Price of Petrol in Malaysia

The recent hike in the price of crude oil has made the Malaysians fear that there will be another increase in the retail price of petrol.

At present, the price per litre of petrol is RM1.92 and diesel is RM1.52. The Government is telling the people that the amount of subsidy is very huge, at the expense of not being able to finance many other projects / development.

The irony of it is that Malaysia has its own crude oil and gas fields. I do not have the statistics but I believe the local consumption of crude oil is well below the production.

So, why the expensive price of petrol? The Government explained that it is due to the high price of crude oil, at more than USD100 per barrel. Simple logic says that this argument does not hold water.

It is very simple. Is the Government telling the masses that the price of petrol in Malaysia must be sold at world market price just because the world price increased? It is absurd because we produce our own oil!

In Bahrain, the price of 1 litre of petrol is 100 fils (1000 fils is 1 Bahrain Dinar (BD) which is equal to RM8 as at early Jan / Feb 2008). Visit any of the GCC countries and you will find that the price of petrol is cheaper than water.

How about increasing the price of rubber products in Malaysia because the world market price of rubber increased? Or will the Government allow the producers of cooking oil made from local palm oil increase the price because the price of crude palm oil (CPO) increased?

Mind you, Malaysia is one of the biggest producer of natural rubber and oil palm in the world.

The point is that the price of petrol should be cheap in Malaysia. Is PETRONAS insisting that Malaysian people pay the market price for crude oil? If Malaysian cannot pay the market price, better to sell is somewhere else?

Maybe Malaysian must pay world market price because Petronas must make money! This is to finance the production cost and other related cost. Has anyone ever questioned Petronas on their cost efficiency? If they are efficient, maybe they can sell the crude oil cheaper to Malaysian and still make money! And the Government do not have to pay huge subsidy to make the price of petrol affordable to the masses.

Traffic Jam and toll

When one travels on a highway, it is expected that there will be no traffic jam unless some unexpected problem crops up such as accident or vehicle breakdown.

However when one travels on Lebuhraya(Highway) Damansara Puchong @LDP, one is expected to go through terrible traffic jam. To add salt to injury, the massive traffic jam is due to the users "rushing" to pay the toll! At the Sunway Toll booth, it starts immediately after you pay the toll during peak hours (morning and evening).

As far as I am concerned, this tolled "highway" is a farce. You pay for the jam and sometime in the future, the toll rate must be increased because it was allowed in the agreement.

I believe all my Malaysian road users do not mind paying the toll if it is for their convenience and no jam. But for people like me that lives in Puchong, you have no choice but to use this LDP because there is no alternative road apart for the LDP.

I hope those in power to understand the situation. Please use this "highway" during peak hours to appreciate the situation.

Keadaan politik semasa

Almost everyday for past few days, the newspaper reports on the calls by various parties to the Prime Minister to step down. A softer way saying it is to demand our PM to announce or outline the time of the handing over of the position to Deputy Prime Minister.

I can understand if the calls was made by those outside Barisan Nasional. But now even UMNO members are asking our Pak Lah to step down.

Assuming Pak Lah actually steps down today and hand over the reins to Datuk Najib, will it solve the problem? Will UMNO be strong overnight? Will the votes swing back to BN during next election in year 2012 or 2013?

I am not a politician, but I believe this calls are all knee jerk reactions. In Malay, it is called "melatah".

I think those in UMNO who are calling for Pak Lah to step down are all hypocrites. If today, the view is that there is rampant croynism and nepotism, why was this not pointed out during the last UMNO General Assemblies? Was it acceptable then?

Assuming that BN actually did well in the last election, will there be calls to Pak Lah to rectify the situation regarding the son in law?

As a matter of principle, regardless the result of the election, this issue of son in law should have been highlighted earlier.

I believe that Pak Lah did the right thing when he says that he will defend his post as the President. Let those who believe that Pak Lah should step down vote him out come this coming UMNO election. Also make sure his son in law do not win should he contest for any post. THAT IS THE CORRECT THING TO DO.

I personally believe that Pak Lah is carrying the burden or righting the wrongs left over from the previous PM. Only that Pak Lah gave too much "face" to Dr M. Because of that it was deemed that Pak Lah is weak.

I also believe that the results of the 2004 elections is a mirror image of the 2008 elections. The people was happy that the PM is no more Dr M. The only problem was that the "honeymoon" period was too long.

Hari ini dalam sejarah. Saya menjadi seorang blogger.