I think most of us have already known that the cost of living most revolves around the price of the crude oil. This is because petroleum and diesel are one of the essential materials needed to operate our daily operations and businesses. For example, we need natural gas for cooking, petroleum and diesel to operate vehicles, bitumen for making road pavements, etc. Whenever the price of crude oil increases, the cost of living will also increase. Therefore, we can conclude that our cost of living is almost directly proportional to the price of crude oil. That means that the higher the price of crude oil, the higher is the cost of living. Price of Crude Oil : Cost of Living.
The several increments in the price of oil over these few years have certainly caused a significant impact in our daily life. The price of crude oil has increased in a meagre amount each time the government decided to do so. Therefore, we only felt the impact of the increments as something similar to a mosquito bite. However, as these meagre increments started to build up, the harmless mosquito bites have begun to develop into a malignant tumour which is beginning to threaten our lifestyles.
After several increments in the price of crude oil by the government, we are starting to feel the impact of the increment especially by the low and middle-class wage earners. Almost all the price of the items essential for us to survive such as grocery items, electricity and water has increased significantly. Services which rely greatly on petroleum or diesel to operate such as bus and taxi fares, aviation fares, and lorry services have also increased. Since the cost of transporting people and goods has increased, the cost to operate the business will also increase. This will then lead to the increase of price of goods and raw materials. When the price of raw materials increases, other products that are made from these raw materials will also become more expensive. To simplify the situations, the changes in crude oil will set off a series of chain reaction that will eventually affect the consumers.
Each time the government decides to increase the price of petroleum and diesel, they will pacify the anger of the public by blaming the volatility of the global price of crude oil. However, I’m still not convinced by how the increase in the global price can affect Malaysia which is a net-exporter of crude oil. These are the list of things which still puzzle me now and what I believe most Malaysians are also wondering about.
- If Malaysia is a net-exporter of crude oil, then Petronas will gain more profit by being able to sell crude oil to foreign countries at a higher price due to the increase in the global price of crude oil. Am I right?
- If Petronas maintains the price of domestic petroleum and diesel, Petronas should still be able to garner a higher profit despite the rise in the global price of crude oil. It’s is logical because if Petronas can make a profit by selling domestic petroleum and diesel at a lower price before, why can’t it do the same thing now? There isn’t any significant increase in the cost of production of petroleum, is there?
- Therefore, the statement issued by the government saying that Petronas will go bust if the government continues to subsidies the price of petroleum and diesel is false, isn’t it?
- Why do you think that Najib said that the government would go bankrupt if they lower the price of domestic petroleum and diesel as what the opposition party proclaimed they would do if they won in the general election? Do you think what he said is true?
- If Malaysia truly is an oil-producing country, why does it depend on the global price of crude oil when it is selling petroleum and diesel to its own people? We are not importing crude oil from foreign countries.
- Malaysia is an oil-producing country. So, it should be able to determine the price of its own crude oil when it comes to selling it domestically, am I right? (“This is my oil. So, I can sell at what price I want”)
- Does the government want to increase the price of the domestic petroleum and diesel simply because it does not have sufficient funds in order to complete the billion-ringgit project that was planned initially such as the Iskandar Development Region and the construction of a second bridge connecting Penang and Kedah? Is it due to the mismanagement of funds? For example, the opposition MPs at Kedah who are now questioning the former MPs on how did the allocation fund of RM80million for a year is used up in merely a few months.
In an attempt to alleviate the impact of rise in petroleum and diesel prices, the government set up a few measures which I think are quite useless. They promised that vehicles with a certain engine capacity will get a rebate when they pay their road tax at the end of the year. They will also be given a reduction in road tax. Even so, consumers are only able to get these benefits when they pay their road tax after a year when their road taxes expire. How does the government expect us to survive one year with the inflation rate so high? The government also advised us to change our lifestyles in order to assimilate with the rising cost of living. Well, they don’t have to worry about this matter because we do it even if they don’t tell us too. The question is how many times the government wants us to change our lifestyle. How many times to we need we need to degrade our lifestyles? Most of us are already quite impoverished from the beginning. Do they want us to change our lifestyles until we have to eat yam as our staple food like what happened when the Japanese subjugated Malaya? The cost of living and owning a car is so high now. By the time, I graduate and procured my diploma, I might need to resort to cycling as my main means of transportation. The minimum wage for degree holders now would not be sufficient for a decent lifestyle in a few years time.
Pheeww, luckily the government did not really proceed with the "Angkasawan" plan. That would cost us a few more billions which would lead to a higher increment of the petroleum and diesel price. Now, I welcome anybody to come and answer the questions on this post. In fact, I challenged anyone who is able to do so, especially the government to answer those mind-boggling questions that have been puzzling me. I heard that the government have even set up an IT team to answer all the allegations placed by bloggers. Now would be a good time for them to start working if you want the people to vote for you in the future. This is not something to be treated with levity as this is about our standard of living which is now deteriorating. So, what if the economy is getting better. That only means that the rich is getting richer but the poor is getting poorer. If that happens, then the New Economy Policy has failed. The non-bumiputras would have been marginalised for nothing.
