Why punish the ordinary folk? Go on AUSTERITY DRIVE first, UMNO-BN!

J. D. Lovrenciear

The Prime Minister has given the nation a jittery shock with his post-Raya news of a twenty sens hike per liter of fuel.

Although he has warned traders not to set the ball rolling by raising prices of all goods and consumables, let us not kid ourselves.

Runaway inflation

Let us get real for once. Will the traders be good Samaritans and philanthropists by absorbing the addition cost of operating their businesses owing to this sudden and hefty increase in fuel prices?

Or will the authorities succeed in going after all those who threaten to shut down their industries if the government fails to entertain the need to raise prices of cooking gas, cooking oil and all other goods and services like bus and taxi fares?

History cannot lie. From all the years of past experiences we know what will happen next. And despite the government reassuring the hard core poor that they have the comfort of the cash handouts, what about the vast majority of middle-class working families?

Austerity drive first

On the other hand, would it not have better sense if the government went on an austerity drive?

Look at all the excesses and wastages in terms of national productivity, national spending, national borrowings to keep buddies happy with their till, the extravagant post-Raya parties, the build-break-and-rebuild owing to negligence, oversights and incompetence, and a whole list of other examples including making obscene kick-backs and profit margins for individuals connected to the political party through the sale and procurement of all kinds of technologies including defense inventories.

Corruption

How about all the corruption that is already eating its way into the marrow of the nation’s wealth?

Would it not make more sense if the UMNO-BN government ensured that the savings from all the questionable businesses and national productivity and spending could help make the nation more resilient, in the wake of impeding financial and economic crunch?

Would it not make great savings for the nation’s coffers if corruption was tacked with vengeance and a steel-rod will?

Short-cut

It is indeed a pity that UMNO-BN is taking such shortcuts and an easy way out to put pressure on wage-earners by suddenly increasing fuel costs. The frantic rush to the gas stations to beat the 12-midnight deadline all across the nation is a barometer of what to expect with this hike.

All the lavish infrastructures, opulent developments and extravagant lifestyles of the power-brokers and controllers are certainly punching deep holes in the government’s coffers. Raising the fuel price will help not to put the squeeze on the hard-to-forgo good life.

Well what can we expect when time tested good common sense takes flight out of the window of UMNO-BN?

In the meantime, who does not know that local authorities and the police force have also descended on the streets to zealously issue summons for all kinds of offences including serving the tickets on dinners who park to eat at night where there is no office-hour traffic?

How long will the rakyat stay helmed-in from all sides is certainly another “Endless Possibility”.