Since this blog is not just about weddings and entertainment, but also includes discussing issues pertinent to our daily life, I was called into action to write something about one of the most important issues that has gripped the nation for the past year due to increasing world oil prices. The truth is I am not into politics and prefer to stay outside of the hu-ha of MALAYSIA’s 2008 GENERAL ELECTION. But this is serious issue that could affect the future of our younger generations. I would like to see a better MALAYSIA regardless of who rules it. Be it BARISAN NASIONAL, PAS, PKR or DAP.

PAS, DAP & PARTI KEADILAN RAKYAT MANIFESTO’S

It has caused me to wonder why the focus of the manifestos of PAS, DAP and PKR are so much on reducing oil prices at the pump as reducing the cost of petrol and diesel to consumers only affect a small portion of the society. Just tell me how much of our low income earners actually spend on petrol or diesel? Take for example someone who rides a bike daily to work, how much do you think he spends on petrol every month? I would say the most could be less than RM100 a month. Now tell me how much does someone who drives a mercedez, bmw, land rover, volvo, audi and other types of high gasoline guzzlers and who also has more than one car actually spend on petrol every month? My fair guess would be more than RM400 a month. So should we allow the Government to take people’s money and subsidises the rich? Who says by increasing oil prices will affect the poor? How do you think those our poor neneks and datuks who still ride bicyles to get around will be affected by oil increase?

PAKCIK MISKIN NAIK BASIKAL

SHOULD DAP, PAS AND PKR TAKE THIS PAKCIK’S MONEY AND GIVE IT TO THE RICH WHO DRIVES A BMW? HOW COULD THIS PAKCIK WHO RIDES A BICYCLE AROUND THE KAMPUNG CAN BE AFFECTED BY RISING OIL PRICES..?

Some of you may feel a bit unease with my statement above, yes, some of you might think that the price of other consumer products such as cooking oil, roti canai and so on will increase because of the oil price hike. Nope, by right they shouldn’t! You have various types of cooking oils. You have those based on palm oil, soya and these are totally unrelated to the price of crude oil!! These are based on plants and commodity prices in its own market. The more we plant them, the more supply we have for palm oils and soya and the price will drop accordingly. Those “penyangak” operating unreasonable “mamak restaurants” and small retailers just like to use this as a stupid reason to profit more. So far, the government has been doing the right thing by putting these products under controlled items act. To help the poor, the incumbent government has also provided diesel subsidies to our fishermen. This is a step in the right direction. Although I understand there are issues about fishermen not going to the sea capturing the fish but selling the diesel to outside parties but this is totally separate matter but I believe the main objective of helping the fishermen to have a better life has been fulfilled. Through the use of fleetcard system, transport operators that are serving the low to middle income bracket in MALAYSIA have also been able to get discounts on diesel. This is more targeted rather than increasing fuel subsidies across the board.

REDUCING THE PRICE OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT

I wish all of the political parties should read this statement. Why bother about oil subsidies? Why no one actually bothers about reducing the travel costs on LRTs and busses? These are the main medium of transport of low to middle income earners don’t you agree? LRT’s monthly ticket has increased from previously moderate at RM60 to RM90 and this year the price has further increased to RM100 (for travels on LRT only). This is a bit too much for me and when this happens, I can really feel the pain. So why not campaigning for a lower ticket price of public transport or making it totally FREE even. This will definitely increase its usage thus sharp reduction in domestic oil demand and subsequently the oil subsidies burden of the government? It can also reduce the problem of traffic congestion and not to mention making buildng more access roads and bridges irrelevant or redundant! Thus saving more people’s money. The fact is it has more than tripple whammy effect! Sometimes you just need to think out of the box to solve issues. The focus should be on the solution not on the issue! I bet if we can make LRT free, it will affect more low to middle income earners’ lives rather than reduction of oil price can ever have. Now the future government only have to:

  • Create more parking space at the LRT stations which is lower than the costs of building SMART tunnels, bridges etc.
  • Add more carriages to PUTRA and STAR trains as now the carriages have been severely congested and the Transport Minister should try to take LRT during peak hours in the morning to know what I mean.

The pledge of all Opposition parties to reduce oil price if elected has made me worried unduly as they are not tackling the crux of the issue. The government under PAK LAH has correctly maintained the oil price in the face of current rising oil prices environment. PAS’ statement in its manifesto, “To ensure that the price of petrol and diesel be reduced and maintained at a reasonable price as to suppress Inflationary pressure on all goods and services” is totally out of context and does not hit all the right buttons! The same goes for DAP and PKR who are totally and equally clueless about petroleum resource management.

THE LOGIC

Often subsidies are a way of deferring economic shocks that are near inevitable. If you keep supporting subsidies ignoring all economic logic and global conditions, when they invariably do catch up the blow can be very severe. On the other hand a gradual rise in prices can lead to a smoother transition to a world of necessarily higher energy costs. Continued subsidisation will lead to artificial demand and penalise the economy in the long term.

