Thursday, June 05, 2008

Government Over-Reacting To Global Oil Market, Says Mukhriz Mahathir

Being a net oil exporter, Malaysia should not have overly reacted to the artificially inflated global fuel price, Jerlun MP Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir said.

Instead of restructuring the country’s subsidy package according to the volatile global market price, the authorities concerned should have formulated strategies to cushion the impact, he said.

He described the petrol price increase by 78 sen per litre and diesel by RM1 per litre as too drastic.

“The rakyat is already burdened by the rising cost of living. We cannot justify the increase by saying that our fuel price is still lower than Singapore. “We cannot compare with Singapore, as their per capita income is three times higher than us,” he said, adding that the people were not prepared for the additional burden.

He appealed to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to look into the possibility of imposing the fuel increase on staggered basis.

“If Pak Lah is not up to it, please make way for someone who is willing to do it (impose measures that would ease public burden),” he said.

Abdullah had not taken into consideration the feelings of the rakyat when he made such a drastic decision, which had a spiralling effect on consumer goods and food.

“Although we read in papers that the economy is thriving, men on the street are not feeling it. They also do not have the means to absorb the sudden increase in fuel price,” he said.

He called on the authorities to formulate a workable solution to avert a crisis. “We can look into unconventional methods to address the problem. For example, during the Asian financial crisis, Malaysia pegged the ringgit to shield currency onslaught. During that time, we were criticised for ignoring the principles of economy. But such unconventional measure proved to have worked in our favour,” he said.

Mukhriz also criticised an article that highlighted Singaporeans expressing relief that the Malaysian government would not imposed a ban on sales of fuel to foreign-registered vehicles at petrol stations located within 50km from the border.

“It sounds ironic, as if we are doing this for the Singaporeans, not for us (locals),” he said. (The Star)

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7 Comments:

Blogger AnakMelaka said...

wow whacked paklah & spore at the same time - you sound just like your dad!

no YB, we are doing this for the malay muslims Thais, the so called Singaporeans are actually Malaysians with Spore cars working there.

why do you think there are so many malaysians working in Spore?

6:51 PM GMT+8  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah, we should make this s.o.m. (son of a mamak) PM as everything would be solved

7:59 AM GMT+8  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If it were his Daddy who had done this, he would have been able to explain it away!
However, in this case he is right! The BN Govt. usually hates to compare with Singapore because we look stupid. But in this case they decide to use Spore as an example!

8:14 AM GMT+8  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great commentary. Would prefer if the author include his/her opinion like the author used to do in his/her earlier postings in 2006 and 2007.

You blog has been reviewed by Malaysia Blog Gallery Directory

8:36 AM GMT+8  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Like father like son. Sometimes I'm wondering whether he is dictating what his father wants to say and make it sound like it is "umno". Smart strategy this Mahathir family. THAT'S why Mukhriz still remains in umno so he can continue do what his father cannot using umno's name!

Saying that, the MPs should propose something to help the rakyat out in this. Why the PR leaders only idea is to organize demos and screaming out vote anwar if you want ur minyak to decrease price?

12:04 PM GMT+8  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

thats why..PR leader never propose any real solution to overcome this problem. maybe their only interest to get vote and not really helping rakyat

12:51 PM GMT+8  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

mamak mahathir is smart. he planted a trojan in UMNO by asking mukhriz to stay back in umno. Bloody mamak, the mind of a JEW.

9:25 PM GMT+8  

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