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Aiyaa YB,

If it is effective 00.00hr JUNE 6, I don't have to que at the station tonite laa.

Don't laa deceive me just because I didn't support DAP.

This is inline with BN policy - the poor support the filthy rich.

This is not just obscene sin. Those responsible should be hanged and quartered. It is robbing and raping the poor to pay the rich!!!

At a time like this, the decent thing for this already shameless BN Govt to do is to try to make these IPPs return some of the subsidies to the poor. Otherwise, they can expect the rakyat to take to the streets again to right these wrongs if AAB and his cronies are not prepared to correct them or have the guts to do so.

whatever happened to BN's promise of no price increase pre-election?

satu lagi projek BN?

As I was driving back home this evening, I noticed scores of cars lining up at jam-packed petrol stations. All are scrambling to fill up at least one tank-full of petrol before the price increase by midnight. The same kiasu behavior was noted during the last price hike.

The fact is, there is only so much you can save from one pump. In the long run, what we all need to do is to change our lifestyles.

Based on a survey conducted (up to 2004) by the German Agency for Technical Co-operation, fuel price has been on a gradual rise (see table in http://malaysianhypocrite.blogspot.com/). Of late, the rise has been more dramatic. If anyone can find a comparison table from 2005 to 2007, please share! I think toll operators should subsidize our fuel price. What say you?

outrageous , outrageous , ordinary folks already had hard time coping with rising cost of living , now to add to our woes price of fuel is up by hefty 41% is tis a punisment to ordinary folks who deny the BN 2/3 majority ?

why again and again that 'he' kept doing these kind of things? he said that he will be announcing the plan for the august hike but he announce for the today's hike. is this his style of giving us a surprise? i am totally pissed with him now.....which give me a good reason to vote him out.

and at the same time, the mp's are still ignorant and living in their own utopia saying our fuel is still the 'cheapest'. singaporean earns $2k and pays

we voted 'u' out once and we will do it for the second time. we are suffering now because we have voted them out but is the opposition doing anything? i am so disappointed with malaysia and it's leader......

YB,

In Sept 2004, fuel price is $40/barrel. In May 2008, fuel price is $135/barrel.. That is like 337.5% increase... and in Badawi's term petrol only rise by 97.1%... I am not a goverment supporter.. But, if the opposition have a better way to control this issue, state so to the government so that the people can be helped. Don't just like keep the idea for yourselves and use it for the next election. Indeed, what the politicians should do, either opposition or government, is to ensure that the "rakyat" can live happily rite? If you guys have no alternative ideas, then just follow the government.. Don't just complain, do something..

JEFF OOI says: Subsidies distort economy and they should go. Do something? Remove the obscene subsidies to the IPPs so that all are treated equal.

Yours Truly,

Terry-

But Jeff... how about the windfall levy on IPP of 30% for return over 9%?

JEFF OOI says: You are wrong. Spread over the entire concession period, factr in the capacity charges agreed on PPAs, factor in the recoup of capital investment, factr in the pass-through costs to the TNB/Government, factor in the industry-certified IRR, then your theory of 9% returns tumbles.

Why in the world would Pak Lah dare to take the biggest political gamble of his life??? Increasing petrol & diesel price means that he EXPECTS people to protest! He knows it and...wait...is this a ploy? Get people to protest, make it as big as possible, throw in some agent provocateurs and then declare emergency. S**t! You may not get away with it this time Pak Lah! You remind me of a cockroach. When faced with a threat the cockroach will run towards the threat headlong without any regard to its safety...and get squashed in return. You wanna get squashed again???

IPP...pls raise this issue at the parliament!

JEFF OOI says: Already did that on May 28. But need to re-debate this whenever I have chance.

It may seem to be obscene for prices to increase.

However, fueled by political ambition before the election year, the government has withhold the increased of prices only after winning the majority in GE2008.

A steady increase of prices has now not only affected everyone but the poor and those who spend more than 50% of their salaries on food will suffer.

It is only through political greed and looking out for oneself that AAB came to the conclusion that fuel prices should be raise.

