When petrol price goes up...

Last few nights I had a dream, a dream where petrol price goes down as the nations get richer. What a dream and remain an elusive dream to most and unthinkable dream to the government. But hey, I was not born yesterday and I believed that with the education that I have and brain that the Al-Mighty give, when there are wills there are ways.

When the announcement was made yesterday about the increase in the petrol price, my dream was shattered. The powers to be fail to realized that their decision have affected the very group of people that they are sworn to protect – the public. Their decision has further increased the gap between the rich and the poor. The poor will feel poorer and for the rich …. well. .. not much is changing except a few more loose change has to go towards the purchase of petrol for their big cars.

Well, they always say that it is easy to critique but can you show us a better way in handling of this situation. Here is my proposal – Hit where you are supposed to hit, by that I mean the rich. Sorry, I have nothing against the rich, just some sympathy towards the poor.

1. Increase the road tax

Increasing road tax is the best way to recover the enormous amount of subsidy that the government has to fork up in order to maintain the petrol price. Increase the road tax for those who can afford it. The table below further explains my point.

CC/Cars age |  Below 3 yrs  |  4-9 yrs  |  More than 10

3000 above          600%              400%        0%

2001 – 3000        500%               300%        0%

1801 - 2000        300%               100%        0%

Below 1800            0%                   0%            0%
(The percentage refers to increase in current road tax)

2. Ban the sales of subsidized petrol to the foreigner.

The subsidy is meant for Malaysian but the Singaporeans and the Thais has been enjoying it. Why should we allow this to continue? I read somewhere a few months ago about a system using My Kad for the purchase of petrol for Malaysian. Well, the excuse they give is that it will incur a lot of cost for the installation. Oil and gas companies (including Petronas) have been making tonnes of money by using our national resources. They have been recording records growth almost every year since time in memoriam so why not for once force them to pay something that can protect our interest.

The foreigners might argue that that is one of their considerations for coming to ‘our turf’. Well, it is ‘our turf’ and we decide how the game is being played. Let them pay if they want to keep coming.

Conclusion

I know this can be done but the powers to be do not want to do it as it is going to effect the upper echelon of their supporters. Lets face it, we vote for you to make sure that we can live happily ever after ….. not so that you can do whatever you want without thinking about us. As an elected representative you are answerable to us …. The PEOPLE. Please have a will to find a way to bring the price of petrol back to yesterday as today is to far away from my dream.