The government does not only consider the crude oil price but also other costs, such as for refinery and the processing, to determine the pump prices of fuel.
“It also has to calculate the margin for the industry of 19.54 sen per litre for petrol companies and 12.19 sen per litre for petrol stations, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad said in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Shahrir, (No more calling him Datuk for me. If you notice I seldom refer any politician as Datuk, except Datuk Jessica Alba) it seems like you have completely gone over to the Dark Side. I used to respect you, as one of few UMNO members who has some intergrity and balls. Now you are spouting twisted, retarded bullshits for Malaysians to digest?
Update 2:Noktah Hitam posted the videos of the debate on his blog. Please check it out. I post part 1 of 5 as a teaser for everyone Check out these bloggers for their comments on the debate: chanlilian.net, KNizam, RockyBru and more blogs here.
ps: I just realised I spelled his name wrongly.. it should be Cheek instead of Chik, so amended the boo boo. Uh, there’s really a name ‘Cheek’ after all. Very cheeky..
Update 1: Astro Awani is carrying out the analysis on the debate. Very interesting. As usual they called up some ministers from both sides – Pakatan Rakyat and BN to get their comments on the debate. BN ministers never fail to amuse me, it is damn obvious the Information Minister has nothing, zilch facts when debating but still arrogantly said ‘Anwar Ibrahim has no facts, only rethorics’. Ha! Ha! Ha! You be the judge, please watch the debate video when it is out in the internet. I believe a video with complete subtitle will be out soon. Stay tune for that
My lousy 2 cents on Shabery Cheek vs Anwar Ibrahim debate on Fuel Price just now. (9pm – 10pm Astro Awani and TV9 – Hari Ini Bentuk Kerajaan, Esok Turun Harga Minyak – Today Form Government, Tomorrow Reduce Fuel Price)
Shabery Cheek obviously a lousy debater. He was often beating around the bushes and not to the points or questions raised. He was too emotional in making his points and focused too much on attacking Anwar Ibrahim’s past rather than debunking the points raised by him.
1. When talking about why Anwar insists to pursue his ambition to be the Prime Minister of Malaysia in order to reduce the fuel price and why can’t it be done with him outside the government.
Anwar chuckled and said that was why he was there for the debate and added that he is currently not in the govennment and his future is still uncertain but he felt compelled to make his points in this debate. Anwar openly said he and Pakatan Rakyat has no problem if the current government take into consideration his idea and implements it for the good of the people, and Pakatan Rakyat will support the good move and work with the government. The only question is whether the current government is willing to work with this idea? Will BN/UMNO listen and carry it out.
Shabery Cheek, while he supposed to answer that question (we would think an honest and good government that put the people’s interest will surely consider any good idea that will benefit the people), instead attacked Anwar – relating his past with Tun Razak and Mahathir and went on his ’syok sendiri’ (self ego masturbation) mode on how Petronas under BN/UMNO rule is the best, how people can never deny that it is BN that efficiently manages the petroleum company. Typical BN/UMNO ’syok sendiri’ and out of reality talk. How ridiculous!
2. Anwar explained in simple term how savings can be done from revising the lop sided agreements between the government/TNB and Independent Power Providers (IPPs), savings from corruption and wastages, then lastly using some profits from the increased revenue of Petronas to help reduce the burden of the people. His point is actually very simple – we need a good, wise and prudent management of government resources and efficient econonomy planning. He was entirely right when he focused his point on poor management of the country resources and wastages and trained his gun on the real cause of this whole issue – the government! The main issue is accountability and transparency of the government! Not Petronas, unlike the clueless Information Minister keep harping on!
But Shabery Cheek keep harping on why we should not use Petronas money to reduce the fuel price, comparing Venezuela, Iran and Saudi Arabia low fuel price but high inflation rate!! The guy just totally disillusioned and like I said was in his own ’syok sendiri’ mode. To the point bro, Anwar already made a concrete stand when he said he supports Petronas and will not irresponsibly use Petronas as cash cow to solve the problem. As usual, Shabery just continued the often repeated, recycled points used by the government to justify the fuel price increase – it is a global issue, it is global issue, it is a global issue and it is a global issue. Yes that is all his points. Oh he had more points, mostly points on Anwar’s past, keep digging the dirts. Typical BN style, always resort to personal attacks when you are out of ideas. Any BN guys that can debate rationally?? Please?? Or their supporters???
3. Nordin Kardi, being a Vice Chancellor of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) just made a fool of himself when he questioned Anwar’s points on IPPs agreement revision when the topic was on fuel. Then he mentioned something on why Anwar chose to talk on fuel price, saying he was fishing for popularity. Hey you dumbass maggot, IPPs are subsidized by the government to produce electricity lah!!! They get subsidized diesel to produce electricity and sell it at high price to TNB as agreed in the lop sided agreements signed during Mahathir time. Then this is a debate on fuel price, hence we talked about the price lah!!! Bodoh!! Dungu! Otak kat lutut ke?? Entah macam mana ko boleh jadi Naib Chanselor UUM. Muahahahahahahahaha!
