In just overnight, thousands of blogs would appear discussing about the recent 40% increase in petrol price all over Malaysia. At RM2.70 per liter, it is still lower than the market prices, if not by much; however, people are still staggering for the gigantic jump in price… no one even suspected that it would be increased in such big scale. The prices would be reviewed on a monthly basis, different from other countries where prices change on a daily basis.
While I am not exactly in agreement to the petrol hike, I do, however understand the need to withdraw the support of petrol subsidy. Once upon a time, cars were luxury items. Only the rich could afford it, but now, it has became a necessity. It is so ingrained in us that we could not survive with even a little bit of walking, or like China, sticking to the good old conventional method of cycling. Of course, in places like Kuala Lumpur, it would just be crazy to cycle all the way from Kajang to KL. Car pooling is not exactly a very good idea. While it is true that most people start work at around the same time, even those who are working in the same company might not leave for home at the same time. Some need to work overtime on an urgent project, some others want to have dinner before going home, some need to go home early to buy stuff to cook at home, some want to go home later in order to avoid car jam… the list goes on and on, and that is why the car pooling idea never work.
Well, there is always public transportation, but ask any Malaysian, and they will tell you millions of reasons for not using the public transportation. Unless one is a regular, one would never know which bus is going where until it stop right in front of you for you to read the sign in front or at the side of the bus which states where it is going. By the time you finished reading it, the bus would have already gone. Also, the signs mentioned only the names of famous places or streets… if you’re planning to go somewhere that is not really popular, you would need to know which route the bus will be taking and whether it would pass by your desired destination… which is impossible for those who do not take public transportation frequently. Of course, you could always ask, but it is a gamble since you might either meet a nice driver who would tell you which bus number to take or you would meet a rude one who would look at you, wondering if you are stupid for not knowing which bus to take.
Maybe with the increase in petrol prices, Malaysians can finally focus on improving the public transportation system. However, as in the past, Malaysians usually would protest for a while and after that, everything would just return to normal. They would still drive as much as they previously do, I would still get flashed by headlights for driving only at 110km/hr on the fast lane and people would still use big horsepower cars. Malaysians are just too flexible and fast to adapt to be affected much by such matter.
However, there has never really been such a high increase in such short notice as far as I remembered (which is not really that long). While Malaysians could find some way to adapt to the increase in petrol prices, it is the chain effects rippling from the petrol price hike that worries me. Immediately after the announcement of the price hike, the transportation companies quickly declared that they will increase their prices too. The electricity tariff has been announced to increase in line with the petrol price increases at the same time. True, it won’t affect much to the small households, but it doesn’t mean that it won’t affect most of Malaysians. First off, the prices of transportation would increase. Parents who send their children to school in school busses would have to fork out additional money. Those who are regulars in using public transportation would need to make out a new budget. The ticket prices for express bus, trains and planes would be increasing as well. Several times, I have met the situation where the fuel surcharge is higher than the plane ticket itself.
Next, we come to the industries. With the increase in transportation costs, the operating cost would increase, thereby reducing profit level. The manufacturers would most probably pass at least part of the price increases to the consumers since they would not be able to absorb the increases. This is because they would not be facing only increases in transportation costs. The material cost of metal and plastics would definitely be higher and the electricity prices would increase as well. With rising petrol, transportation and product prices, the inevitable would happen; the demand for higher salary. So, either the employers would not agree, which will lead to reduced buying power, lesser sales, reduced profit, closing down of unprofitable companies and finally losing jobs, or the employers would agree to it, which makes the operating costs even higher and thus even higher product prices, which cancels the effect of a salary increase and finally, we are back to square one. It is sort of an unending cycle, one that will lead to disaster sooner or later.
However, there is a mention of implementing a subsidy scheme, which I hope would alleviate people of their suffering. There is even a worksheet being circulated around that shows how much you will spend for petrol after the implementation of the new rebate scheme, though there has been no official information about this. It never ceases to amaze me where on earth did they acquire such information.
Anyhow, Malaysians are a resilient lot. Such a matter would upset them, yes, but they were never those who would only whine about something that cannot be changed. Some would reduce their petrol usage, some would attempt to increase their side income and some would just shrug it off as nothing happened, but in conclusion, it would take more than this small inconvenience to throw us into chaos.
