Posted on by Kit

Pump prices of oil should be reduced to old price now

by Dr. Chen Man Hin

AS AN OIL PRODUCER, MALAYSIA MUST USE ITS OIL INCOME TO BOOST THE ECONOMY AND RELIEVE THE SUFFERING OF THE PEOPLE. THE CABINET MUST BRING DOWN PUMP PRICES IMMEDIATELY.

The cabinet should not dither any more on the critical issue of bringing down pump prices. It must NOW act to bring down the price of pump oil immediately.

The economy has slowed down considerably since the price of pump oil was increased by 42% from RM 1.98 to RM2.70 per litre. All sectors of the economy have been affected, The manufacturing industries, transportation, tourism, hotels, restaurants, shops and even markets have been affected bady because of the high increase of oil by government.

The construction industry is badly hit because of the rapid and huge price increases for steel, concrete and other building materials. Many contractors have surrended back their contracts to govenment and developers.

Housing developers report a drop in sales of 30% to 50%. House buyers are worried that developers may not be able to complete their houses.

Consumers are also suffering because prices of food have gone up.

The general population is being hit by a double whammy of high prices and reduced income, arising from the sudden hike of oil prices. Inflation has shot up to 8%, and this has reduced the purchasing power of a family’s income

The cabinet cannot delay any longer. The price of fuel and pump oil must come down to the former levels, immediately.

If the economy continue to slow with inflation of 8%, serious damage to the economy will occur and there will be a negative effect on the 9th Malaysia Plan with disastrous long term implications.

The country can afford to reduce pump prices. Malaysia is a net exporter of oil. the income from Petronas should be used to boost the economy and make life easier for the people.

Further more, international oil pundits say that present oil prices are ‘abnormal’ and are anticipating oil price to drop to US$78 per barrel.

The cabinet must act now and act fast. It has already made a serious mistake by raising pump price by 42% causing severe problems of inflation, slower economy and untold misery for the people. ACT NOW.

55 Replies to “Pump prices of oil should be reduced to old price now”

  1. A lot of retailers have increased the price of their goods. Does the govt expect them to lower the price? The govt’s hasty decision earlier allowed them to take advantage of the situation. And it will not be that easy to ask them to review the prices again. The damage is done.

  2. “Abdullah says Malaysian govt set to announce fuel price cut” – Yahoo Asia News
    ——————————————————————-

    It is too late. Damage has already been done to the economy. Prices of other goods that went up, after fuel prices were increased, will not come down!

  3. umno might make the reduction in pump prices conditional on its election victory in the coming Permatang Pauh by-election. Anyway, it desperately needs the billions it saved from Petronas fuel subsidies to buy over the voters just like it did in Ijok in 2007.

  4. Malaysia needs COMPETENT government to run the economy. The present government is messing up everything.

    The people who benefited from this round of fuel price hike are UMNO’s elite – the rakyat are the losers.

  5. Dr Chen, you mean, maintain previous prices and take back the RM1 billlion each from Sabah and Sarawak? What about those who had taken the R/tax rebates from the post office? Also take back!!

    Ha.. Dr, this is suicide for Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, but then it is not a bad idea too. At least is hastens his demise, I mean politically.

  6. For most of us when asked the question, “What goes up and never comes down?”, we would answer “Our age”. But for the BN government, “What goes up and never comes down?” has many answers – Taxes, duties, fuel, etc……., you name it, they have it! Simply defies the natural law of deman and supply (and that of gravity).

  7. Wow so much problem with the hike in pump price of oil. What is going to happen to the country when the oil tap runs dry and Petronas and country got no money to subsidize oil for mass consumption in a few years time. Maybe we should organise street demonstration against heaven and blame GOD for not giving us more oil reserve. Or perhaps we should pray 10 times a day instead of 5 to convince GOD that we deserve more oil for our economy. Wake up Dr Chen. We are leaving in the real world and the world is short of oil. Funny thing is the pump price in Singapore is about twice that of Malaysia even after the hike and there are no mass protest there. They are having rising unemployment and spiking inflation too. I think we should get into the habit of becoming more adaptable and bite the bullet instead of blaming everyone from the Government, Oil speculator all the way to GOD. It is time to realise that the price of oil is determined by demand and supply and that Malaysia is really spending too much money subsidizing oil. Money that is better spent on the community and people.