4. It is quite obvious who is the better debater, one that consistently making personal attacks and dishing out many often irrelevant, confusing and meaningless points and another one that kept his cool and explained in clear flow his proposal and future planning if he is given the chance to efficiently manage the country and subsequently reduce the fuel price. Shabery started his debate with personal attacks against Anwar where he brought up the incident when Anwar was still a student leader leading demo against Tun Razak in 1974, in the middle of the debate again brought up the incident, mentioned something about IMF and dragged Anwar’s name in it and lastly concluded his debate again with personal attacks on Anwar Ibrahim and sempat this fella said the government was being generous in allowing the debate. Bah! What a sore loser???
All said, I must commend BN government under Pak Lah for allowing this debate to be carried out. Under the rule of Mahathir this debate is almost impossible to realised. It is a start. We must have an open policy on politics, let the people make their noise heard and decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is false. Our political landscape is changing and it is for better, I hope.
ps: I was distracted and quite disturbed by the foaming mouth of Shabery Cheek. For a while I thought he would passed out, foaming fatally because he probably realised he was making no sense in any of his points. So distracting.
This is a great piece from Kickdefella. He wrote a lengthy essay to explain the truth about fuel subsidy. I am reproducing his essay here which was written in Bahasa Melayu after translating it into English. My sincerest apology in advance if I did a bad translation job.
Last night, Hassan Marican appeared on National Television willingly to bare all about Petronas. Unfortunately, the only answer he should have given last night to those stupid panels (and moderator) was “Bloody hell, what a stupid question! Go and **PAKLAH** yourself la!” but he remained calm though.
Most probably the instruction was to grill him as though the increase of fuel prices is all Petronas faults.
Meanwhile, Last week, before leaving for Dubai, Dato’ Husam Musa called for a Press Conference to reveal all the facts and to justify his claim that it is not necessary for the government to increase fuel prices. It is also to give his insights on how actually it is possible to reduce the fuel prices.
Unfortunately, none of it ever came out in the mainstream papers although we have about 30 journalist and broadcaster packing the small office. The TVPAS reporter came ten minutes later and arrogantly left the room because the session already started. As a result, the session goes unrecorded. It was a total blackout on what was said and PAS official organ too play a role in it.
I have written in this blog all the facts and have published the figures to justify the claim where many are more interested to use rhetoric and to show the slimy strength by demonstrating and cause misery to the already much affected taxi drivers and shoppers in KL.
To some politicians, it is easier to get your photos and story published in newspaper by behaving like hooligans in public places yet when you got the chance to speak up, only buckets of nonsense do come out.
Today I will continue with my essay and we will discuss how it is possible to reduce the price of fuel prices and to put a stop in the already escalating cost of living.
Government Has Not Been Truthful Regarding the Fuel Subsidy
The government claimed that it would spend close to RM40 billion (I read somewhere it is RM56 billion??) this year for fuel subsidy. This is actually a lie, or an attempt by the government to mislead the people.
The facts are:
• Government does not come up with any cost, even one cent for fuel subsidy.
• Fuel subsidy is not included in government’s expenditure
• There is no actually no fuel subsidy. Zilch. Nil.
• The government only spends money for toll subsidy, public transportation subsidy, food subsidy and other subsidies not for fuel subsidy.
Because of that, the following statement by the Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop is not accurate and intended to mislead the people.
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Data provided by Treasury Malaysia clearly not as mentioned by the Second Finance Minister, Cabinet Ministers, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and also Khairy Jamaluddin during Umno General Assembly 2007.
Data from the Treasury show the following information:
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According to the Treasury Report in Table 6.3, Federal Government Operating Expenditure, total subsidies spent in 2007 is RM12.1 billion which is 9.8% from RM124 billion government operating expenditure. In 2008, total subsidies is predicted to be RM10.1 billion or 7.8% from the total RM129 billion government operation expenditure allocation that was approved in 2008 Budget.
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This clearly shows that expenditure to manage fuel subsidy is never included in government expenditure because:
• Operating expenditure data by Treasury shows a lesser amount and obviously not sufficient to sustain the total subsidies which allegedly estimated at RM40 billion.
• Total fuel subsidy is not included in other data inside government’s account as recorded in Treasury’s
Annual Report.
So, where the subsidy comes from? The fuel subsidy actually never exists. Fuel for domestic use is obtained through:
• Crude oil exchange mechanism.
• 400k barrels of higher grade crude oil ‘Tapis Blend’ – highest crude oil grade will be exchanged in global market with domestic crude oil demand.
• This crude oil after being processed into petrol and diesel is sold to people at price determined by the government.
• The government gets net profit (because the government never spends anything) from the tax paid by petroleum companies, petrol stations and other suppliers.
Is it true Malaysia’s crude oil reserves will last in another few years?
Lately, the people were told that Malaysia’s crude oil reserves won’t last much longer and this country will be a net importer of oil. This is used by the government to justify the increase of fuel prices and cut ‘fuel subsidy’ to prepare the people with market price when the country starts to import oil for domestic use.
However, Petronas 2006 Annual Report recorded that Malaysia’s crude oil reserves can last until 2024.
