The political situation in Malaysia really is saddening. On one hand, Kevin Rudd claims democracy is blooming in Malaysia (boy, that guy certainly does not understand Malaysia well), and on the other, Malaysians think otherwise. People get caught for reasons not known to themselves just under the ISA apparently threatening national security! Tell me then, with their lives at stake, how many would be like RPK-daring enough to stand up for what he believes in?
Seriously, every political agenda in Malaysia is a conspiracy. Minister A has his line of defence, Minister B has his supporters and Minister C, his believers-so, it's all about self-interest and the benefits to a small community. Now, the question is, will corruption ever be eradicated? Oh puh-lease lar..this really is just a rhetorical question-we all know the answer don't we? I mean, how can the ACA be under the PM's department in the first place?
We Malaysians really don't ask for much-all we need is a clean and fair government, ensured social security and a stable economical condition. I personally do not think we Malaysians should throw vituperations at the government for raising the fuel prices. We have been fortunate that fuel prices were previously heavily subsidised. And just because we have been provided with crutches all this while, and we suddenly have been denied of this benefit, we complain. That's human behaviour.
People just don't like change I guess. It's a paradigm shift that we Malaysians must have. A change of lifestyles. Oil prices are not something within our control-so why not just learn to cope with it? It certainly is a drastic change, but ultimately we should give credit to the government for their effort to lighten the burden of the impoverished.
Back to the political situation, here we have our dear former VP propagating from one state to another. And also, we have an interesting sodomy case to follow. Not to mention the recent debate on racism in the Parliament. These events are not going to help us with our current situation. This hunger for power and epic battle between three men are only going to bring Malaysia in one direction-'apoptosis' Hehe..
Winds of change in the recent election isn't too bad really. Well, at least it does tell the federal government that the people aren't too satisfied with certain policies etc that have been implemented. But, from another point of view, it seems to bring about petty arguments in the parliament.
There's a good and bad to everything. As we all know, the opposition won not because they had concrete manifestos (or maybe Anwar and Kit Siang did) but because the people have lost faith in the government. It's sad but true, that no matter what Pak Lah does, no matter how people-oriented it is, it'd never be enough to regain public confidence. I guess Malaysians are too tired of his elegant silence. To them, this deafening silence is no longer an epitome of patience and wisdom, but instead a symbol of incompetency.
I actually have so much more to say really, but..*sighs* we all know freedom of expression in Malaysia is limited. I don't want to be the next RPK plus I still need to preserve this government scholarship supporting my education. In a nutshell, we Malaysians will just have to remain patient and endure this testing period striking us at the moment. I believe that good things come to those who wait. :)
Once again, I apologise for the disordered thoughts. Hehe
5 comments:
Interesting....
I will leave time for u to find out who am i, but i guess u will found it in a few minute.
Actually, I think the Malaysians will mumbled less on the ricing fuel price if
1) No more AP, Import Tax for car, etc
2) No more road fee
3) The public transport system is as good as it should be when promised to be upgraded by PM on last time when raising petro price....
Only if....
Before that, lets just rely on the slogan
" Malaysia Boleh " . yeh
Hmmm...can't really figure out who you are to be honest. :) Seriously.
The AP and Import tax on cars are separate issues..well, to me lar. It undoubtedly contributes to public dissatisfaction, but from another viewpoint, considering the cross-elasticity of demand-it may not be such a bad thing.
I'm sure you know well enough the importance of tax in a particular country's economy. These road taxes may have been previously used to subsidise our oil prices. Since the price of petrol has increased by just that much, the country simply cannot afford to subsidise an even greater amount-if not, other government expenditure would be put on hold.
The improvement of public transportation cannot take place in a wink of the eye dahling :)Well at least we know the government still imposes price ceilings on public transportation, and that they are taking measures to build this extensive network of LRT to a larger vicinity, are they not?
Just be patient lor..I know I sound extremely pro-government despite being otherwise :P This issue is just extremely debatable lar..None of us really know what happens to taxes-Nepotism, cronyism etc. vs alleviation of poverty?
who among ur friends will like to use J as his nick? Lol
Just some thought.
The AP and Import tax made the cars in Malaysia sold in price more expensive than it was in other country, so when we pay the same petro price, we are actually paying more on Transportion...
Darling, i talking about road fee, not road tax. Furthermore the petro price is subsidized by profit from Petronas , not road tax.
Mayb i should change the words into toll fee. For some reasons, government choose to privatized the road business. For other reason, government choose to sign a contract to guarantee the profit of the toll company. Grand Saga case is a good example here.
The last time petro price raising is abt yr 2006 , up till now, public transportation still havent improve much yet. And , i doubt the extension of Lrt is going to help, especially for area outside KL.
Well, mayb at some point you are true that there is nothing much that we can do now. Before that, just bury our head under the sand , shall we ? =)
You're probably..hmmmm...hmmm..kai kor? :P I don't know! There are plenty using the nickname j!
