The scene at various petrol stations last night was one of chaos. Cars were in a queue rushing to fill up their petrol tanks, causing heavy traffic on roads leading up main petrol kiosks before midnight.
Malaysians took to twitter and social media to complain, albeit gently and sarcastically, about the move to cut the government subsidy per litre of petrol by 20 cents per litre.
One Twitter user MiorHafizLatif, thanked the government for the move which he said contributed to a “harmonious and peaceful society”.
Another user @dashxzyang posted: “thx god we have such a good government that raise the petrol price every year, while @FadhliHamim asked for petrol to be part of his wedding dowry in his tweet that said #hambarminyak “Dengan ini saya isytiharkan hantaran kahwin saya 3 botol ron95 dan satu botol ron97” [With this, I declare that my wedding dowry consists of three bottles of RON95 and a bottle of RON97].
While these posts prove that Malaysians are able to show some humour even with increasing petrol prices, it does reflect public numbness to the federal government constantly going against the needs of the rakyat even when petrol prices are at a low internationally.
Refusing to substantiate the decision with any specific plan for the rakyat, the government has come under fire from opposition leaders who say that there is no clear need to slash subsidies.
DAP Perak Economic Development Bureau Chief Chong Zhemin called it a betrayal to the people’s trust seeing that countries like India and United Kingdom just announced a price drop in view of the drop in international oil prices. India and UK announced a drop in petrol prices by RM 0.04 and RM 0.27.
“There is absolutely no reason for the Najib administration to increase the petrol price when countries around the world are reducing petrol prices,” he said.
There has also been speculation regarding imposing Goods and Services Tax (GST) on petrol. Chong Zhemin said that although the Deputy Finance Minister denied the any plans to impose GST on petrol, petrol in not in the GST exempt list.
“Hence, there is a huge chance that GST will be imposed on petrol.”
If the fears of GST on petrol are real, then petrol price would increase to RM 2.44 after 6 percent of the tax is added, severely burdening the automobile users.
A Perodua Viva Elite for instance, with a 36 litre fuel capacity would have to pay RM 7.20 more for a full tank of petrol after midnight last night; which is less than convenient for Viva Elite users nationwide. With the possible introduction of GST on petrol, Viva users would then be forced to fork out an additional RM 5.04 on top of the RM 7.20 for a full tank of petrol!
However, Kementerian Perdagangan Dalam Negeri, Koperasi dan Kepenggunaan KPDNKK when announcing subsidy cuts cited the problem of foreigners, and tourists also taking advantage of the petrol subsidies – intending to justify why the aforementioned Perodua Viva user should pay more.
“The move would result in savings that could be channeled to the development of education, medicine, public transportation and national safety [keselamatan negara],” KPDNKK said, adding that though subsidy rationalizations would impact the economy and the people, the government would continue to provide “assistance and incentives”to the public such as BRIM which will be announced in the 2015 Budget meeting.
Despite subsidy cuts, KPDNKK also estimated that it still needs to spend over RM 21 billion for RON 95 petrol, diesel, and liquid petroleum gas for the 2014.
Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching asks where the balance of RM 1.341 billion has disappeared to. From the allocated RM 22.341 billion as announced in the the 2014 budget, where has the remaining 1.341 billion gone to? she asked.
“When the Government was calculating the figure for petrol subsidy, we were subsidizing RON95 at RM0.71 per litre.”
“However, ample global oil supplies have weighed on crude oil prices in recent months, sending Brent, the global benchmark, to below USD100 a barrel for the first time in 16 months,” she said.
Also posing the same question to the government is Bukit Gasing rep Rajiv Rishyakaran, who urged Barisan Nasional to justify the need to reduce the subsidy.
“Where is the savings being channeled to?” he asked.
The hike he said, will hit hard the already struggling lower and middle class group. Based on the multiplier effect, every time there is a RON95 or diesel price increase, prices of everything else goes up in tandem.
“These prices, once up, never will come down,” Rajiv added.
Though the public has reacted sarcastically despite being in anger over the overwhelming burden brought by subsidy cuts, It is important to note that this is the result of the mandate given by the people of Malaysia in GE 13 to run the government as it always has since Merdeka in 1957.
There could be nothing left to do except to thank Najib’s premiership for it, just like PKR Strategy Director Rafizi Ramli did in his tweet last night:
“Harga minyak naik 20 sen malam malam ini ikut laporan. Kan dah kata. Terima kasih Najib Razak, mungkin sbb pendapatan purata RM5,900.” (Price of petrol increased by 20 sen tonight according to reports. I told you so. Thank you Najib Razak, maybe because the average income is RM5,900.)” -The Rocket
