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If I can buy my Camry for RM70000 brand new then I don't mind paying RM3 for a litre.

If the gomen will listen to the man in the street on how to improve the transport system and if the Gomen purchases anything by open tender then I do agree that the 4.4billion money will be spent wisely. Otherwise there is no benefits but doubt..!

Well,
Hardware is something can be obtained easily via money, but the humansoft need years to shape. patrick Teoh show us that we have a cosy coaches to moves around, but the "hub" is not better than a shelter in the mid's of padi field, with a bended metal rule... that's I call it humansoft.

Well, lets hope it works this time.... here's to the government actually getting down, planning, and implementing something sustainable. I hate to bring up our little neighbour, but their MRT (and now bus) system is completely integrated and raking in big bucks for the government, while still pleasing the taxpayer with good and relevant service. That's what I call success.

It is not only the fuel subsidy which has to go for the good of the nation. Hard as it is for the M'sian public to swallow, there are good arguments and reason why the fuel subsidy has to be phased out.

The other subsidies - in whatever guises - are the ones which MUST go. Together with all sorts of questionable 'leakages' and 'wastage'.

Easy example - Proton. As oft quoted by many already, why are Malaysian forced to pay so much more for non-Proton cars? Why are Malaysians forced to pay so much for Protons, many of which are recycled versions of old models already phased out by other manufacturers touched up with minor bits and pieces and packaged as Malaysian cars? And poorer quality by far than the original Mitsubishi or whatever made cars.

Phase out all the subsidies which suck up so much of the Malaysian public's money - be it directly or indirectly [via 'govt funds' given in 'support'].

Then there are the myriad of rent-seekers sucking up even more of our money. From the heavily lopsided toll concession contracts to the stickers on medical products to supply of medicine to govt hospitals to supply of military supplies to taxi licences to APs to National Service uniform contracts to MAS catering contracts and so on. Vet them all, and weed out the contracts which are evidently over-priced or even unnecessary. How many millions or even billions can the public save?

And let's not forget the local councils, and the millions in expediture which need to be auditted and vetted. Not only the 'study tours' but also the many, many contracts and projects.

I still recall the loudly proclaimed benefit of Menara MPPJ - that it will generate so much revenue that PJ ratepayers may have to pay less assessment fees [or even nothing?]. Now - increase pulak.

All these cost the public money in the end. So cut them out, and removing the fuel subsidy may be literally something we can afford to laugh at! While driving better and safer cars which we paid much less for!

One thing for sure someone up there will be making big money.

Rob the poor, give the rich.

The whole issue is not on the 30sen hike in petrol price. It is how the nation's wealth had been plundered that the rakyat has to bear the cost.

The government can say what they are trying to do it still means nothing. They are the lot that will be benefiting most.

I surport the fuel hikes to rates in accordance to market forces and reject calls for more / new government spending. Way to go is cut taxes and stimulate economic growth and private investments. When will Malaysian society as a whole embrace the laissez-faire school of economic thought and minimise the governments influence on our daily lives ?

Mr(s) Leithaisor strikes an arthritic chord - the govt has not displayed any transparency that it has handled public accounts with more aplomp. Actually most have bombed.

Rather than have another M-Plan which will inevitably engender another repeat of past excesses and leakages, they should have a top-down look with full disclosures as to how the money has been spent before, if only to weed out the ringgit-suckers.

For instance, exactly how much has been spent on the official residence of the PM and paid to who; the recent regatta, the F1 race-course, the new customs complex in JB, the military vehicles with no spart-parts, the Lumut naval fleet and submarine, the two supercomputers, the bridges of Putrajaya (not Madison County), the three identity card replacements, the cameras (road and councillor). The list is rather long and the PAC is crimped, but the backbenchers can start something. And show they too can walk the talk.

It is crucial to make all this public. The rakyat can provide the right scale and quantum for the prices. If things are excessive, the truth will come out. If truths don't get to see light, then the last conclusion will be drawn.

For if it's not done, the nation is done, for, because, from under the table, to above the table, soon over the head.

Many of us will soon be looking at roots of plants; shouldn't have to go knowing things will remain as they are. Which to say the least is downright dismal.

Sincerity begins with action, absence of which shows insincerity. And that is the stamp of the end for all politicians.

Littlebird, I agree and more ... 50 cents a litre for RM 70000 Camry .....and whatever British citizens pay for our Proton!

50 cents more I mean :)

The problem this country faces is the problem of not coming to grasp the problems created by the mindset of denials. Yes, the money subsidizing fuel hike can be used for something else like improving the transportation system? Why can't the transportation system be properly planned in the first place. This will save a second time expenditiure and such sum can be used to improve other social requirements like health and education!

