Bitter Medicine to Swallow but a Major Loophole Remains

It seemed like petrol was becoming extinct this evening as petrol stations had cars queueing up by the score until midnight or until the pumps ran empty.

I received an SMS at about 6pm with a brief message that petrol would be up by 70sen. If I had not been going out I would have stayed at home, rather then make a special trip to save RM3 or RM4 as I had just filled my tank during the week-end.

I had a meeting and on my way home, it was bedlam at the petrol stations with multiple queues, with one lane blocked on the road into the station.

So the government has taken the bold step to slowly get rid of our subsidy mentality and it is quite a big shock as previously the PETRONAS coffers were left unprotected with so much wanton spending - just go visit PUTRAJAYA and see for yourself the opulence and how much money can be spent on frivolous structures.

It is also naive to think that the cost of living is going to remain static as I expect the purchasing power of the lower income to be reduced by at least 25%.

Of course as our PM says in the malaysiakini article,
"Abdullah: We can't satisfy everyone"
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/83959
(Thinking: "As long as I can still fly my executive jet at 25litre/km and spend RM1m on the next election campaign, I will continue in this tough job")

But they should have plugged a major leakage at the Thai border. Now that they will lift the ban on sales to foreign registered cars, they should impose the 3/4 tank rule on cars entering Malaysia. Otherwise one will see some cars being converted to mini fuel tankers with 2 or 3 trips each day.

But this fuel price and electricity increase means one thing. The government will not call for elections for at least 6 months unless it is going to be defeated by a vote of no confidence in Parliament.