This time, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi means business when both fuel price hike and electricity price hike are announced at the same time, with trivial tit-bits are given in hope of lowering the level of resentment among the people.

I believe it’s indeed a hefty measure which send a chill down the spine of any average joe out there. 41% for fuel hike and another 18% hike for electricity rates, which is obviously creating a long-lasting and compounded impact on everyone’s life.

Besides, it’s worth noting that this is going to be the initial drastic move by the Government, which is deemed an unpopular move among the majority average earning Malaysians, whereas Pak Lah has seen his popularity level dwindled ever since the recent general election.

To add salt to the wound,  the Domestic Trade Minister Shahrir Samad in his earlier announcement saying that that another price hike is imminent when price controls are going to be completely removed in August, with pump price could rise as high as between RM3 to RM4.

But again, to be fair to Pak Lah, it’s a worldwide phenomenon which is unavoidable, be it among the super-power countries or any other developing countries.

Nevertheless, like it or not, the price hike is going to be effective almost immediately past midnight later, hence it’s now the best time for us to get used to days without the subsidy mentality in view of the global spiraling prices of fuel and rice.

Therefore, it’s our hope that with the hefty amount saved by the Government via the cut in subsidy, the money will be put into good use to help lessen the people’s burden, especially those among the low-income group.

Among the suggestions are the long promised plan to upgrade the public transportation which is deem as a major failure on the Government’s part. Bad planning, poor integration, together with the divisive network are among the reasons why the public abstain from taking public transport. Are we going to see a new light in term of public transportation enhancement in view of the fuel price increase?

Besides, instead of siphoning the money into the multiple corridors which are going to enrich cronies instead of the needed group, the Government must be seen as sincere and transparent in providing assistance to them since the government is expected to save RM13.7 billion under this new subsidy restructure and other levies. Anything less than that is unacceptable and unjustifiable, given that the Government has been proven to be playing lip service over the time.

Anyway, having said all that, thanks to the latest announcement by Pak Lah, the entire Malaysia is screwed up with massive traffic jam everywhere.

A friend of mine, who is unperturbed by the whole exercise, announced on his YM’s status how upset he is that Malaysians are more willing to queue up for half an hour to pump petrol rather than spending minutes to register as a voter, as if the car is going to start drinking H2O starting from 12am later.

WYSIWYG, so he says.

Me? I’m going to burn my car and start riding a bicycle soon.

Let’s go green instead.

Oh by the way, following the latest price move, Shahrir Samad said the ban on the sale of petrol to foreign vehicles at the borders will no longer be necessary.

Sometimes, smart guns are plain stupid.

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