  10. Well, as the world knows, the BN govt is famous for making hasty decisions without projecting the far reaching effects on the economy and the people.

    First, raise the fuel price by 42% . There was spiralling effects on the economy; price of rice increase from RM 30 to RM 50 per 10 kg bag ( 60 % increase ) ; hawkers food increase by 15 % ; bus fare will be hiked later on. Essentail consumer goods increase on the average by 5-8 % .

    The palm oil price in the world market increase to more than RM 4,000 per metric ton. This rakes in billions of ringgit for the government coffers. Where has this money gone ?

    On top of this there is the cooking oil cess imposed and this money collected will be used to stabilise the cooking oil price in the domestic market. Yet we see that the refiners are crying that they have to subsidise the cooking oil produced. This is utter nonsense ! In this case either there must be a misappropriation of the cooking oil cess collected or the govt did not do a good collection of the cess.

    Finally, who is suffering ? The poor rakyat !

    Luckily, the local government assessment rates have not gone up.
    Thanks to water subsidy for Selangor residents which is good for pensioners. Any amount will help in these circumstances.

    Gaji tak naik dan apa kita boleh buat ? Tambang bas sekolah memang naik.

    The Federal govt gave subsidy in the form of RM 625 per car subject to a maximum of 5 cars per person per year. Wow ! This is helping whom ? The rich memang lah , who owns a stable of more than 5 cars and will get RM 3,125 per annum. Which target group is the govt helping ? The poor who takes bus does not benefit at all and they are the ones who suffered the most in this trying times.

    This is defintely not what a caring government should do !

    The govt should have allow the fuel price increase on a graduated basis, say first by 10-15 % and see the effects for six months. The inflation rate would not have been that bad if this was done so.

    And now, there is talk of bringing the fuel price down because the price of crude oil had come down. What rubbish economic planning ? This is hasty and poor planning. The effects of 42 % increase in goods and services across the board had been done.

    What goes up in these areas seldom and never come down. The poor rakyat is the one who is suffering the most on all fronts.

    I hope the rakyat is not liwat from the front and the back literally.

  11. yes ….3 days before polling date ..everywhere in the Media Fuel Price drop 50%…..to the uneducated that is a lot….to the educated its still more than the $1.98 price increase……Malaysian have very short memory of pain and Generation of loss opportunity.

    Do whatever you can to stop or Neutralise all UMNO-BN media from reaching the people……Have lots of digital camera ready to post all UMNO-Rempits acts of terror and u-tube. This time show no mercy…whatever it takes….don’t let the Bandar Mahkota Cheras acts of terror by 3 line UMNO Gangs go unpunished…..take action 100 with stick vs 20 UMNO gangs………Whack and run….when the groups are separated turn back and whack them proper beyond recognition…..or else you will be whacked…pick your choice!

    Self preservation is no casulty to democracy….Bumi non malay!!

  12. FY Lim states : (from BN aka Govt to Rakyat)

    “First, raise the fuel price by 42% . There was spiralling effects on the economy; price of rice increase from RM 30 to RM 50 per 10 kg bag ( 60 % increase ) ; hawkers food increase by 15 % ; bus fare will be hiked later on. Essentail consumer goods increase on the average by 5-8 %.”

    Britcrazelady states : (from Rakyat)

    NO RAISE IN SALARY.. Die…….

  13. I THINK that UMNO will announce reduction in fuel price 2 days before Permatang Pauh election. THIS TIME NEVER CAN LET BN WIN AT PERMATANG PAUH. THEY TRY TO REDUCE FUEL PRICE TO WIN PERMATANG PAUH VOTER. EVIL IDEA…IF THE DO WIN, THEY CAN RAISE UP THE PRICE…VOTERs, please don’t get fool again…we need to be real smart this time if we want to save our MALAYSIA.

    Anwar, if you can make them bring down fuel prices even before u become a PM, i wonder what u can do for us when you are PM…ALL THE BEST!

  14. Damage has been done. Don’t expect the prices of foodstuff etc to come down. The 2nd Finance Minister is a clot for raising the price of petrol. Could’nt have been the Bodoh PM. He only acts on all this guys recommendations even cutting off aid to Penang and making rakyaat suffer. They are more interested to see whose ### is torn rather than going after murderers. Fat Botak and the rest of these scumbags should be sent packing in the next GE. I hope its soon, and we won’t make the same mistake of voting Barang Naik party.