Then Electricity should be raised to. IPPs are shielded by subsidies. How much are the annual profits of these companies per year as opposed to the total amount of salaries of let's say the population of the poor and the lower middle income group.

Middle class people like me and most working professionals might be able to keep up with the prices of fuel. However, the main question is what about the poor, the lower income group, those riding their bikes to work and driving their cars to earn that few extra money. Is it worth it for them? They suffer, their children suffer and people around them suffer.

Prices of food and goods will definitely increase. There wasn't any proper planning for better transportation systems in place before reducing the subsidies of fuel. Why only reduce the fuel subsidies and then work on the transportation system with the surplus? Or no surplus at all?

Government planning isn't right. SOmething has gone wrong somewhere. Either the government in too incompetent or too corrupt. I am sure it is the latter.

There are a lot of avenues to for the government to make money, especially the sale of APs by the government and not to the APs kings. We are doomed Malaysia!

An efficient economy to run requires a 'relatively' efficient and corrupt free government. The ones suffering are everyone regardless of creed and color. So f***ing around with the people and their livelihoods is a bad idea.

Subsidies should have been done years ago. Corrupt free and better economics management.

OUR GOVERNMENT IS CORRUPT!

Thank goodness for price hike! Yes, that's right.

Its time for everyone to face reality that the world is living on a borrowed lifstyle. Basing our whole life and world eonomy on oil is dangerous and stupid. Carbon fuel is an unsustainable enerygy source. Economies that depend on oil will collapse. The global oil production cannot meet deand. It will finish and the first country to understand this and do something about it will propser in the next generation.

We need to think ahead. But there is no urgency if everyone is protected in their bubble. Its ridiculous to expect any government to somehow magically make this oil problem go away. If Malaysia were to continue subsidising fuel like it has before, it will cost 50 billion ringgit. 50 BILLION friggin ringgit. That's one third of our budget. Its ridiculous.

It think its time malaysians grow up. Alot of the reaction here are like kids. Boohoo, government help me. Government, please hide me from the problems of the world. It's childish.

I run a business and i know this will affect me. But thinking further ahead, I know this is a good thing.

I'm very dissapointed at how shallow the average Malaysian has become. Are our thinking abilities so limited that in face of a fuel crisis, the only idea we can come up with is to ask for subsidies? Like a beggar? Tolong lah saya.

A more mature reaction, instead of begging someone to help us, is to think about ways to solve the problem.

Voting for someone just for the sake of dissatifaction is not a solution. We should throw our suppport behind someone who could actually give us ideas how to be less dependant on oil. No one in the opposition or our current governmnet has even addressed this issue because its not something the rakyat is asking for.

Here are some ideas.

Alternative fuels.

Solar energy - we live in the friggin equator for goodness sake, one of our best resource is the sun. In San-Jose california, where people has not been protected from oil increase, a company called nanosolar already has a manufacturing facility and is getting closer to their goal of $1 USD per watt solar panels, that is even cheaper than oil! We should be asking the government to fund this sort of manufacturing facilities, not for subsidies.

Nuclear power - the cold war has ended, its time we take a good look at this energy again. More than half a century ago, the greatest minds in the world, genius, found a solution for the world energy crisis and but until today, there has been no progress. I know we have a nuclear research facility in Nilai. Lets pour some money into that, instead of friggin subsidies.

Hydroelectric - Bakun Dam. WTF has happened to it. Yes, I am aware that of the natural consequences, the area the size of singapore will be flooded and 10,000 people have to be relocated. But looking at the bigger picture, this is huge net gain for nature. Hydroelectric is very clean energy, it doesn't burn anything. It is renewable, it won't finish like oil. It will be providing an enormous 2400 megwatt of energy. This one dam is enough to provide 15% of the energy for the whole of malaysia. Most of this energy is curently being provided using petroleum. That is why oil prices are so high, our economy is based on oil. We need to relieve the pressure on oil based energy. We should be pressing the government for Bakun Dam, not pressing for more oil subsidies.

