Thursday 15 July 2010

Subsidy Cuts are inevitable even acceptable BUT Gomen must ensure no wasteful spending

Lets forget about the Anwar Ibrahim Apology/Kow Tow Tour and the Sand robbing scandal in Selangor for a while. Here is the latest not very good news for us Malaysians:

Government To Reduce Subsidies For Petrol, Diesel And LPG And Sugar


KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 (Bernama) -- The Government Thursday announced subsidies for petrol, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and sugar will be reduced as a first step to the gradual subsidy rationalisation programme effective Friday (July 16.)

Subsidies for RON 95 petrol and diesel will be reduced by five sen a litre and LPG by 10 sen a kilogramme, said a statement from the Prime Minister's Office.

This means RON 95 grade petrol will cost RM1.85 a litre while LPG will be sold at RM1.85 per kilogramme.

"RON97 petrol will no longer be subsidised. It will be subjected to a managed float under which the price will be determined by the automatic pricing mechanism.

"For sugar, the upward price adjustment is 25 sen a kilogramme, it said.

The statement said the minimal changes would help Malaysia achieve a position of fiscal responsibility and "put us on a path towards reducing our deficit."

"To meet these objectives, we have chosen to make adjustments to our subsidies," it said.

Even after these changes, the Government will still spend an estimated RM7.82 billion on fuel and sugar subsidies this year.

Fuel and sugar prices in Malaysia will still be among the lowest in the region, it said.

It said the subsidy rationalisation will allow Malaysia to reduce Government expenditure by more than RM750 million this year.

The decision to reduce fuel and sugar subsidies was based on the fact that reducing fuel subsidies would have the greatest impact on Government spending and reducing sugar subsidies "will allow us to promote healthier lifestyles, it said.


Its all very good and bold of the Government to save all these millions for the nation despite the fact it would pose serious political risk to the BN Government itself. PM Najib said the reduction in subsidies will allow Malaysia to reduce Government expenditure by RM750 million and the sugar price rise will promote healthier lifestyle.

However the Government must also be reminded to ensure not to come up with more wasteful ideas and projects such as a New Parliament Building, Tuna Fish wrangling, Stainles Steel Mosque in Putrajaya, Monsoon Cup, recruiting exercise 70,000 overseas Malaysians back to Malaysia for exactly what we do not know, etc.etc and paying countless millions on Non Technical Studies and Other overseas Consultants to do God knows what.

Instead of Con-sultants who gets paid millions of fees for advising God knows what, the GOMEN people must also seriously find time to have a read and do something on what these patriotic Malaysian bloggers have to say FOR FREE:

Syed Akbar Ali of OutsyedtheBox -
How to Rip off Taxpayers Money and here.

Another Brick in The Wall -
Hamzah Kassim and INNO ASSOCIATES

YB Wee Choo Keong -
Anti-trafficking of Persons! Anti-trafficking of National Assets!

Hantulautan -
Keuntungan Felda dan Sime Darby Memalukan Bumiputra

of course the Grand Old Man -
Khazanah

There are many more concerned Malaysian bloggers out there who criticize but criticizes the Government constructively. The message is the same, if the Government wants to impose subsidy cuts, it should in turn show that it does not willfully waste the people's money without any return benefit to the rakyat.

I said the Government is taking a huge political risks with subsidy cuts but the risks will be compounded and turned into less votes for the Government if it is not balanced by wise and controlled spending designed to benefit the Rakyat in general NOT just a few handful of parasites and cronies.

The BN Government ignore these advise at their peril, because if it continues to spend on wasteful projects and the GLCs keep losing billions due to misdeed/corruption, it is the ruling BN party members who would have to change their lifestyle as members of the Opposition. The majority Malays will still have political power make no mistake about that.

No comments: