portion to it? Why should the motorists pay, if they were using what was supposed to be the route they had enjoyed before, built by public funds.

We have too many dishonest businessmen around, proposing grand schemes for the interest of Malaysians and our government should not be part of it.