Fuel efficient cars

Proton is facing the realities of global competition. They can still can mantain a higher price than import cars if they can offer something that the competition doesn't have. If proton can offer hybrid cars, they can be way ahead of anyone else. The technologies are here. One of the most popular car in California if the Toyota Prius. We should be asking our goverment candidates to talk to Proton about this, not to talk about subsidies.

Energy efficient programs

There is such a program called Malaysia Industrial Energy Efficiency Improvement Project, MIEEIP. Its aim was to bring down industry usage of energy by 10%. That was 10 years ago. Who knows what has happened since then, it has rarely gone into the newspapers. We should be demanding to see progress in programs such as this, not demanding for subsidies.

Energy conscious consumerism

Vote with your wallets. Right now most companies don't see the benefit of promoting energy efficient products, its not a popular feture. We should be demanding all our electric goods to consume as little energy as possible. The first question we should ask is how much power does it use. That should be the number two feature of every product, not number ten like it is now. We are not powerless, stop being a victim. Instead of hoping someone to give help us with, excercise our financial power.

Awareness campaign

Istead of complaining on forums and blogs about oil subsidies, we should be campaigning for the issues above. As we now aware, the rakyat is powerful. Look at what happened at the last elections. But we were focussing on the wrong issues, friggin subsidies.

There is a difference of complain and campaign. complain is just dissatifaction, campaign is to be actively involved in the solution.

Malaysia has become a country of complainers, not campaigners.

The signs of protest is not so much of fuel per se but rather the excesses of the Govt, inefficiencies and credibility issue.

We got a Minister who earlier on Tues says price increase will take place in Aug '08 rather than these few days and on Wed, we know what was announced. This reminds me of the recent general election when the PM announced that there will not be any dissolution of Parliament tomorrow and we all know what happened the next day.

We also remember about all those no fuel hike promises echoed so many times, which now seems to be just pure outright lies.

Credibility issue!

Can we trust them anymore?

I have a feeling that this is right from the Chicago school doctrine play book.

Why is history repeating.

If you see the systems all around the world, fuel cost is a usually pass through element. IPP has bear the construction and development risk. So let's not point our fingers just to IPPs.

Let us be aware that TNB is an IPP where they themselves become offtaker. They should show us the breakdown of their local and foreign operation cost before pointing fingers to other IPPs and the raising fuel cost.

1. There should be a separate accounts for their local operation and foreign ventures. Are we, the rakyat, going to pay for their losses they incurred in oversea ventures? Have we forgotten what happen to TNB's subsidary, Tenaga Coal International Ltd which losses more than few hundred millions. They should be shame of themselves, as they take rakyat's money and make foolish investment.

2. TNB should be more efficient like other IPPs like YTL or Malakoff. Detail analysis should be done to compare TNB plant's operational cost and other IPPs cost. I strongly believe that TNB has incurred much higher cost and thus why should we pay more to subsidize their inefficiency?

3.Open electricity market system should be used in Malaysia. This has been discussed for so many years but there is no will to implement it. Talking a lot but no action. Singapore and Philippines have set a good example of the open market system. This allows the IPPs to compete and provide the most competitive price for the electricity. Why has TNB so afraid to open up to a free market?

Every sen/kWh increase will highly boost TNB's earning, but let's be fair to the people. Be more transparent and competitive, and by then the rakyat will be willing to accept the tariff increase.

Hi Jeff , with regards to fuel price hike i understand the federal leaders all these while been stressing on Thai & Singapore registered vehicles crossing over to JB & Kelantan to buy heavily subsidised fuel...but had not stressed on Brunei or Kalimantan vehicles crossing over to East Malaysia for our cheap fuel...is the price increase in East Malaysia justified ? not forgetting tat East Malaysia is still one of the poorest states today ??? hope to hear from you soon.....thank you

The Singaporeans should thank us for the cheap petrol even if we Malaysians can't afford our own. Geez, feels like I am getting shut out of my own country ...

