Hantu Laut
I hope the next time the Prime Minister announces a price hike in petrol and diesel he would do it in the dead of night so those foolish and unreasonable Malaysians would be soundly asleep in their beds and would not become nuisance on the roads just to save a few ringgit causing inconvenience to others who have other more important things to do.
Last night, I had to sent my wife to her brother's house for a pre-wedding dinner she has to attend for the wedding of one of her nieces over the weekend.
We live in the outskirt about 30 km from town which normally takes about 30 minutes by car.
We left the house at about 7 p.m. without realising I have forgotten to top up my tank earlier in the day.I noticed I have less than a quarter tank and would need to top up at the nearest petrol station, which is about 5 km from my house. A kilometer before the station we had to slow down to a crawl, thinking it could be an accident ahead of us, we kind of say 'what to do' must be another one of those grisly Kancil.
We had no choice but to move at snail pace and hope it wouldn't be a long queue.As we near the station it dawned on me that it wasn't an accident but people queueing up to fill their tanks before the new price become effective after midnight.
There were cars,trucks,buses and motorbikes all over the place vying to beat each other to reach the pump first.I decided not to fill up and hope the next station wouldn't be so bad.
At the next station the queue was much longer but was more orderly, choking only the left lane and keeping the right lane of the highway free to moving traffic. I again decided not to fill up and hope for the best at the next one.Before I reached the next station my low fuel warning light had come on.
The next station was absolute mayhem, my six sense told me I have to get away from the place as quickly as possible before my car gave up on me.I turned to a coastal highway I knew didn't have any petrol station that is likely to choke up the highway.
Like godsend, I heard my wife said " Isn't your uncle's house about a kilometer from here, why don't you leave your car at his place and borrow his and return it later and take our car and top up later in the night after all those idiots have gone home".
Well, we did exactly that and by the time we got to her brother's the whole journey which normally took half an hour had taken us almost two hours.
Pak Lah, I am with you in removing the subsidy, but the next time you announce a price hike, please do it when we all are nicely tucked in our beds.
I don't agree with the cash handouts to motorcyclists and small powered car owners.It is too little to make any significant impact on the the lives of those who are in dire need of it to help them overcome the rising costs of living.Not all owners of car 2500 c.c.and below are poor.There are many Malaysians who own multiple cars.
Let assume in my household I own a Proton Wira 1500 c.c under my daughter's name, a Toyota HiLux 2500 c.c under my wife's name and a Porsche and Merc under my name. Do you think my family deserved to claim the handouts, which legally my daughter and my wife should be entitled to.
You be greatly mistaken if you think honesty is a virtue that many Malaysians possessed.
Subsidy should only be given to the poor and low income earner based on their income not on the type of car they drive.The low wage earner, fishermen and farmers are people more in dire need of help than a guy who earned RM4,000. per month and decides to use a Kancil or a car of less than 2500 c.c.
You need less amount of subsidy and would help more of those who deservedly in need of help if a different formula had been used.
Really don't know who are your economic advisers. One day you banned foreign cars from filling up, next day, whosh! no more ban.
What's going on.Are we in la-la land ?
7 comments:
HL,
You pun kena?
They should have given a longer notice so that should there be a rush to fill up, it will be spread over a longer period and not a few hours.
Hope they will learn something from this episode.
He didn't acquire the tag Bodowi for no reason.
HL,
Bodohwi wants us to pay "Market" Prices for our Petrol. Yup, sure, that's not unreasonable. Bodohwi wants us to change our life styles. Yup, sure, that's not unreasonable.
HOWEVER, before Bodohwi expects us to do this, first off, let's get Bodohwi & BN to changs first! Stop corruption, stop cronysim, stop...we all know lah...no need for me to "preach to the quire"!
Before Bodohwi expects us to pay "Market" Prices for Petrol, stop the Government Tariffs on Foreign Cars so that we can pay "Market" Prices for cars. We all know we are paying thousands more for cars. Oooops! Wait a minute, that's not going to be done is it?
God help us because the Devil (read: BN) will not!
I have been one of those who disagreed with PMs "jumping ship". However, I have changed my mind. I pray DSAI gets his 30 or so MPs so that the "PR" can take over the Federal Govt. I think Malaysians are ready for the "PR" to show what it can do!
Sorry...no need for me to "preach to the choir"!
Yes ! We are really in la-la land !
For them ,we are simply just nothing , because those foolish and unreasonable Malaysians just want to save a few ringgit causing inconvenience to others who have other more important things to do.
Why !?
Is that the few ringgit can save us the whole life saving?
We are wrong !It may cause life waste.
Do something more relevant, before it's too late !
RAKYAT love MP. MP serve RAKYAT.
It's not a stupid thing. It did cause a lot of trouble, no doubt. But money saved is money earned. Normally it costs me RM70 to fill up my diesel car, now it costs RM114. It's RM44 for me. At least I felt good about it.
One thing we are sure is neither one opinion is absolutely right or absolutely wrong. That is why we need expert managers to manage our country. We all subscribed to doctrine of democracy (again depends on the extent of definition one wants to meant- another argument). Basically as long as majority are happy we settled with it. That would be the accepted norm. So we see here making people happy isn’t just about displaying statistics.
Hantulaut may be an economist others perhaps engineers or medical doctors, so divergence of know how, in real life there is no single profession monopolizes politics. Politics I would say very much of an art. Thus the job of the managers of our country is by making thing possible. I think this is exactly what Abdullah Badawi is doing. If it is possible, that majority of the people will accept the petrol hike without creating havoc? If havoc happens, government can’t stop it, and if majority of Malaysian want to go for demonstration on the street, by this time I can say Abdullah Badawi is wrong. Politician has to fix it.
I for one would like to see our political system changed. Say a bi party system or called it two blocks. It isn’t just because I want to follow USA or UK system, but that the nearest system we could have and the only available system that many other countries in the world are envious to have. If one thinks about duplicating a kind of system of government from Middle East, I think many of our young would reject it when no country is seen credible to set as an example, perhaps there would be bigger havoc in the future.
What I am trying say here is, our leaders are lack of skill against the background of the world today. We want our young leaders to be prepared and understand that we no longer live as 50 years ago where our parents or may be many of us subservient to leaders from UMNO or BN. BN is basically UMNO I reject most of its leaders especially the old ones now. I don’t believe they will change their attitudes if they continue running the country.
As for the price hike, politicians should be sensitive and tolerable to the rakyat. I expect politicians to know the art of politicking not to the extent of creating misery to the majority of rakyat.
Amde Sidik
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