It will be less painful if the Government itself come out of this mindset and do away with all the rent-seekers. This will make the country more efficient, better planning and less headache. It now appears that we are treating the symptoms of sickness but not the root cause of this sickness. For headache give panadol without finding out the root cause of this headache!

Here again, set up all the committees to do what and entrust them with responsibilities to solve the problem. First of all, improve the transportation of which place? KL only, what about other places in the country, West Malaysia or KL having this kind of transportation headache, what about North & South Malaya, East Malaysia must be construed not to have this kind of problem and therefore left to their own device?

So what? Social dissatisfaction is being created by trying to solve one chaotic situation in the nation's capital?

Protecting money losing enterprises by furthter burdening the taxpayers. Money losing enterprises must close down, there is no national pride here. More national pride will be lost if this kind of situation is allowed to continue!

An ordinary saloon car costs twice as much as the same model in the neighbouring country. At what purpose if we continue to harbour losing concern. Another example, if MAS fails, close it down, and let others take over. If other airlines can make billion, why not MAS? Look into the root causes of the losing cocern. Where are the leakages. Ask the retired MAS personnel and you will hear horrified stories on the leakages. As the saying goes, if the beam is not straight, the pillar will also be crooked!

The more spins that the spin doctors put out the more unrealistic it sounds. Stop all these nonsense and come straight. Perhaps the rakyat will be able to swallow!

yeah, yeah....
thousands of BN corrupted cronies are eyeing that 4Bil easy monies...
BN has track good records to managing funds.. so to speak!

sad to say but even with rm10bil msia wont hv an efficient transport system bcos the basic planning is oh so screwed up. previous mgmt who set up this chaotic system lacks the know-how and they were gvn top post and we know why. now current planning mgmt is gvn the task to upgrade and we also know their capability(no plural). so dont hv high hopes lo. rm4.4bil will surely benefit a few cronies and no doubt abt that.

People’s mentality is to get rich .... and preferably get rich quick.

Many years ago, when a certain politician was appointed Mentri Besar, a friend of my family jumped with joy – apparently he was a friend of this new MB and plotted to exploit the MB’s influence. Today, both father and son are “datuks”.

Another family friend rose to high public service. He was bombarded not only with praise and compliments, but also proposals and ideas on money-making. If you are surrounded by demons day in day out, you will be brainwashed and finally become a demon yourself.

My questions:

1. If YOU have a close friend who becomes an MB and he has the power to help YOU to become rich, will YOU walk away from the opportunity?

2. If YOU are appointed to high office, and people around can help YOU to become rich, will YOU walk away from the opportunity?

The test is not whether the RM 4.4 billion per year is going towards improving public transport. The real test is HOW that RM 4.4 billion is going to be used, how, and by whom. You can be assured that UMNO is lining up the consultants, the construction companies, the equipment suppliers - all to take advantage of the RM 4.4 billion war chest. We will find new traffic signs, signalling equipment, electronic message boards, all over the country - probably at the standard Ali-Baba prices. So who is the wiser ?

Pak Lah, don't think the rakyat are stupid....you have created a new way of financing UMNO, and you think we are going to keep silent ?

Phase out all the subsidies which suck up so much of the Malaysian public's money - be it directly or indirectly [via 'govt funds' given in 'support'].

You can't phase out subsidies - they're the very heart of our or any country's economic well-being. It's all a matter of how much and to whom can the subsidies go to.

You kill all fish-related subsidies, we all will start eating kari salmon for dinner.

You kill minyak subsidy, and working at home will shoot through the roof. people will start becoming lazy to go out.

at any rate, I'm glad that FINALLY the maestro himself has make it clear that all 4.4bil will go towards jalan-related stuff. Here's hoping 1bil won't be spent on adding more traffic and speeding cameras around town...

first of al, i'd like to thx Mr Ooi for having a blog that encourages us to be aware of our nation's gomen and human right.
i'm not a big fan of politics, its too dark for me to understand. but recent fuel has got me questioning. will 4.4 bil really enuf? i mean as long as there are still ppl corrupting, even 100 bil is not enuf. there will be no end.
the other thing is we are not allow to question about how they spend the money. Why? we have some share on that moeny right? but y cant we question? unless they have got something to hide. or else i'll feel harassed cez thats my basic human right.