  15. Under BN, the cost of living is only uni-directional; that’s to go UP!

    The Law of Newton, “What goes up must come down” will NOT BE APPLICABLE in Malaysia as long as the BN is in power. To maintain their empire and their grips on power, they need money. They’ve got a lot of cronies to be fed and it is always at the expense of the rakyat.

    The times has come for the rakyat to wake up! Either all of us get real in our perspectives, set our differences apart, have mutual tolerances with each other and embrace each other as decent “human beings” beyond the common “racial or religious” issues; we’re all going to be doomed in entirety as one nation.

    That’s a FACT…

  16. umno’s strategy of saifooling the rakyat

    First, raise the fuel price by 42% .
    Then, bring it down by 4.2% for the by-election
    Resultant increase of 42%-4.2% = 37.8%.
    Then, after winning in Permatang Pauh, raise it by 30%

  17. Just see whether Abdullah and BN government will keep to what they said when the price of fuel, petrol & diesel were raised by 41 and 63% respectively at the pumps, that the price will be adjusted when the world crude price drops.

    The world crude oil price has indeed drop quite a substantial amount over quite a few months now.

  18. The act of raising petrol price by 40% and then giving us a cash rebate is akin to a chinese saying, “Taking off your pants to fart”. It means doing extra work for the same effect.

    Instead of raising the prices gradually we get a 40-60% increase and then do more work to give rebate. Now rebate given for the whole year’s budget they have headache on how to bring down prices. Alas, the inflation effect cannot be reversed anymore.

    If this is not incompetence I don’t know what is. I think if I close one eye and pick out one of the contributors here, he/she will probably do a better job!

  21. Hisabputing said “”DSAI is trying to divert attention away from his sodomy charge by having this BY-ELECTION.” By having this BY-ELECTION DSAI is infact bringging more attention to his sodomy case.
    The number one issue in this BY-ELECTION will be the sodomy charge .Tell you ahhhhhhhhhh this BN bigots are sitting on their brains.That also if they got one lahhhhh….

  22. You guys know anything about yo-yo.
    Well it goes
    yo-yo
    yo-yo
    yo-yo
    yo-yo
    yo-yo
    opps
    lets start again
    yo-yo
    yo-yo
    yo-yo
    Remember all that?
    Fun wasnt it?
    Thats why the overgrown sleepy kid is enjoying what he is doing.

  23. those who will benefit the most are food vendors. their prices will never come down while cost of raw metrials may go down. Their nett profit widens. For us we will still be paying the new pricing albeit saving only on our fuel for our automobiles.

    Electricity tariffs has gone up…will it be brought down? I doubt so…

    TNB, Telekom (rm23 rental) all out to kill the rakyat. Caring govt when they cant even provide us such facilities cheaply?

    Go fly WAU la!

  26. If DSAI can make the BN government reduce the price of petrol before he even win the Permatang Pauh by election, can you imagine what he can do after he becomes the Prime Minister.

  27. Lets pray that the BN and AMNo Putra will lower the fuel price before the Permatang pauh by election. Take and then enjoy and VOTE FOR PR and VOTE DSAI, need full support from all malaysian make way for DSAI to be the PM and let the BN candidate lose his deposit. After all those AMNOputra cronies have sucks the raayat money for 50 years. Lets as Malaysian malay putra , Malaysian chinese , malaysian Indian , malaysian iban, malaysian kandazan, malaysian erasian, and all Malaysia Malaysian enjoy and celebrate ……………… New Malaysia the world will look at with a thump UP

  28. increase by the ringgit and justify to reduce by sen !!! true nature of BeEnd mathematics expose.
    Is BeEnd sincere in reducing the price ? Even if price drop to less than USD 100/barrel . The issue of subsidy will still be heard.
    when the price drop to less than USD70, our export income will be lower. Who is going to “subsidise” the fuel. Rakyatlah, siapa lagi !!!

    Also, why only petrol. I use diesel for my pick-up. since the 1st day ( 1999 ) til now, prices has gone up more than 100%.
    Just hope that DSAI will thrash BeEnd in Permatang Pauh.
    Let’s see why dirty tactics BeEnd will come up again.
    I do not see any sincerity in this fed government. so dissapointed…. i was still hoping they would do something after we really teach them a lesson.

