Petrol Price Hike

Unless you have been living under a rock, by now you should know that the Malaysian government has drastically increased the price of fuel. Most people (myself included) already expected a fuel price hike sometime this year, but I don't think anybody expected this huge a jump.

Before the general election, they promised that there will be no increase in fuel price (I didn't really believe that nonsense anyway, did you?).

Two months after the election, you hear them saying that will have to review the fuel subsidy. About the same time, some other government official also said that the government has no plans to raise fuel prices. By this time, most people were expecting a fuel hike soon.

Then on 2nd June, we get news that fuel price may rise come August. Still OK, we still got two months to prepare. And two days after that? BAAMM!! Our Prime Minister hit us with the mother of all bombs!

What the hell??!! Why does our government keep doing that? One moment they tell us, "No-lar, we're just reviewing the subsidy only, maybe in August will increase". The next moment, they say, "Tomorrow all fuel prices will increase by 40%! It's for the good of the country!".

I really cannot understand why they have to announce something so important at the eleventh hour and create chaos in the country. How will the people ever live normal lives if the government keep dropping bombshells like this?

Remember the general election? "No elections yet. Don't listen to rumours-lah". The next day - "Listen up everyone! The whole country will go to the polls this weekend." So, if you had a wedding event planned for that fateful weekend, you might as well kiss the event that you painstakingly planned ONE YEAR ago goodbye. Everybody you know will need to exercise their voting rights - so, the only ones who will be attending the most important event in your life will be you, your wife-to-be, and your relatives who are too young to vote.

But I digress.

I really wonder if our government thought it through before they implemented the fuel hike. Have they actually performed a study to see how this hike will affect the lives of the average Malaysian? Did they really think the country was ready for such a whopping increase?

Is our public transport system ready to handle it if suddenly 20% of all private vehicle owners suddenly decided to use the public transport to travel to work? Our public transport system which cannot provide a consistently punctual service even now?

The domino effect of this sudden move will be seen very soon. In fact, I heard that some school bus operators have already informed their clients that they have to increase their fees starting Monday.

How will the average Malaysian cope? If I ever find out how, I'll let you know.