fine, no questioning. but will puplic transport improvement really helps the overall rakyat? year after year motorist die from accident, will that number be reduce? if thats the overall u are talking about. whos opinion does this improvement is base on? big shots that wonders around in town and complain y rakyat not using public transportation, or uncle that sitting in the coffee shop? or the THE MAN in the parliment that says "lets do something spotanios for next few years".. will the rural area really need this?! if they really looking for improvement and better life, go to town and look for a better income job, instead of staying there.. i know its insensitive, but thats true. u dont stay there and ask the change come to u instead of looking for apportunity yourself.. thats how people success.

the main reason i question is because i have no confident on this plan. in fact, A LOT of ppl not confident. not like the rakyat never give chance to the gomen to prove themselves, its like we have no more choice but to let them do it. y not they just ike the fuel price and dont tell us why, since we are not allow to question. but if the gomen has publish it to the rakyat, we should have the right to question.

btw, when we have the cheap fuel, car price high. now fuel price "slightly" rise, will the car price lowered "slightly"? cause i wana change car... i know this question shouldnt be here, but what the heck.

one good way to utilise the rm4.4bil is by doing digging and tarring of roads without any proper planning. how many times has federal hi-way been retarred in 1 year? is that necessary? some other roads are so neglected. those who hv dealt with the govt b4 knows fully well that come year end the big xmas shopping is nothing more than wastage of funds. i wonder who will monitor the spending of this new fund as they hv proven to be bad custodians of rakyat's money n welfare. if so many previous accounts hv been so secretive, what's so different abt this?

Reading today's report on Malaysiakini.
"PM : Don't Question RM 4.4 Billion for Public Transport" really irks me.

I live in Sacramento and am beginning to compile a series of screenshots for my fellow Malaysians.

The human mind has ability to be inundated by gradual modifications. Without looking outside, we'll wake up one day and wonder what happened to our lives as Malaysians and as human beings.
http://madnessinmalaysia.blogspot.com

I have to disagree with the way the money is spent.

In my opinion, Malaysia needs to focus its energy into what it does best instead of being distracted by internet (MSC), cars (Proton) etc. etc..

It has been 50 years since independence, and clearly one of the most successful stories of Malaysian ventures have been Petronas.

Rather than criticize but not offer suggestion, I will offer a suggestion to the government.

A portion of the savings should be directed towards the establishment of a National Petroleum University.

JEFF OOI says: Check your facts. Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) has been there since 1997. URL: www.utp.edu.my..

Malaysia with its able intellects should train its people to master the art and science of the Petroleum industry. Graduates of this university should undergo practical training by Petronas.

We can forget about our electronics industry becoming the next Samsung, because we will never be able to compete with Korea, Japan and China.

We can also forget about focusing on the internet, because we will never be able to compete with India.

Petroleum is one area which we can excel in. Given our good relationship with the Middle Eastern nations, if Malaysians can master the art and science of Petroleum engineering it will have a comparative advantage over the rest of the Western world. Our literacy rate is far higher than most oil exporting middle eastern nations.

Just as Korea has focused on heavy industries and electronics as their core area of expertise, I suggest Malaysia focus in Petroleum engineering and later expand overseas to engage in drilling activities around the world. I truly believe Malaysia has a niche advantage in this sector and I would like to recommend the government to put the money in developing this area.

mahathir_fan,
petroleum did a fat lot of good to the Arab nations. The oil money only benefits an elite few while the rest live in destitution, and become a breeding ground for radicalism. Besides, petroleum is not an unlimited commodity the last time I checked, and as the world gets more energy conscious or when the petroleum dries up, the Mid-East countries which rely on oil will be left even further behind in the economic curve. Their's is a case of whom we shouldn't emulate. Furthermore, we can only train so many petroleum engineers before the market is saturated, and even then only the lucky few who get trained would realistically benefit (from the high pay etc.)
As someone once said, "prosperity conceals strength, while adversity reveals it". These hard times should be taken as an opportunity to re-engineer our nation's internal processes for higher efficiency. An efficient, extensive and properly managed public transport system is the lifeblood of a nation's economy. With such a system in place, we wouldn't need as many cars or use as much fuel; we would have less pollution, and people can move around more easily, thus enabling people to depopulate our crowded, stuffy city centres and move to the suburbs; more things could get done in a single day and people would become more economically productive. The possibilities are great. Our ministers compared our situation to Japan, where everyone (in major city centres like Tokyo) takes public transport to work. Frankly speaking, I am embarrassed that he dared make such a comparison. Our present transport system is like pitiful parit inside kampung compared to the vast network of public and private lines that services Tokyo's sea of humanity. Imagine having stations like KL sentral in the dozens, only then can we even broach the subject. However, having such an extensive network, *is* something to be aspired to. Unless the effort to build it is set in motion, we can never expect Malaysians to take public transport to work, and that is a sad thing indeed.