  29. Your intentions are noble and good for the welfare of all Malaysians, Dr. Chen. But alas big ears has only the lobes and no drums. And the greatest medical mistery is then void between them.

  30. also, Shell fuel is really good. i found out only recently the extra mileage ( 10 to 15% ). Why can’t Petronas produce such good fuel ? We have a well equiped Petronas Research ( PRSS ) in Bangi. Another white elephant ? or are we looking somewhere else ?
    At this moment, I will only buy Shell !!!

  31. what the hell!when he announced the price increase,he did it in a few hours notice to the people.all hell broke loose and curse we have to rush to the petrol kiosk,.
    now the price might decrease but one month notice from now on 1st.sept.

  33. The govt has no right to increase the petrol price.
    The govt has taxed heavily on cars to protect Proton. The tax is more than the subsidy. There is the taxed money???
    IF you tax other cars heavily and give Proton time to be competitive, that’s fine. However, even after 20 years of support, PRoton still remain uncompetitive. The reasons: corruptions, corruptions, corruptions. THe culture in the govt and govt related companies are always corruptions, corruptions, corruptions.
    SO, THE GOVT HAS NO RIGHT TO INCREASE THE PETROL PRICE.
    IF YOU WANT TO INCREASE THE PETROL PRICE. OK BUT REMOVE THE TAX ON OTHER CARS.

  35. The Baddie PM & gang is sure to come up with more announcement of goodies for the rakyat to win over the votes of the people in the upcoming by-election and also to move the rakyat away from supporting Pakatan. So we can all anticipate further reduction in price of fuel… but for short term only, therefore be wary of their motives & do not be fooled by BEend Gomen.

  36. Y’all are right. The price increase shouldn’t have been increased overnight by 42%. The damage has been done and has accelerated to the deterioration of the economy which is dragged by the looming global recession. It took the rakyat over 20 years to repeatedly questioning on the balance sheet of Petronas. It’s not the rakyat being pessimists ,but voicing the realities of living. Ironically the BN govt suggests the people to have to downgrade lifestyle when everyone is already living by basic means.

  37. ‘tonysam18 Says:

    Yesterday at 19: 07.49
    If DSAI can make the BN government reduce the price of petrol before he even win the Permatang Pauh by election, can you imagine what he can do after he becomes the Prime Minister.’

    Yeah I imagine he will go after all the crook politicians and their cronies who have sucked our country dry and plundered all our natural resources.

  38. He will release all political detainees and move to repeal ISA and OSA. Reform the judiciary and bring back its independence. Cut wastages, reduce dependence on oil, stop all white elephant mega projects, spend more on education, increase the police force and reform it, etc. etc.

    This is the minimal requirements of the Rakyat. If he can’t do it then we have the power to vote for someone we think can do it. All eligible voters please register with the SPR to exercise your power before its too late.

  39. oh come on….. The governmen said petrol price will be decreased only on SEPTEMBER. What the f##k??? AAB said our petrol price will be adjusted according to the oil price on market. Now we got to wait? He is enjoying his cup of tea while everything is costing more. Come on, don be lazy and slow in reacting to this inflation issue. I bet by September, when the oil price per barrel gone back to US$140, AAB will say there’s no need to adjust as oil price has gone up.

    By the way, only 6 cents will be lower not 60 cents. So don be too happy anyway.

  40. can someone explain to me how gas prices work in malaysia? in the u.s., the government has nothing to do with pump prices. what u pay at the gas station correlates to price per oil barrel on the open market.

    anyways, when aab raised prices he pointed to global oil prices as the reason. he had no choice. now he’s claiming credit for lowering pump prices when in fact oil prices has gone down on the world market. and what timing (so close to the pp election)!

  41. The people has been sodomised by the high car prices, road tax and ever increasing toll.Now prices of essentials are on an upward spiral.
    The so called petrol subsidy in an indirect effect, off sets the high duties paid on our cars.It also means the rakyat receives an invisible dividend from our oil wealth.
    If they remove the subsidy, then they must reduce the duties on the cars and abolish road tax and do away with their crony toll.

  42. When he was talking about the new price mechanism in Sept, he was grinning as if saying “see what a good idea I have, price can come down”..

    He is a freaking idiot if he believes pump prices will fall much to benefit consumer. All he is doing is causing uncertainty in prices that deters everyone from investing and consuming. Slowing the economy even further.

