Then it’s fair. If you drive a lot then you pay a lot for fuel. If you buy a fuel-guzzling vehicle then you’ll obviously use more fuel. Why should one pay for road taxes if a car is only driven once in a while (ie, old cars, classics, etc).

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Petrol remains the fuel for the majority of cars within Malaysia. Alternative fuel sources, e.g. NGV, hydrogen or electric either require a steep initial investment or remain in the domain of higher end and hence more expensive vehicles. This means that for the large majority of Malaysians, and especially so for the lower income segment, petrol is an essential item if they have to commute.

The Worries of the Poor

For the lower income segment, this problem is further compounded by the fact that by virtue of being poor, they tend to live in low cost housing. Housing cost is very much so location dependent. Low cost housing therefore implies a more considerable distance to amenities and also to social centers where work can often be found. Hence, poor people, because they can’t pay for housing closer to commercial or service centers where their jobs are located thereby have to commute further to their place of employment. In addition to that the distance to social amenities essential in city life such as their children’s schools is also increased. What all this adds up too is an increased burden in terms of fuel cost just to survive.

On a second level, if we were to represent the nett income of a family to a pie, richer families naturally have a larger pie to start with. Now assuming in an ideal case scenario that a rich and a poor family have exactly the same commuting needs and use exactly the same vehicle (mind you that is not the case as proved earlier. note too that we’re talking about needs essential for maintaining a family.) Their petrol cost will be exactly the same i.e. it will take a chunk out of each pie that is exactly the same. However, the effect on both families will still be significantly different. This is because the rich family starts out with a bigger pie already i.e. has more monetary resources available. Hence if you take a same sized piece out from each pie, the smaller pie will logically lose more of it’s total pie value. [For those who don't understand the pie illustration, if the rich person has RM1000 of income per month, and the poor has RM250, but the both have to pay RM50 for petrol, that means 20% of the poor person's income but only 5% of the rich person's income. ]

Now, bringing this back to the real world, those of you who have studied economics will understand that needs taper off at a certain level. Within the Malaysian context, for a rich or middle income family then, the rest of the income above the needs level is essentially disposable income. For a low income family however, the needs level is often almost parallel with their nett income on a monthly basis. Increasing the price of an essential item such as fuel will have different effects on the spending habits of low income families vs those of higher income levels. This is because if they need to spend more on fuel, for a high income family, this would mean a little less disposable income i.e. less movie trips, less overseas holidays, but for a low income family, this means less income available to meet their needs i.e. less money for medicine, food, even utilities. Henceforth, an increase in price level of fuel which is an essential will result in a significant degradation of quality of life for the poor.

The Solution

Which brings us to the question, is there a way where this can be implemented? I believe yes, an over-the-dinner-table talk with my dad yielded this result.

Essential to the functioning of any such plan would be a mechanism that would be able to fit these requirements as listed below. Roughly,

i) method of determining income
ii) method of linking income level to mechanism for dispensing of subsidy
iii) mechanism for dispensing subsidy which is least prone to abuse

The mechanism works like this. Using the RTD as the department for the dispensation of subsidies. And proof of income level can be income declaration statements available from the Inland Revenue Board. The mechanism of providing the subsidy will be a debit card only useable for fuel at petrol stations.

Why the RTD and why a debit card?

One of the main problems that would face the government would be how to allocate the subsidy to those who actually need it and would use it rather than reselling it to the rich. The RTD is the one institution in the country that would know what type of vehicle a registrant is using and how many vehicles the registrant has. Hence, a low income candidate would only be given the subsidy if they come to the counter with their income declaration statement, and the RTD would only give out the subsidy if it can be proven that they own a vehicle. Different levels of subsidy for motorbikes and cars would be provided. Perhaps RM100 per month for a car and RM 20 a month for motorbikes. The debit card would be recharged when the candidate comes to renew the registration of their vehicles (a yearly affair for most people.) This essentially puts into place a check and balance at a reasonable time period. The level of subsidy would be fixed for each family, i.e. RM100 a month no matter how many cars (which should be only 1 for low income families) you might happen to own.