"We can forget about our electronics industry becoming the next Samsung, because we will never be able to compete with Korea, Japan and China."

mahathir_fan: i find your lack of faith in malaysians quite disturbing. I respect you view, but many industry leaders / companies are actually started by malaysians.

All these guys made it without the help of the govt. Only a dream & persevered super hard work.

If you cant stomach the fact that less govt help == more quality individuals.

(According to Petronas)Petroleum in malaysia will deplete in less than 20* years, (i beg to differ as more well could be found with better tech), & when it does, how are the petro-chimical-engineers going to make a change?

The oil world is different than you think & do u think in petronas doing that will do good in the long term? Perhaps.

What they should do is let the gates open & allow all malaysians to take part in global business, support them & provide intensive & transparent information.

eg. I was following the Halal food forum & today, the main highlight was why malay food manafacturers dont obtain Halal licences, but the chinese did. Again the right action for the wrong reasons. The whole objective of this halal forum was to encourage malays. Religious entity should not be influenced by/with business/ racial objectives.

Bottom line: If govt steps in to do everything, expect graduates that cant read & write.

As wise men said: Diamonds are coals thats been in tremendous presure.

Jeff, Kintaro and tjwork;

Is UTP a petroleum university or another UTM? I was envisioning a Petroleum university that provides a strong vocational training partnering with Petronas to produce graduates where graduates work and study at the same time with companies like Petronas.

Oil prices will only increase in the future as demands are anticipated to increase. It will also be artificially high in order to sustain the American bubble economy.

I think Malaysia is in a good position to exploit this. My problem with electronics or cars is that there is too much competition already. They are good for sustaining what we have at this time, but not for Vision 2020. Profit margins are too low.

In order to achieve Vision2020, some accounting trick is necessary. Our currency must rise. If our currency can rise to 1RM=1USD or somewhere close to that range, we would achieved that vision.

But if we do not get to 1RM=1USD, then the only way our per-capita income can rise to that of the developed world with a low exchange rate is for us to earn more RM. That's going to be hard unless we let inflation spiral out of control which would then hurt our exchange rate further. Or we work longer hours, and sweat more. Nobody wants this I'm sure.

A higher exchange rate can only be achieved if we have something that the rest of the world wants which very few other countries could provide, and we insist on being paid in RM. Oil is a good candidate because of its anticipated rise in the future. But we need to control this supply, not like the passive Saudis who let others dig their oil out. We need to go overseas (Petronas is already doing this) and put more expertise into this area to expand this operation. To do this would also require people from many diciplines: electricals, software engineers, finance options gurus, pilots etc. etc..

This is why I recommend some of the 4 billion dollars saved from oil subsidy to be refunded into the oil sector.

mahathir_fan:

"We can forget about our electronics industry becoming the next Samsung, because we will never be able to compete with Korea, Japan and China."

Hahahaha....
As Jeff says, get your facts straight. The electronics industry is the top earner for the government in terms of taxes collected and at one point Malaysia was the NUMBER 1 electronics exporter in the world. (Funny how that feat is considered less newsworthy than climbing Mt Everest or bringing Proton to the North Pole). Dunno if we are still no. 1 now (thanks to China) but what is obvious is that our electronics industry is far from being the dead horse you painted it as.

"In order to achieve Vision2020, some accounting trick is necessary. Our currency must rise. If our currency can rise to 1RM=1USD or somewhere close to that range, we would achieved that vision. "

Dude, do you even know what you are saying???? If our currency ever rises to RM1 = US$1 then many, MANY people will be out of a job!
Malaysia is primarily an exporting country. Which is why we do not have a trade deficit. Why can we export? Because labor costs and raw material costs are so much cheaper here than they are in the US or the West. If ever our currency increases to the same level as the west who the hell wants to import things from Malaysia when it is going to be so damn expensive?

Already most multinationals have pulled out of the country and gone to China where labor costs are cheaper. If you raise the currency some more, labor costs even MORE for them and even the few left in Malaysia will pull out in double quick time and you will see them set up shop in China or Vietnam. Why else do you think China is artificially keeping the Remnibi low so much so that the US Congress is trying to force them to raise its value?

I had to laugh to myself when I saw "Tun" M suggesting we raise the value of the ringgit. Apparently he (clueless as usual) has no clear idea of how many people will be hurt if the govt does that.

The info i get from someone, the RM 4.4 Billion is actually to cover back the loss that danaharta makes. Danaharta invested in wrong "stuffs" last year and cause them to make a huge loss so now gmen wanna get money to cover up the loss...