Eh, further explain your argument on the APs again..
Quote: "so when we pay the same petro price, we are actually paying more on Transportion..."
True enough-petrol prices are subsidised by Petronas. And we all know with the increase in price of crude oil, Petronas's major industry would probably be drawing in a colossal amount. But I personally do not think that this increase in profit should be channeled towards subsidies once again.
The reason's simple: It's time Malaysians became more independent of price subsidies on petrol. It's not forever that we'll be drawing in that much profit from the extraction of oil, hence it's high time Malaysia made further plans to overcome such a situation.
I actually think this hoo-hah amidst the public is due to the implementation of increase in oil prices. Pak Lah once promised that oil prices wouldn't be raised anytime soon-but instead he did the exact opposite.
Public transportation is not top priority to the government and we all know that it has just been used as a populist remark. But, it isn't entirely a vote-pulling promise still. The government can't possibly dedicate a whole chunk of money just for public transportation. Considering the already high cost of living in the city centre-it's rather reasonable for them to begin works on improvement of public transportation over at KL, no?
As for other states, the government is still controlling the bus fares and has not increased the railway prices (as yet, that is!) so I guess this is still somewhat a commendable effort.
Awarding rebates on road taxes has its pros and cons to me. For one, it's not going to win the hearts of the public. But, I find it a rather interesting economical device to reallocate resources. At least it ensures that the rich are not exploiting the subsidies, and that the poor are receiving more of it. I'm just hoping that the remaining profit from Petronas crude oil would be put to good use.
There's no question about the Grand Saga case being an absolute proof of corruption though :) I still don't understand how such a thing could have taken place.
Oh dear me, sorry I misunderstood the road fee as road taxes! hehe..On toll fees however, I don't see a problem in privatising it. But there's definitely something amiss with the manner in which tenders are rewarded. It runs down to who started the privatisation to PLUS anyway-Malaysia's Nobel Peace Award Nominee :P, almost synonymous to "I don't care who dies, as long as I live and make enough money to last me a lifetime!"
Privatisation as we both are aware of can obviously boost efficiency. And since these roads are owned by private firms, it's no wonder that they'd like to be guaranteed profit. I would think that the government would be in a dilemma if they did not somehow promise a certain amount of profit to these firms. After all, it has always been perceived as the government's responsibility to provide the public with roads. I'm assuming that the government did not have sufficient funds to support these projects then. Toll fees should be proportionate to road maintenance, cost of building etc. and since it is categorised under public amenities, everyone should pay. So, really, what's the issue about toll fees?
I must admit though that certain toll fees are simply exorbitant-but won't the firms bear the consequences then? For example, many motorists are deterred from traveling on the NPE Highway simply because of its toll fees-ultimately, the road builder would just lose out in terms of volume.
Nevertheless, I'm sure these losses are covered by the government in their agreement-so oh well, the public still pays for the unused roads. But that happens for any type of public good, does it not? Problem of free-riders. It's your loss for not using it, since you are paying for it some way or another anyway!
I know these arguments are weak as compared to your knowledgeable and substantial facts. But I thought I would just prefer to see things from a positive panorama :)
second clue, your college friend lah,
check out my blog if you have time.
For AP thing, Imported car in Malaysia is sold higher than it should be in international market. Imagine if without the AP and imported tax, a toyota may cost Rm 40000 less than now on....
The problem with the policy maker now is they lack of the long term sight ... When they saw the crude oil price rocketing rise, they simply raise the petro price, not realising that the rise may be just a temporary surge... Without further consideration, they just push the inflation rate higher
Another problem, the malaysia economy are so not resilience enough to response to world wide economy . Therefore, we have to fixed the petro price, fixed the exchange rate , etc. Which will cost more when the world is against us.
about public transportation, it is not fair if say
"Considering the already high cost of living in the city centre-it's rather reasonable for them to begin works on improvement of public transportation over at KL, no?"
As other place, such as Kota Kinabalu, Johor Bahru, and Sandakan, Kuantan etc will hurt most when petro price rise as they
lack a good public transportation system . Besides, cost of living in KK here is actually almost the same as in KL....
Another problem with the government is that they lack of planning and dedication, simply compare SMRT ( public transport system in singapore ) and rapidKL in kuala lumpur, you can clearly see the difference. Not only the putra line, ktm line and monorail are not linked that we have to paid more when change from one to another, but also you have to stuck in a "human sandwich" dilemma in busy hour.
Another, thought, if the government can reform itself to boost the efficiency, why wouldn't it fund the PLUS project itself as it definitely cost less. The only answer, is either they know they cant do it, or they have to let the "related people" have the share, where it only benefit few people while sacrifice other.
Being positive is not bad, but sometimes if you are too positive, you become someone that "逆来顺受" where you gradually forget your right. 共勉之...
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