dear jeff,

the price increase of 0.78 and i had to pay an extra rm100++/mth and if they incease till rm4/ltr, i would have to fork out another extra rm200++/mth which makes out a rm500/mth for the petrol. for me who earns less than rm3k/mth, it is a burden.

i mean, how could they do this to us and no one...i repeat, no one could do anything for us? they use the 'cheapest petrol in asia' but they forgot that their cost of living is lower and exchange rate is higher than us. it is a daylight robbery and revenge for us. they think that by this, they will make us regret for choosing the opposition but they did not think (as usual) that this will trigger a chain-reaction back to them.

i am frustrated cos no one can help us, at least if they want to increase, do it at a slower pace.....what about the opposition promises? where is it? if they cant do what they had promise, i rather spoil my votes!!!!

This drastic fuel price hike will affect the average Malaysian. People are suffering here! Jeff, you have been given the power to be our voice. We trust that you will do all you can to address this issue.

How can the people be really happy
With decisions made in manner snappy
Not so simple as changing baby's nappy
It will be most wise not to make poor folks crappy

(C) Samuel Goh Kim Eng - 050608
http://MotivationInMotion.blogspot.com
Thur. 5th June 2008.

Is there anything that we can do?

Seems like the government is discouraging people from persuing their dreams of earning more income or making more money.

They rob the Palm Oil producers because they are finally making more money now. They abolish COSS and add in new Levi. Is this the same concept to? Everyone to pay except FELDA, our biggest producer?

Why not put special taxes on those cronies' companies which are making millions from corruption?

I hope he's not trying to create a "Bapa" title for himself, since all our previous prime ministers have one.

Btw, I would like to comment on the electricity tariff's chart. The old rate is RM0.218 per KW so for the firsts 200kW, we pay RM43.60 instead of RM21.80 and that usage is easily exceeded even if you don't have an air-con in your house.

Jeff, I agree with you that subsidy distort the economy, but with such a distorted economy that Malaysia is, do you think that ordinary people can survive without subsidy?

Entry level job pays RM1800 for graduate 10 years ago and it's still the same today while costs of living has doubled. Even with a consistent annual increament of 10% for the last 10 years a university graduate would only make about RM4300 today meaning he is not much better compared to 10 years ago. But how many of us do have a consistent 10% (great performers). Most have less.

My point is that, productivity and efficiency aside, I think our wages being keep artificially low in order for us to remain competitive with countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, China or Vietnam.

I remember being told by a HR guy that the basis of annual increment do take into account the rate of inflation (especially MNC) so if if the inflation is 5% you won't expect an average increament of say 20%, do you? I don't know how those responsible for the inflation data arrive at the rate of 3-4% annually since AAB time. Gut feeling tell me that is not the case and I believe many people out there would agree with me that the 'actual' rate is much higher as we can really feel it.

A friend in Saudi told me that he got a 500 riyal increment for the inflation caused by weak USD but I don't think we can ever dream of that. And do spare a thought for those who are still clamouring for the minimum wages (I don't care about the foreigner as they can easily pack their back when the pasture is not as green) Malaysian. I wonder how are they going to survive if we who makes above that figure could hardly cope. Change lifestyle? What else to change? Food is almost twice the price of pre-AAB time.

Probably BN is looking for a political armageddon. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that although we're all negatively affected but their grassroot supporters in the low income group are the most affected group

With sudden removed of subsidies, inflations are most likely to creep in. Income of the people has not seen any improvements. This just adds extra burden to the people, especially the sudden announcement; Giving people no time to plan for their budgets! The low & mid income people are going to be affected the most. Not that i support subsidies, i think it should have been gone long ago, or reduced over the years. Most of the MPs are rich, so not going to be affected too much by it?

So, if PR form the Govt, what would be done??

Jeff,
Macam mana nak hidup sekarang jeff, sekarang full tank storm RM140, 4 years ago when i first bought my storm, full tank RM40... die die lor.... my son complaining why so less meat/chicken on the table now... how to survive? Help Help....

What's IPP (Independent Power Producers)? Can you give some examples?