Making a difference

Modern society prides itself on it’s morality, on it’s civility towards it’s citizens. Every human deserves the basic right of a reasonable quality of life. Put yourself in the shoes of the office clerk whose only thought everyday is how to feed her 3 children at home. Put yourself in the shoes of the factory worker whose heart aches desperately because he knows he will not be able to pay his child’s school fees. Put yourself in the shoes of the pensioner who has served his nation for 30 years but cannot now afford to visit a doctor. Don’t they deserve something better?

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Let’s all PRAY (in our own faiths) for such an act!

Seriously, if Oil prices rises and nothing is done to the above, you guys better be ready for the EARN more; or else……!!!!

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Do our G of the day dare to make it happen?

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Has anyone heard of such a system before???

How is it going to be implemented in Malaysia. Well,
1). All proton owners get fuel subsidy?
2) Non proton owners buy fuel according to global prices??

Let’s just wait and see what the G has in mind.

(Note: I still stick to my opinion that PETRONAS is the biggest clown in the entire scenario, pulling the strings behind the PM in every turn.)

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I like the ybng idea, however income tax returns are painfully slow, and its not on monthly basis like your pay.

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Just raise the price of fuel and give each working person ( that is EPF members ) a tax rebat for singles as well as families. The corresponding increase in transport ( and all others ) will make operators ( transporters, taxis, bus companies etc ) more efficient ( just look at Air Asia and MAS ) . The hike in consumers prices can be offset by the rebates to all tax payers and maybe with students / pensioners / low income groups concession cards for public transport ? The millions in fuel sudsidies can be saved and channelled to real people !! of course that will put the smugglers out of business, save more money because the customs will not have to spend time to catch these people. In turn, this will reduce the manpower requirement and reduce the civil service too.

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1. How about those filthy rich have MyVi for their maid or as 5th or 6th car for their daughter to drive?

2. How about the Chinaman apek tauke, many of them especially from small town still driving Proton cars.

3. How about “poor” people like driver of filthy rich people. Do they go to “poor lane” at petrol station when fill up their boss car.

4. How about “rich” loan shark or pimp who drive big car?

5. How about rich son earn nothing but enjoy their parent richness?

6. For those who married 4 wives or more, do they classify as “rich”?

7. For those 15 year BMW car owner who stay in flat, do they consider as rich?

8. The final verdict is this idea is a total joke for the run up to GE!

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That was a idea around here to put info into ID card or other to identifier…
If I been classifier as high earner but driving a Kancil, an I classifier as “Rich”.
If I been classifier as low earner but driving a Merc or BMW…an I classifier as “Poor”
If I been classifier as mid level, but whether drive Kancil or BMW, than what?

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foreign cars like singaporean and thais shouldnt be subsidized when they pump in malaysian gas stations. in my opinion, foreign cars can be easily detected by their plate numbers regardless the nationality of drivers or its passenger.
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Should stop only the Thais as they are here to make bux while the Kiasu ppl are here to spend.

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What if a person earning RM 100k per year driving a locally-made Wira 1.5A? Does that qualify him or her being poor? What about a person driving an old BMW 730i (E32) earning a mere RM 50k per year? Does that qualify him or her being rich?

How is the G going to monitor this? As we all know, every plan they come with always backfired easily. M’sians aren’t dumb. We have evolved to the point we can question the G for every mistakes they make.

I say one thing only… do away with fuel subsidies and while many people won’t be happy about it, it will eventually settle down. Of course, those who really can’t afford fuel-guzzling 2000cc cars will trade them for something smaller or fuel efficient. The second hand market will be flooded with cheap higher cc cars.

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cronies would earn either from Petrol subsidies, Diesel subsidies, Taxi permit, Bus permit, LRT construction & etc… just from this pocket to the other… its a karma!

should abolish both of these subsidies and let car tax-free and permitless public transport!!

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Do you guys still remember a few years back then when the government announced that it subsided RM 12 billions from the petrol subsidy to ‘boost’ public transport efficiency mainly in KL ? So what has happened to that bloody thing ?
Have you guys noted any resounding success and progress with Malaysia’s public transport ? Sheesh…

Yesterday, the PM said they might probably introduce two-tier petrol subsidy system. And i am doubtful whether he has any idea of what he was talking about.