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Hassan Marican, Acting chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Petronas meanwhile explained to the media that in 2011, Malaysia will become net importer of oil because the domestic demand will exceed the country’s crude oil output. This means that domestic demand for crude oil will be more than 700k barrels per day. But this is in 2011 and coming, the country will still able to produce 700k barrels of crude oil per day, which he never refuted.
According to Petronas Annual Report since 1980, Malaysia’s crude oil reserves is increasing and not decreasing. In 1980, it was reported Malaysia’s crude oil reserves stand at 3 billion barrels, and since then we had produce more than 4 billion barrels and up to now, we still produce around 650k to 200k barrels per day for 365 days and this at this rate we can last for another 20 years.
The fact is that this country’s crude oil reserves are increasing and not decreasing. In 2008, we have crude oil reserves estimated at 4 billion barrels and Malaysia is placed at number 28th among countries in the world with largest oil reserves.
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Malaysia’s crude oil reserves will not finish so soon. This is because Petronas, a petroleum company owned by the rakyat invest hundreds of million every year for oil exploration all over the world. From the investment, we found new reserves and according to the same report, the reserves replacement ratio currently is 1:1.8 liter. This translated as, for very 1 liter used, Petronas found 1.8 liter new reserves. This means the replacement rate is higher than the usage rate.
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Fuel Price Reduction Is Not Impossible
To optimise profit from crude oil, the government does not have to increase fuel price. The government actually can optimise its profit by reducing the fuel price at the same time.
Reducing the Usage of Petrol and Diesel
Fuel price in Malaysia is the highest among oil producing countries. Based on population of 26 million and crude oil output rate at 650k-700k barrels per day, Malaysia has a very high output ratio but this has not benefited its population which is far lower than the rest of the oil producers.
Petrol and diesel priced should be reduced and this is possibly done. Among the measures to reduce the price are:
Changing from petrol and diesel usage to natural gas for cars or NGV (Natural Gas Vehicles) should be done because of these factors:
• Malaysia is the 13th largest natural gas reserves country in the world. In 2004, Dato’ Mustapha Mohamed announced that Malaysia’s natural gas reserves is estimated at around 89 trillion cubic feet.
• The government encourages the usage of NGV because it is cleaner and environmental friendly but never make it compulsory for every petrol station to provide this service. As a result, there are limited number of NGV stations and mostly only available in Klang Valley.
• Wide usage of NGV by vehicles will reduce the demands for petrol and diesel.
• Malaysia can sell more crude oil and this will bring more profit to the country.
• Price of petrol and diesel can be further reduced using this extra profit
National Petroleum Advisory Council
National Petroleum Advisory Council (NPAC) should be formed again to gather experts that will involve in planning the energy usage and shaping efficient energy policies for the country. NPAC was formed together with Petronas before but it does no longer exist now.
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Petronas reaps high profit each year. As a company that is tasked to manage the national treasure owned by the people of Malaysia, Petronas organisation structure should focus on guarding the people’s interest. It is important NPAC to be revived, by choosing credible candidates and not for the sake of ‘political selection’. In other words, revival of NPAC means nothing if it is used to for political mileage by ‘expired’ UMNO politicians such as Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik or Zainuddin Maidin.
Check and Balance in Petronas
Currently, Tan Sri Dato’ Mohd. Hassan Merican holds the three highest posts in Petronas – Acting chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. Before this, two of these positions were held by different individuals.
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Without trying to discredit the achievements and success brought by Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Mohd. Hassan Marican since helming Petronas, by holding to these three positions, Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Mohd. Hassan Marican becomes too powerful and this hampers check and balance inside Petronas and affects the transparency in managing Petronas.
Conclusion
People should enjoy the benefits of prosperity from the global oil price increase. As a net exporter of crude oil, the oil price increase should be translated as an additional income to the country.
Unfortunately, not only people cannot reap the benefits from the country resources, people are burdened with the fuel price increase which generated ripple effects to the price of consumer items.
Based on the arguments and data provided, it proven that the government decision to increase the fuel price is baseless.
This is the proof of poor planning and management under the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. People should insist for their rights to enjoy benefits as an oil producing country and call the government to reduce the fuel price. If this is not carried out, the country’s economy will decline and people will suffer not only the direct consequences but also need to face the social problems arise from it.
“I am mentally healthy, I have no injuriesand I will not commit suicide,” - Must let all friends, family know about this, to be safe :D 2 days ago
Namawee: “I am mentally healthy, I have no injuries and I will not commit suicide,” http://bit.ly/bSVUGD <-- hahaha! cheeky fella. 2 days ago
What say U? @NajibRazak RT @timmysay: Pn. Siti Insyak shud b given d same coverage as Namawee. A TASK FORCE shd b established to investigate 2 days ago
Jack Bauer! Huarghhh!! Chuck Norris is tough, but Jack Bauer is tougher. No one crosses Jack Bauer and lives.. 2 days ago
LadyBird: by looking at a glance on the road condition (based on the picture), it is much better as compared to miri-bakong road.... on The curse of the ’signboard’.
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