WHY PETRONAS SHOULDN’T SUBSIDISE

Petronas is not the only player in the domestic products retail market and it would be unfair for Petronas, which holds only a 30 per cent market share, to subsidise petrol and diesel prices as it would mean that it is subsidising all the other domestic fuel oil companies such as SHELL and EXXON-MOBIL in Malaysia. Requiring the other oil companies in Malaysia to also subsidise prices of petrol and diesel would likewise be unfair as it would eat up the already slim margin they are making under the Automatic Pricing Mechanism. Worse still, it may drive the companies out of Malaysia and cripple the country’s petroleum products retail system.

In the previous interview by Business Times, YBhg. Tan Sri Mohd Hassan said “as a business entity, imposing additional burden of subsidising petrol and diesel prices may have serious implications on international investors’ confidence in Petronas. It may result in downgrading of the oil company’s ratings by international rating agencies“, he added. PETRONAS has suffered big rating drop during financial crisis due to its bail out of certain companies and it has made them difficult to raise funds to finance its exploration business. It takes sometimes for it to build it its cash reserves again and get an upgraded rating.

In addition, up to 31 March 2007, PETRONAS has contributed about RM 336 billion to the government in the form of taxes, dividends, export duties and royalties. This amount is huge.

Do you know that PERTAMINA in Indonesia has run into trouble during the financial crisis in 1997-98 because its heavy subsidisation of domestic fuel oil? High subsidies has resulted in low cash for exploration activities to sustain its revenue as a result banyak yang tergadai! They have to give up some fields to EXXON-MOBIL to do the exploration work and get the most oil from its country. Indonesia only gets very small portion of its own reserves! All because they don’t have the money to spend on exploration costs. So do we want to repeat the same mistake? You can read about PERTAMINA here. The fact of the matter is that PETRONAS is already currently paying a significant amounts of its net profit to MALAYSIAN government as dividend and subsidising the our electricity for about RM6.1 billion (in FY06/07). PAS even said, they would like to put PETRONAS under the parliament to scrutinise its spending. What is this supposed to mean? If they believe, current money contributed by PETRONAS is mismanaged, why did they PROPOSE to take out more money from PETRONAS? Wouldn’t this a reflection of further mismanagement? Not only money but future generations resources? If they do believe the current fund is mismanaged, why not take the current money and use it in a correct way without having to resort to further extraction of money from PETRONAS? The current so called “funds being mismanaged” can be diverted to the “correct” way of spending such as oil subsidies or public transport funding. Our national oil reserves are depleting, if PETRONAS does not have enough money to invest overseas to diversify its operations, we all will be at the losing end. PETRONAS currently contributes almost 30% of our GDP, what if this 30% is gone? This could also mean no free education or domestic oil subsidies even. Guys, just don’t be lazy..please google the internet for issues on “oil subsidies”, “petroleum resource management”..just don’t take statements at face value! Don’t let the Opposition fool us on things that they don’t even know about.

CONTRADICTING STATEMENTS

COMMENTS BY JEFFOOI on PETRONAS Subsidies – Jeff Ooi is acutely aware of PETRONAS’ predicament and the depleting nature of our oil resources and even write it in his blog, but yet allow his party DAP to act otherwise.

COMMENT BY LIM KIT SIANG on PETROLEUM RESOURCES MANAGEMENT on his blog – “Therefore the DAP proposes that the Government legislate that 50% of our windfall from oil and gas is kept under lock and key, with the sole purpose for investment in human capital as well as research & development, over and beyond our typical expenditure on education and training“. If he suggests it should be kept under lock and key, why asking PETRONAS to contribute more that it already has? It has already contributed almost 50% of it NPBT to Government (Dividends, taxes, royalties and export duties). So what does he mean really?


So you know who to vote now! :) :)

BARISAN NASIONAL MANIFESTO

NURUL IZZAH BERTANDING UNTUK KERUSI PARLIMEN LEMBAH PANTAI!

Nurul Izzah facing uphill battle to contest against Datuk Shahrizat Abdul Jalil for LEMBAH PANTAI’s parliamentary seat.

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NURUL IZZAH DI LEMBAH PANTAI – SEWAKTU PENAMAAN CALON

NURUL IZZAH - PARLIMEN LEMBAH PANTAIN

NURUL IZZAH AND HER DAD AND HUSBAND

NURUL IZZAH - PARLIMEN LEMBAH PANTAIN

NURUL IZZAH AND SUPPORTERS

NURUL IZZAH - PARLIMEN LEMBAH PANTAIN

CANVASSING FOR VOTES

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NURUL IZZAH FOR LEMBAH PANTAI, KUALA LUMPUR

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SUPPORTERS OF NURUL IZZAH…


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