While today one deputy minister cited that they might resort to increasing road tax primarily for luxury high powered vehicle. Well even though this idea sounds pretty acceptable to me, i hope next time those in the G should rather draw solid idea with proper plans at first before coming out to public and mumbling with something they even don’t have any idea about the implementation. Do your homework first before wanna show-off to the world that you are smart chap. Luckily they are in Malaysia…if in Japan, those morons will be put ashamed to resignation and bombarded with nationwide wraths.

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They are in damage control mode after the recent political mess ups…perhaps they will come up with anything to help themselves.

I hope malaysians are not as gullible as that (but then again, seeing how the country is run, perhaps we are)

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And the other thing, if total weath has been evaluated, another problem will arise.For example A total wealth rm3000 and B total wealth rm3001 and if the G policy stated that poor is defined as “less or same with rm3000″ and rich as “above rm3000″. By definition, B is rich and A is poor by a ringgit.

So when it comes to that, it ignores the middle class.This evaluation has to be made on a subjective approach.Its like defining tall or short people in height.

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Dear citizens of Malaysia, did you know, that Malaysia have a lot of ‘potential fuel’ reservoirs which aren’t yet explored and mapped? I’m talking about the coastlines along Sarawak, Sabah and Kelantan. Yes, the black gold are over there and yet we still import fuel from outside (and the lowest grade as they speak), they give numerous reasons such as the OPEC (oil producers alliance pack) treaty which limits barrels/day that could be produced by members of the alliance and other unacceptable reasons. Heck, I’m not sure if Malaysia is the official or observer of the OPEC alliance (other than those Middle East countries, obviously Malaysia ain’t a big player). Maybe forumers in here whom are familiar with oil and gas industry could give us a little bit info on these matters.
On the other hand, other than our natural resources being mismanaged by certain inexperience individuals (or should I say conflict of interest), I’m sure another fuel increase will benefit certain parties which are playing behind the curtain. Honestly, for rich people (high-income group), if you could own a Beemer or a Merc, it ain’t a big problem paying more for gas. The ones who would be suffering are the lower-income group followed by the middle-income group. In Japan, the public transportation is so efficient, the Japanese hardly complains about fuel gas increase because they have other alternatives (bus, bullet trains). Unfortunately in Malaysia, our public transport is still NOT efficient. Heck, not even 50% at most places. I don’t know if you’ve been to UK, did you know you could get a bus ride, and only A BUS RIDE to go anywhere from the countryside directly to London. No hopping multiple buses, just one bus. As oppose to our transportation system, you’ll need to hop on multiple buses just to get somewhere within KL! We need to upgrade our LRTs and Monorails and Trains (in other words add more frequencies and carriages and please upgrade those old-age trains KTM). There’s NO way for us to hinder fuel price increase, but the goverment could prepare a workable master plan to upgrade our current transportation system and not just another silly-”janji-manis” talks. Afterall, election just around the corner, isn’t it?

Other alternatives such as NGVs, Hydrogen-fuel, Kelapa-Sawit fuel (biodiesel), worst come worse we could use Nuclear Powered Cars (no need to worry about refueling for at least 100 years or so). These alternatives have been there for the last 20 years, the world have been so dependable to Petrol and Diesel, it’s just the matter of mindset, are you willing to pay more for Research and Development and are you willing to sacrifice more for the future? This thought goes to the major local car-makers out there and who knows someday, maybe a “Kampung Engineer” could come out with a briliant car that uses these alternative fuels. When NASA Astronaut Neil Armstrong said to the world, “I want to go to the Moon”, everybody laughs at him and thinks he’s a nut. But when he managed to land on the moon with that Lunar Lander, then he’s the one laughing back at them way up there. Good guys finish last. Good guys always get the last laugh. Heck, bad guys sucks till the very end. Think about it.

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go find ur electricity bills and figure it out, that’s what they mean by helping the poor and charging more on the rich, since motorbikes uses less litre and cars uses more litre, that’s the logic they’re going to use i assume

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