As most of the Malaysian population is already aware of, our government has just raised the price of petrol from RM1.92 to RM2.70, a huge 28% price hike. The price of diesel, likewise has increased from RM1.58 to RM2.58, a massive 37% price hike. You see, the government claims that it is raising the price of petrol because they claim that they are no longer able to bare the costs of subsidizing fuel. This however has been proven wrong by quite a number of locals. Calculations have shown that an average person would have already paid way more than what the government claims to pay for an individual's fuel usage in tax when the paid for the car, fact!
The government claims however that with the population in mind, they have taken measures to 'ease our burden'. Well, they say a lot of other things too. Below is a snippet from The Star:
Abdullah also announced a RM625 annual cash rebate per vehicle, for owners of private vehicles with engine capacities of up to 2,000cc, as well as pickup trucks and jeeps with engine capacities of up to 2,500cc.
Owners of private motorcycles with engine capacities of up to 250cc will receive RM150.
Payment will be made via Money Order upon renewal of road tax, from July 1.
For owners of private vehicles with engine capacities exceeding 2000cc, road tax will be reduced by RM200.
After reading that, i had only one reaction, pure BOLLOCKS!! I drive a car that has an engine capacity below 2000cc, so hurray i get an RM625 rebate *insert sarcasm*. However, i've done some calculations of myself too. It normally costs me RM96 to fill up the tank with 50liters of petro. After the price hike, it'd cost me RM135 for an equivalent 50litres, an increase of RM39. Assuming one were to drive EXTREMELY economically, and assuming i didn't drive much, so i'd fill up once every fortnight. Even then, i'd fill up about 24 times a year, an increase of RM936 a year. Don't even get me started on the price hikes of other consumer goods and food this will cause. By the way, who the hell still refers to 4x4's as 'jeeps' in this day and age!
OOH WAIT! There's more, the road tax vehicles with engine capacities that exceed 2000cc will be reduced by RM200. Well, i've only got one thing to say to that, WHAT THE HELL??!?!? Did the person who signed off on this new ruling even read the draft?! Even with my under 2000cc car, that would only equate to only 5 fillups a year - pathetic! They might say, well they're richer, so it's their fault if they want to buy all these luxury vehicles with big engines, we'll tax them through the roof. Roadtax for a 5000cc car is about RM12,000. Well, that's pure crap too because did you know that yachts, jet skis etc etc are tax free? Ooh well, i suppose only the poor can afford them. The politicians will also argue that it is still significantly cheaper than what the Thais and Singaporeans pay for their petrol. Well here's the thing, their vehicles, and the costs associated with maintaining one are significantly cheaper there as well.
If they really want to help the rakyat, cut down, or even better, remove entirely the preposterous tax they impose on cars brought into the countries, at least down to internationally acceptable levels. After all, they say that Proton is no longer under protection by the country. So, why exactly are all the measures that were put in to protect it still there? Just as an example, a Range Rover bought in the late 80's cost about RM125k then. Buy one now, perhaps a medium specced one and you wouldn't get much change back from your RM800k, a 600% increase.
A side effect of this was, Malaysians being Malaysians, all flocked to the petrol stations to fill up their cars, even if it was just a bit. This caused a massive traffic jam nearly a kilometer long at nearly all the petrol stations, halting any progress.
Lastly, increasing the price of diesel by that much is just pure madness. It'd be fine if we got high quality diesel. Thing is, there's more sulphur in the diesel here than what a Ophidiophobic (snakephobia) stashes away. You might not know this but Mercedes benz stopped bringing in their CDI engines after the sulphur kept fouling up the injectors. New BMW diesels such as those that come in the 335d and such don't even come into Malaysia for fear of injector problems. How dare they increase the price that much and still give us the same sorry excuse that they call diesel??
Oooh government, what a tangled web you weave! I suppose there's nothing left to say, well other than Malaysia Boleh!!
Amen...