JEFF OOI says: Then, the issue is not worthy of your attention.

Since you are in Korea, you may have noticed that most cars are running off LPG.

Would that be a solution for Malaysian consumers in the long run?

"He knows it and...wait...is this a ploy? Get people to protest, make it as big as possible, throw in some agent provocateurs and then declare emergency."

Actually, he doesn't know it. The Question is was this HIS idea, or was this his advisors' sinister idea to bring down the boss?

I believe that the price of gas supply to the IPPs have also increased, Jeff.

Hello I want to know everyone's opinion about how this country manage their oil reserve.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svSUCbClg8E

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway

Please fully watch the video and check out the wiki page. I wonder if we can learn from them? What do you think?

Thank you.

Just to insert some pointers from other commentators:

Petrol Prices in Oil Producing Countries

(ahmad in rockybru)

UAE– RM1.19/litre
Eygpt– RM1.03/litre
Bahrain– RM0.87/litre
Qatar– RM0.68/litre
Kuwait– RM0.67/litre
Saudi Arabia– RM0.38/litre
Iran– RM0.35/litre
Nigeria– RM0.32/litre
Turkmenistan– RM0.25/litre
Venezuela– RM0.16/litre
MALAYSIA– RM2.70/litre

Cost of Car Ownership In Malaysia

(ez24get in malaysia-today)

.....6.In Malaysia, the heavier burden is caused by cost of travelling to work. The cost of travelling will have to include:

1. toll charges,
2. amortisation of the vehicle's cost over the economic useful life of the vehicle, or, for those who have obtained loan financing, the monthly loan repayments,
3. the annual vehicle maintenance cost (tyres, brake pads, engine oil, spark plugs, etc)
4. road tax,
5. Parking; and
6. petrol

If you analyse above carefully a huge chunk of the expenses goes to car amortisation cost and toll charges. Everyone who has travelled overseas knows for a fact that Malaysia has one of the highest numbers of tolls in the country and very high excise duties on cars.

Take a real life example of a typical average worker in Malaysia earning a take home pay after deducting EPF of RM 2,000 a month. He drives a small 850cc Kancil (cost RM27,000) and travels to and from work each day from his home in Cheras averaging about 40 km. His typical monthly travelling cost is:

Amortisation of car for 10 years ($27,000/10/12)………….$225
Petrol (based on current price)……………………………………$200
Maintenance of car…………………………………………… ….……..$100
Road Tax ($50/ 12)…………………………………………… ……………….$4
Parking ……………………………………………… ………….………………$90
Total Travelling Cost per Month……………………………………$619

Percentage of Travelling Cost to Take-Home Pay………...31%

It simply does not make sense that the use of vehicle for travelling to work to earn revenue for the country would be a whopping 31% of his take home pay for a country that is a net exporter of oil. That does not even include his payment for the increased price of petrol and monthly expenditure for food, housing loan, medical expenses, children schooling expenses, etc, which are certain to increase if the prices of petrol increase.
..end..
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Others may compare with countries like Singapore but someone has said that while Sg's petrol price is twice My's in ringgit terms, Sg's per capita income is six-times in same; furthermore in ppp terms, Sg's car ownership costs are lower while My's are amongst the highest in the world because of APs, excise duties etc.

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The rakyat are seething in anger over these multiple whammies. That starts with petrol at 2.704. What happens when in 3 months time it hits 4.000 or higher? At 2.704 a hundred thousand will march on Petronas. When it hits 4.000, what will happen?

-------------------------

Umno is to take the blame for all this. Its leaders have failed the rakyat all these years. Suddenly it now says it wants to provide for future generations but was it also their Shahrir who blurted out it was actually for development projects? If this Umno govt is so flush with net oil revenues from Petronas, what's the real situation on development projects? If the money is to be used by Petronas, then reveal its past success (or failure) rate, for example 10 billion spent in Egypt for what, so that all the rakyat can be convinced that Umno will not again fail in making sure those investments for future generations will not fail again. The rakyat want to know all the details of Petronas' past investments, and as with the Project IC issue in Sabah, they want to know it completely, not have another committee be set up to pull wool over the rakyats' eyes.