It is easy to say that the RM4.4bil saved will be channelled towards improving public transport. But where are the details?

How much will go to KL?
How much will go to Penang?
What is the breakdown?
Let's have the details!

Otherwise it really looks like it's going to be just another "election promise" which will never materialise in the end "due to insufficient funds".

Again, they treat the public like fools...

"Pak Lah appears to be sincere in his vow to help out the low income group in tiding through the imminent hard time. "

Good choice of words by the reporter.."appears to be sincere" ... would have sounded better..if it was worded.."Pak lah is sincere"

I don't believe him anymore. When he became PM..I thought things would be better..but...........

and what is so special abour fisherman that they pay so cheap for diesel? discrimination again?

If government can reduce for fishermen ..why not others..

The poor transportation infrastructure is often blamed for our low rates of usage of buses and trains. Actually, the biggest culprit is our poor urban planning. We have allowed low-density housing estates to spring up all over the Klang Valley.

These low-density suburbs are, by their very nature, designed to be serviced only by private cars. To service these suburbs effectively would require a huge bus fleet. For example, a simple path-tracing of bus routes using Google Earth for different density housing estates reveals this:

1. To service a 25,000 population of a low density housing estate requires 15km of traversal, 20 bus stops and 30 minutes of travel time.

2. To service a 25,000 population of a medium density housing estate requires 3km of traversal, 4 bus stops and 6 minutes of travel time.

It does not require a lot of money to plan our cities properly. We don't even need LRTs or MRTs to service our cities as proven by Brazil's superbly-planned city of Curitiba.

So, if you are living in a low-density housing estate, please do not blame the poor transportation infrastructure. Blame yourself instead.

RM70000 for a camry?? It cost in Bangkok about RM110000 for either a 2 litre camry or a CRV. RM70000+ for Altis or Civic and a pitiful starting price of RM46000 for a City or Jazz (1 litre version I think). As for public transport, older cities like london, tokyo or New york were built for this as their cities grew before the creation of automobiles. The more recent cities like LA and to towns surrounding KL were built after the introduction of affordable cars, hence the buildings are more sparse and less dense.
Just for your info, the new ranger built in thailand will not be imported into the US, although it is better in many ways compare top the US ranger due to a 25% tariff for imported trucks, which makes it uncompetitive. If you cant afford a camry, buy a toyota truck in malaysia as it is tariff and duty free, like the proton.

Phoenikz,

You nailed those points spot on.

Electronics is our #1 industry. Yet if our currency ever hits RM1=1USD, all the foreign investors that build our electronics factory will leave our country, and many Malaysians will be out of jobs.

However, Vision2020 necessitates high income levels for Malaysians. Yet, our electronics industry survival necessitates low income levels for Malaysians to lower labour costs. We have conflicting objectives.

And this is the current Malaysian dilemma and why we need to find a different niche, in which case I suggested the oil and oil-related industries for best Malaysian minds and talent need to be in those industries.

v2k20,

Personally, I prefer to live in an area with low density housing than to be crammed into a high density area. Malaysia has many land, our population is only a little more than the population of Shanghai. We should enjoy the space.

I think Malaysian offices should promote telecommuting as well as flexible working hours. Some offices can start at 7am, 8am and 9am; so we spread out the rush instead of everyone leaving at 5pm.

mahathir_Fan,

I doubt the typical automobile suburb dweller would rather pay RM5/litre of petrol, 4-hour daily traffic jams, RM1000 electricity bills, frequent burglaries, to continue staying there in the not too near future. Once peak-oil becomes a reality, the need to drive out to buy your lunch would look rather silly.

vk20,
I guess I misunderstood you. You must be refering to all the terrace houses that is located right in the middle of no where. Yah, those a silly.

I was actually questioning why Malaysia is building so many terrace houses when we should be able to all afford bungalows given that our population is not that big. Why are bungalows so damn expensive? It doesn't make sense. Personally, I would prefer to live inside a bungalow, than to be crammed into terrace houses or condominiums - that's what I meant refering to preference to live in low population density area.

mahathir_Fan,

Link (or terrace) houses should never be allowed in the first place. This type of dwelling requires many air-conditioners to keep the heat down, thus consuming huge amounts of electricity, which is definitely going to be another sore point in the future.

I find that the idea that staying in a condo is staying in a cramped environment to be a faulty idea. For the same price of a terrace house, you can get up to double or even triple the amount of space in an apartment. For example a RM400k terrace house, you get 3 rooms, 2 baths, 1 living room and 1 kitchen. For RM400k, you can get 2 apartments or 6 rooms, 4 baths, 2 living rooms and 2 kitchens.