Curb corruption and wastage first
This article was earlier published in TheAntDaily.com on 21st September 2013
The Barisan Nasional government recently scored another “victory” over the people and the entire nation.
The prices of RON95 petrol and diesel were raised by 20 sen per litre to RM2.10 and RM2 respectively starting from Sept 3. Then suddenly, the RON97 petrol also went up by 15 sen on Sept 5. Inevitably, the blame game started, with the fingers pointing at the US. Its planned invasion of Syria had destabilised the entire oil-producing region of the Middle East. Putrajaya also singled out the ringgit’s performance and promptly blamed the international market for its poor showing.
Do these Barisan Nasional leaders in Putrajaya expect our people to believe whatever reasons or excuses that they have been giving? The pattern of blame has always been the same: whenever something goes wrong, it will always be the work of external forces, threats from the West and some foreign elements out to destabilise this region and our nation as well. Nothing is wrong with the BN government because it is always the “victim” of the “attacks” from the so-called external forces.
Then if the sentiments against the increase of the fuel prices were to rise a notch higher, the government and BN leaders would come up with something racial and religious so as to divert the people’s attention away from the government, which is the real culprit. And this is what actually had happened in the post-1997 economic and financial crisis.
The people’s disillusion with the BN government is evident: many felt cheated by the BN’s previous electoral promises that nothing in the market would be touched if it was voted back to power in the May 5 general election.
When the voices of public dissent became louder, the BN leaders began shouting back, labelling the people “ungrateful”. These leaders would then start comparing the fuel prices of other nations with that of ours. Is it appropriate to compare Malaysia under BN with the other nations?
Can we travel from north to south using the highway for free? Can we have the choice of buying an imported car at a cheaper and reasonable price? Why do we need to bear the consequences as a result of the poor and deteriorating quality of our national car? Are the public transport services here efficient? Why do the local automotive manufacturers here need so much protection from the government continuously? What kind of quality then does our government possess to compare with others?
Fuel subsidies are meant to lessen the burden of the people amid soaring inflation. Taking back the subsidies, especially during the current economic and financial uncertainties, would be definitely unjust. If the government is efficient, clean and free from any sort of negative elements, coupled with good public services, we would not be bothered so much with the subsidy cuts and other price increases.
Corruption and wastage in the current BN government and its government-linked companies (GLCs) are rampant and until today, Putrajaya has still not made any efforts to battle these negative elements seriously.
Before deciding on passing down the burden to our people, Putrajaya should first cut down on corruption and wastage in its administration and also in the GLCs, which had already cost the economy billions of ringgit, with the deficit increasing every year.
What is the point of the BN government warning traders and businesses not to raise their prices? How effective is government control? If the prices of the goods are not increased, their quantities or amount would be reduced or its quality would deteriorate instead. Can the government prevent it from happening? Traders and businesses will do whatever they can in order to survive. The inflated costs will still be passed on to the people and certainly, it cannot be avoided.
The BN leaders also pledged to continue the annual handouts of the 1Malaysia People’s Aid or BR1M. But BR1M handouts are given out on an ad hoc basis, while fuel consumption incurs daily expenditure. BR1M is definitely not a solution for those who have to bear the high costs of living as a result of the increased fuel prices. BN is now using BR1M to shield itself and also as a temporary measure to “compensate” the people.
Once fuel prices are increased, inflation would follow, prices of all kinds of goods will rise quickly – long before BR1M handouts reach the public.
If the BN government is really sincere and serious in wanting to help the people, then it should get rid of all corruption and wastage in the administration as well as in the GLCs.