---------------------------

Over ninety percent of the rakyat are affected. For a start those who have incurred hefty accumulated credit card bills will suddenly find their monthly cash-flows become totally unmanageable. Where are they to find the funds to pay off their monthly debts?

And in whatever sector they work, whether it be manufacturing or services, there will be steep inflationary spikes in the coming weeks combined with weakening take-home incomes because the employing companies will be hit and may freeze or cut wages or even retrench. Necessary items will cost too much - eg. school bus drivers may ask for more. What will happen to the schoolchildren? How are parents to make ends meet?

They didn't think about the real cash-flow problems in most households. The rakyat are already down to their last ringgit. This hike just hit them in the solar plexus. Also, the spectre of more crimes looms near.
--------------------------

Public transportation prices will go up. Yet it is public transportation which is the only way the rakyat are to avoid the pain of paying for petrol they can't afford. So, either way, they are burnt. Unless Umno wants everyone to ride bicycles as we make swift progress to Wawasan 2020.

-------------------------

The rebates are paltry. Someone calculated that for a motorcyclist it will be 41 sen per day. He asked what can he do with that. Furthermore, given the frequency of fraud in RIMV where one suspects there is no control over the motorist registration database, how can it be ensured that there won't be leakages when making rebate payments? One suspects that the same minds who unbanned in days the banning of petrol sales at borders will not have considered this factor. The rebate payment may turn out to be a big mess.

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There is no engine of growth in income for the rakyat. None can be seen within the next three months before the full-blown price rise takes place. By then, today's situation where there are punch-ups at petrol stations will be exacerbated five fold at least when all the effects, including the inflation-triggering effects of TNB's new tariffs, accumulate to knock down the economy.

---------------------------

Over four years ago in one of my very first comments in this blog, i had written:

"excuse me ladies, but this i have to say: they completely f'cuked up this nation."

and a few thousand posts earlier, i had also written something like this:

"the rakyat will welcome 2020 by rioting in the streets".

i was understating facts.

Jeff,

I congratulate you on your statement that oil subsidies should go. It's time we Malaysians get off from our addiction to cheap oil.

What do you have to say about populist statement from people of your coalition? For example, Wan Azizah said that said that the government could have lowered the pump price if it taxed profits made by oil companies. She also said that the cost of exploration by oil companies was US$30 but the price of crude oil per barrel was US$130.

She is either incompetent in Economics or she's there trying to score cheap political points. Either way, the credibility of your coalition is at stake and frankly, I'm not sure if I'll be voting PK the next time on.

If the contract is based on providing a fixed equity IRR to the IPP, usually additional tax would be considered a pass through as well. Re-negotiating the contract may deter further similar types of investments and may have much deeper consequences on the credit rating of the country. A thorough audit of the pass through costs would be useful, as usually there are many ways the IPP can spend money and claim it as pass through which perhaps, are not required.

Is there a buyout option in the agreement? One can explore the buy out terms to see if it makes more sense to pay a price for the buy out now, rather than letting the IPPs milk the difference across the rest of the agreement term.

Neil

Your knowledge of economics is flawed, to say the least.

One might well ask why Tun Dr Mahathir did not bite the bullet and do away with fuel subsidies during the 20+ years when he ran the show in Malaysia?

And is it ok for the govt to run a perennial (and substantial) budget deficit by paying out billions in subsidies in order to protect Malaysians from the ripples of the free market?

If a household budget runs a perennial deficit (expenditure exceeds income), then that household is a candidate for bankruptcy or for the tender mercies of loan sharks. And society would regard that household as being financially irresponsible.

But it's perfectly ok for the govt to be financially irresponsible and go on incurring budget deficits, purely because it has to pay out these substantial subsidies? No matter if the ringgit tanks into the basement, if foreign investors demand better returns on Malaysian bonds and if our hard-earned reserves (US$120 billion at last count) are frittered away in attempts to prop up the ringgit?

Nobody owes Malaysia (and Malaysians) a free lunch. Yet the proponents of subsidies are saying that free lunches are the order of the day!

One can blame the Malaysian govt for many things - like screwing up the education system, like not making the country an attractive place for MNCs and foreign investors to sink their roots, for misguided policies that aggravated the brain drain from the country etc etc, but not for trying to get this whole bloated scheme of subsidies under control before the country goes bankrupt and cap in hand to the IMF.

To compare Malaysia against the likes of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries, Iran or Venezuela is specious, just from the point of their respective oil and gas reserves. The CEO of Petronas has gone on record to say that Malaysia will be a net oil importer before 2020. I don't see anyone, let alone TDM or the Opposition, coming out in public to contradict him.

And if oil prices remain high, with all the corresponding knock-on effects, how is Malaysia going to pay it's way in a globalised world?

To pontificate from one's soap box is fine, but it is downright irresponsible to ignore the disciplines of the free market or the fact that Malaysia can continue to blissfully exist in some subsidised heaven where manna falls from the skies!

For BN supporters, they deserve this from the Caring BN Govt. Govt are saving the subsidies in the name of development to give contracts for UMNO cronies and attract more Malays to join UMNO. By doing this, the new members will also benefit from the contracts in the name of development. This is very well calculated move to attract more Malays for UMNO to remain relevant since they have only 5 years. "PAKATAN" Please do something.

skilgannon1066,

where in my entire post which was the word 'subsidy' ever mentioned?

you started from there and came to the same message that i was only just too polite to allude further - that the Umno has constantly missed the boat to make people more competitive and relevant to the globalization which i had also said has arrived at our shores.

Somehow you just went for the jugular without learning how to read properly.

Or, am i making another 'mistake' here, hum?

You want to appear righteous about free markets? Get in line behind me.

M'sia is in deep economic trouble now! Lots of crisis, chaos, etc

Questions is, what is the Govt going to to fix the mess they dig into?

If this drags on, foreign investors will pull out, currency will face another crisis again, stock market plunged....M'sia doomed...back to square 1

If I am not mistaken, the bulk of tenaga revenue is used to pay the IPP's. The owner's of these IPP's are listed in Malaysia'a ten richest people. They include syed mokhtar(largest benefciary), YTL(largest profit margin), genting, tanjung(ananda) etc.

Of all the direct nego projects obtained during the time of Dr. M, only one decided to reduce their charges voluntarily (Spanco for supply and maintenance of govenrment vehicles). The others contribute to make malaysia increasingly more expensive place to invest.

On the IPP's, the owner's of these entities, obtained more money directly by charging management fees/marketing fees to their own power plants/toll roads, thereby reducing their profit margins, which is then shown to the govenrment.We are screwed.

Malaysia wasted the oil bonus for the last 40 years.

Look at how Alaska manage the oil bonus.
http://www.apfc.org/

Last year 400000 Alaska resident get USD1654.00 dividend from Alaska Permanent Fund. They have been getting dividend for the last 26 years.

What we get from malaysia goverment? A miserable 625.00 rebate, provided you have a car.

Dear YB n fellow Malaysians,

I believe there have been a bit of misconstrued idea of what a subsidy is. It's to elevate the economic situation of the needy, poor or handicapped. In using the old subsidy, every user of fuel will get subsidised. Because there is no limit on the usage, those who use it more would benefit more. As all those guzzlers uses more than a Kapcai or Kancil, the rich actually benefitted the subsidy more than the poor, which defeat its purpose and is a missallocation of resources.

With current subsidy, a RM200 rebate to the guzzlers means little as it just fills up one full tank. As for the govt move to give a rebate of RM625 for vehicles less 2000cc, perhaps what they should do is another category of higher rebate for vehicles less than 1600cc or 1300. I am pretty sure even those who own a 1.8 or 2.0 car are at least not really in the poor category.