  43. Petrol Price INCREASE from RM1.92 to RM 2.70

    INCREASE 78 cts or 41%

    Petrol Price DECREASE from RM 2.70 to RM 2.64

    ONLY 6 cents or 2.2 %

    If there is REDUCTION.

    SO I DONT THINK THE REDUCTION IS OF ANY USE OR IMPACT

  45. Saturday August 2, 2008
    Monthly review of petrol price

    PUTRAJAYA: Petrol price will be reviewed monthly from Sept 1 based on the average global market price and subsidy will be fixed at RM0.30sen a litre, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said……………..

    PLEASE CHECK DETAILS HERE for above

  46. It appears to be very fishy when our government failed to show their interest to reduce burden of the citizen. It only takes about a month right after the election to raise the oil pump price but with the promise that it will raise on August, and YET the gasoline price has dropped for so long but Badawi and his cabinet announced it MAY dropped on 1st September?

    If 1st September, it has already badly damaged the economy because things like groceries especially chicken has been rapidly rise twice per week. I would rather pleased you not to lower down the price, because the price of groceries will never go down but it will go up again even the price will go back to RM2.78/litre.

    Thank you Badawi, for destroying our economy and all the Mahathir work. Hope the Anwar win the Pematang Pauh seat, and let’s March to Putrajaya and kick Badawi out of his seat.

  47. USA per capita GNP US$ 35,400
    UK per capita GNP US$ 25,510
    Australia per capita GNP US$ 19,530
    Singapore per capita GNP US $ 20,690

    Malaysia’s per capita GNP US$ 3,540. umno must explain this in the coming by-election

  51. It’s easy to say when the crude oil price is dropping “gov will not increase price until end 2008”. Whatever the case, the entire system seems to be wrong. Eg. It is probable that fishermen are more than happier to sell the subsidised diesel than to catch fish. Sometimes, the amount of diesel used is more than the value of the day’s catch.

    The gov just helped them to make a bigger profit with the 63% increase at the pumps (RM 2.58) & industrial diesel at RM 3.40-3.80 should they find a way to abused the subsidy given to them. The potential is there. Fishermen subsidised diesel at RM 1.40 if not wrong. So, who is pocketing it?

    All the price of fuel is issue is now trying to be buried by gov with the so-do-mee case. Let’s also not forget the indelible ink issue. The people responsible for the cheating the people’s right should not be ignored.

  52. What we should say is that after so many years of harvesting petroleum, and Palm oil, rice, sugar cane, vegetables, fruits, rubber, fish and etc., we are still in bad shape, WHY?
    Where is all the money goes? With rich resources, our personal income still below par, education system is lousy although we have so many Universities, the welfare is bad, no health coverage even though you pay your taxes, most of doctors and nurses in Government hospital are bad in attitude.
    If most of us, Malaysian earning more or our purchasing power is strong, means that our currency exchange rate is the same as Singapore, I think there will be not so much of a problem. But when our neighbors’ country are getting stronger especially Chine and India, they will create two giant black hole and start to suck all the raw materials like steel, cement; and food like fish, meat and vegetables.
    SO now when this kind of things happen, like materials, crude oil increased in price, people can feel it immediately because our money is small, but if we increase our exchange rate, foreign company will feel that our country is not competitive anymore, they will start moving out, then disaster will come.
    SO if you r the government, what should you choose?

  53. It is not up to us to increase the exchange rate though the exchange rate could be manipulated by our govt or speculators for a short time, but it all depend on supply and demand for the currency. If there’s no support for our currency exchange rate through actual productivity, efficiency gain etc. in Malaysia, our exchange rate will never be going up or on par with Singapore in the long run!!! Instead, it will be coming down!!! This happened even to US Dollars!!!

  54. VOTE FOR ANWAR!!!! Badawi tried to fool us with the new oil price on September…. why now???? why just after Wan Azizah vacant her seat?????

    Bodohwi, please dont insult our intelligence… we r not as stupid as u r….

  55. concerned_citizen Says:
    “Now when Anwar wants to contest and gain entry into Parlimen, he proposed that oil price will be cut soon. What the heck??”

    it is unethical to use national resources for political advantage.
    imagine! lowering the price of oil as a political tool, and NOT with the intention of reducing the rakyat’s burden.

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