M'SIAN OIL SUBSIDY: A CONFUSE QUESTION OF AN ALREADY CONFUSED PHENOMENA

The sudden rise of petrol and diesel prices were nothing short of a shocker for the reasons of firstly when it was (as announced) supposed to be done somewhere in August (refer to Dato Shahrir), not right while we were still sleeping,  and secondly the margin of the increment for both the items for example petrol increment at a whooping 78 sen to RM2.70/litre from the previous RM1.92/litre.

I came across an article written by Tun Mahathir on the matter of OUR OIL, THE SUBSIDY AND THE SUDDEN RISES OF ITS PRICE. (refer here).

And one thing that interests me, was the mentioned of an approximately 400,000 BARRELS OF CRUDE OIL segmented for Malaysian consumptions. Mind us, that Tun is the current adviser to Petronas. Hence, he may well knows more than what meets the eye.

But to be frank, till now I still do not understand how and why the so-called mechanism of 400,000 barrels of crude oil produced and allocated for Malaysian by our dearest Petronas, daily; ends up with us Malaysians, BE MADE TO PAY AT AND ACCORDING to the current world’s gross market price of refined (processed) fuel which stands at (according to our know-how Johorean Minister) RM3.00/litre. Wasn’t it, the 400,000 barrels of our homely milked and made product, supposed to be FREE from global market interpretations (and effects) OR else it wouldn’t be ours to begin with? Would the cost of refining and processing crude oil in our own country with our own facilities, reaches up to RM3.00 for exact litre of consumption? That cant possibly be, right? Or was it a practice everywhere in the world, for a govt owned oil producing company to return (sell is the right word) the people’s treasure to the people (and govt) at a cost equivalents to the fluctuating price of world’s oil market? What rational does that constitutes? Because I cant find the reason as to why the govt has to subsidise our own plundered oil by the govt’s own company UNLESS the playing (and business) rules affecting this commodity’s trade (regardless of where it comes and goes) are of that it goes by not just the world’s standards, but also the world’s prices.

In layman terms, WE ARE BUYING IMPORTED OIL AT IMPORTED PRICE EVEN IF THAT SAD DISGUSTED OIL CAME JUST OFF THE COAST OF TERENGGANU.

I could be wrong, but it looks like Petronas is charging us every dollar and cent of world’s currency with no exceptions as to where the oil came from and who the 400,000 barrels consumers were.

So the QUESTION is, WHY DO WE HAVE TO LIVE BY THIS RULE IN OUR OWN TURF WHEN THE RULE FOR ONCE, CAN BE CHANGED AS IT IS OUR OWN PRODUCT WITHIN OUR GOVERNING JURISDICTIONS AND TERMS?

WHY do we have to pay for something that rightly, supposedly and beneficially ours AT THE CURRENT WORLD’S MARKET PRICE? I may be no Einstein, but theoretically, fixing the allocated 400,000 barrels each at a price which is much lower than the world’s price and acceptable to both the Govt and the people (consumers), by Petronas, can of course be done and making sense, right? And too, it wont make Petronas goes bling, broke and bankrupt. And surely the government too and its think-tank at ISIS and EPU can come out with a better scheme to at least temporarily accommodate its own people. At least better than the marginally little proportion of the so-called reduced and refunded Road Taxes.

I agree that Malaysian cant be taught and pampered all while long till eternity with oil subsidisation. Malaysian needs to be educate to accept the harsh realities which boggled the world around us. And we don’t expect to live with this cruel kindness of subsidisation, forever. Especially when crude oil supply in Malaysia is becoming thinner and thinner by day. BUT education needs and will take time. Its not an overnite matter like the flip-flop's announcement of the sudden oil price hike by our learnt minister. Encouraging Malaysian to be better prepared and understood, is to gradually and wisely phases-out the subsidisations. Not by strangling us with the shock of an electrifying magnitude announcement that makes some unfortunate thousands Malaysians become BROKE, the day after. We haven’t had enough of AIR inhaled getting over the recent cooking oil and rice issues. What more is there left, when suddenly, WE HAVE TO LEARN TO NOW START BREATHING CARBON DIOXIDE INSTEAD…IN ORDER TO LIVE.