I would however agree with YB with regards to energy subsidy to the IPP's as it mean subsidy just to a few individuals. But again we got to look at the circumstances how the deal was done. I hope Yb would pursuit further to the "Justice of Allocation of National Resources".

Another Issue YB could pursue is the yearly amount used to subsidies the our fuel needs. These amount of at least 30billion could be easily used to have a very good public transport and road system. And it create JOBS.

Lastly, the subsidy and rent-seeking mentality has to be get rid off if Malaysia wants to progress.

If from positive view, with this new electric tariff..there may have a lot of people know to save monthly electrical bills as they may start know to appreciate it since it may affect living cost later on..

but from negative point of view, the lower income group people sure cannot afford to pay such high expense if they have heavy burden in themselves in which they wan to pay a lots of regular monthly expense...in the end, migration issue sure increased..

With such cash rebate subsidy, and human tendency to be corrupted, I predict two things:

1. The rise of the "junk investment cars"

and

2. The rise of the "phantom cars."

See the comments at:
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/home/42-lead-stories/239-pos-malaysia-explains-how-to-claim-rebate

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Woo Wee! Time to make money!
--------------------------

Here's a money-making scheme. Well if I don't do this, somebody will,
eventually.

I'm going to go out and buy 4 more of those RM800 all-but-broken-down
1979 Mazda/Suzuki/Nissan. Then I will buy another 5 for my father (who
has a license), 5 for my mother (who has a license), 5 for my
handicapped tenant (who will get a license by bribery), and 5 for each
of my 2 children, as soon as they are permitted to get a license ...

Then we will apply for the subsidies, and we should be getting RM625
for each car from POS. Then we need to pay about RM90 for the
discounted road tax. We net RM535 for each car.

Woo wee! That is 67% annual return! (535/800)

Other than my first car, we don't really drive all the other 23 broken
down cars. We have zero fuel cost there. So we have 23 "investment"
cars costing us RM18,400 one time cost, and RM12,305 yearly subsidy
income less road tax. Just sitting there, making the money from
subsidy!

Beats fixed deposit any time. Investment recoup in less than 2 years !
What business on earth will give you 67% return every year? Only in
Malaysia. Malaysia Boleh again!

May be it's a Finance Ministry conspiracy to revive the second-hand
Proton market.

Now, I only need to find the parking space ...

But then I don't even have to. Junk metals are selling at a good price
these days.

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Same with Selangor water.

If I need to use more water than the basic amount, I'll just apply for
a second tap in my mother's name. And a third water meter, in my
grandfather's name. And a fourth water meter in my maid's name.

Then I can use 4x minimum amount! Free.

I can even sell water... to the tourist and restaurant next door ...

----

My point? Subsidy leads to corruption. Subsidy distorts economy.
Subsidy leads to a convoluted social structure. Subsidy leads to waste.

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The Rise of Phantom Cars
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This cash subsidies for fuel will give rise to "phantom cars." This is especially easy later, when the government allows agents to cash the subsidies (without owners having to appear in person) because of the immense workload. This WILL happen, as soon a you realize there will be a few million car owners mobbing the 683 post office.

Even after a 40-year-old car is smashed into junk metal, its "paper-soul" (ownership certificate) will live on forever. The paper will be traded around, for buyers to collect, farm-out, and register in the names of relatives, maids, homeless people, deceased voters, etc.

The main broker then collects government subsidies yearly. It is a legitimate business for Ah Long to enter into. Also for DVD pirates and retired grandpas.

The broker/entrepreneur can also repackage and sell a whole stack of certificates around. Investors will bid up the price until the return falls toward a business-return rate, say 20%, but not as low as the nearly risk-less bank deposit rate.

That means, a RM1,000 old car certificate can probably rise 3x or so to RM3,000 when sold as a stack of ownership certificate. The first-comer broker/entrepreneur will then pocket the capital gain. The late comer collect the steady stream of subsidies. This is an innovation similar to real-estate or credit-card "securitization" that is causing so much trouble in World finance today.

Malaysia will be awash with phantom cars, which do not appear in traffic or car parks. Only in government records. Just like some of our voters