Shahbudin: By-elections more important than Aidil Fitri

The hike in fuel prices at the pump shows the government doesn’t have a finger on the pulse of the nation and really couldn’t care less what the people think.

KUALA LUMPUR: The government’s decision to raise the fuel price at the pump from July 1, two weeks before the Aidil Fitri celebrations, shows that it does not have a finger on the pulse of the nation and really doesn’t care what the people think, laments a political analyst in his latest blog posting.

“Does all this mean that the government has really no money or is running out of it?”

“Is this what People First, Performance Now means?”

The difference this time, notes Shahbudin Husin, was that there was no announcement.

Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Minister Hasan Malek even declared two days ago that the government would no longer announce the fuel prices at the end of every month. Motorists would know about the new prices every month beginning at the pump. He referred to the need to minimize disruptions at the petrol stations and avoid having people going into a panic and lining up outside petrol stations to beat the midnight deadline on fuel increases.

“What happens if the fuel price comes down at the pump?” asked Shahbudin. “It looks like the government is trying to make fools of the people. They have a right to know whether the fuel prices are going up or down.”

“Couldn’t the government have postponed the increase at the pump, RON 95 by 10 sen a litre and RON 97 by 20 sen a litre, by another two weeks until Aidil Fitri was over? “

“Would the government have similarly announced a hike if there was a by-election in two weeks time?”

The rise in fuel prices at the pump will have a chain reaction and lead to an increase in prices all around and affect preparations for the Aidil Fitri, warned Shahbudin.

The government, by now, should know how traders think, he pointed out. “Any increase in prices at the pump will be used as an excuse by them to raise prices even for old stock.”

“At the same time, when prices at the pump go down as in the past, traders don’t reduce their prices accordingly and instead claim that their other costs have gone up.”

It cannot be underestimated that continuing increases in oil prices at the pump, even at a time when world crude prices have not increased, are additional burdens on the people, he stressed, coming in the wake of the devastating consumption tax, the Goods and Services Tax (GST). “The people, and even businesses, are still reeling from the effects of the GST.”