After fifty years under BN, why can't most Malaysians afford petrol at RM2.70 per litre?
By Jed Yoong
June 14, 2008
Barisan Nasional has preached its politics of development and prosperity all these years. The panic and street protests that followed the recent fuel price hike show most Malaysians are still poor as they can’t pay RM2.70 per litre of petrol. So, where has the wealth of the nation gone to?
According to the CIA factbook, our per capita income based on purchasing power parity (PPP) is estimated to be US$13,300 last year. But the poorest 10 per cent of the population only received or consumed 1.4 per cent of our total GDP (PPP) of $357.4 billion while the richest 10 per cent raked in 39.2 per cent of total income. Hence, our Gini index — a measure of wealth distribution — is among the highest in the region at a staggering 46.1 per cent in 2002.
Meanwhile, our southerly neighbour who was kicked out of Malaysia by Tunku, Singapore’s per capita income is almost FOUR (3.74) times of ours at US$49,700 (PPP) in the same period. Let’s be comforted that the country’s Gini index is also high, and even higher than us, at 52.2 in 2005.
To you UMNO stalwarts who simply hate being compared to Singapore, let’s look at Indonesia. Now we can feel good about ourselves. Indonesia’s per capita income is US$3,700 (PPP) in the same period — about 28 per cent of ours. But wealth is more evenly distributed; it’s Gini index is only 36.3 in 2005.
Is it unfair for me to conclude that over 30 years of the New Economic Policy has to a LARGE EXTENT failed to raise the living standards of most Malaysians? In response to the fuel price hike, Stanley Koh, the former head honcho of MCA’s research and planning department, wrote in Malaysiakini: “…for more than 50 per cent of the Malaysian population, supporting a family within a household income between less than RM2,500 to RM4,000 becomes much more a difficult task, likely an agonising one.???
Although some commentators and politicians have played up the fact that because Malaysia is a net exporter of oil, we should be paying prices comparable to other exporters and producers (table below), I support the removal of subsidy in principle. It’s simply a waste of scarce resources to subsidise wasteful and environmentally harmful consumption. It’s time to pay for what we can afford and channel our money to other wealth-generating projects like education and business. At the same time, we have to abandon our silly national car company, Proton, because it does not have a competitive advantage in terms of research, capacity, technology and products.
From Mob’s Crib
Our situation is complicated because Barisan Nasional has been wasting the rakyat’s money in lavish projects that mostly benefit themselves, their families or cronies. Under Mahathir Mohamad, our former and longest serving prime minister, the government has thrown good money into bad projects like Perwaja Steel, wrecked profitable companies like MAS, our national airline, and irresponsibly lost billions in scandals like the Bank Bumiputra Finance scandal under Tengku Razaleigh and Bank Negara’s gambling on the foreign exchange market. Meanwhile, something as basic as a modern public transportation system has been neglected.
Nevertheless, the subsidies must go. Husam Musa, my favourite PAS poster boy, has proposed a solution — replacing petrol with gas as fuel. He wrote in his blog, Cetusan Hati: “Satu dari strategi mudah dan praktikal ialah meluaskan penggunaan gas, baik LPG atau NGV untuk domestik, termasuk untuk kenderaan. Bila lebih banyak gas digunakan, kita kurang menggunakan minyak. Lebih banyak pula minyak kita dapat di eksport dan kita mendapat lebih banyak wang. Wang minyak itu kita gunakan untuk mengekalkan harga minyak tempatan dan kita sendiri menggunakan lebih gas dari minyak.???
While I agree with Husam, I strongly believe that it is more important to look forward beyond this current crisis. To improve our living standards, we must improve our human capital and this starts with education. As a nation, we may have to suffer even more but we have no one else but ourselves to blame. After all, we voted Barisan Nasional all these years. Hopefully, this time we will wise up and vote Pakatan Rakyat. But not for lower prices but for a more responsible, caring, accountable and less corrupt government.
By Jed Yoong
June 14, 2008
Barisan Nasional has preached its politics of development and prosperity all these years. The panic and street protests that followed the recent fuel price hike show most Malaysians are still poor as they can’t pay RM2.70 per litre of petrol. So, where has the wealth of the nation gone to?
According to the CIA factbook, our per capita income based on purchasing power parity (PPP) is estimated to be US$13,300 last year. But the poorest 10 per cent of the population only received or consumed 1.4 per cent of our total GDP (PPP) of $357.4 billion while the richest 10 per cent raked in 39.2 per cent of total income. Hence, our Gini index — a measure of wealth distribution — is among the highest in the region at a staggering 46.1 per cent in 2002.
Meanwhile, our southerly neighbour who was kicked out of Malaysia by Tunku, Singapore’s per capita income is almost FOUR (3.74) times of ours at US$49,700 (PPP) in the same period. Let’s be comforted that the country’s Gini index is also high, and even higher than us, at 52.2 in 2005.
To you UMNO stalwarts who simply hate being compared to Singapore, let’s look at Indonesia. Now we can feel good about ourselves. Indonesia’s per capita income is US$3,700 (PPP) in the same period — about 28 per cent of ours. But wealth is more evenly distributed; it’s Gini index is only 36.3 in 2005.
Is it unfair for me to conclude that over 30 years of the New Economic Policy has to a LARGE EXTENT failed to raise the living standards of most Malaysians? In response to the fuel price hike, Stanley Koh, the former head honcho of MCA’s research and planning department, wrote in Malaysiakini: “…for more than 50 per cent of the Malaysian population, supporting a family within a household income between less than RM2,500 to RM4,000 becomes much more a difficult task, likely an agonising one.???
Although some commentators and politicians have played up the fact that because Malaysia is a net exporter of oil, we should be paying prices comparable to other exporters and producers (table below), I support the removal of subsidy in principle. It’s simply a waste of scarce resources to subsidise wasteful and environmentally harmful consumption. It’s time to pay for what we can afford and channel our money to other wealth-generating projects like education and business. At the same time, we have to abandon our silly national car company, Proton, because it does not have a competitive advantage in terms of research, capacity, technology and products.
From Mob’s Crib
Our situation is complicated because Barisan Nasional has been wasting the rakyat’s money in lavish projects that mostly benefit themselves, their families or cronies. Under Mahathir Mohamad, our former and longest serving prime minister, the government has thrown good money into bad projects like Perwaja Steel, wrecked profitable companies like MAS, our national airline, and irresponsibly lost billions in scandals like the Bank Bumiputra Finance scandal under Tengku Razaleigh and Bank Negara’s gambling on the foreign exchange market. Meanwhile, something as basic as a modern public transportation system has been neglected.
Nevertheless, the subsidies must go. Husam Musa, my favourite PAS poster boy, has proposed a solution — replacing petrol with gas as fuel. He wrote in his blog, Cetusan Hati: “Satu dari strategi mudah dan praktikal ialah meluaskan penggunaan gas, baik LPG atau NGV untuk domestik, termasuk untuk kenderaan. Bila lebih banyak gas digunakan, kita kurang menggunakan minyak. Lebih banyak pula minyak kita dapat di eksport dan kita mendapat lebih banyak wang. Wang minyak itu kita gunakan untuk mengekalkan harga minyak tempatan dan kita sendiri menggunakan lebih gas dari minyak.???
While I agree with Husam, I strongly believe that it is more important to look forward beyond this current crisis. To improve our living standards, we must improve our human capital and this starts with education. As a nation, we may have to suffer even more but we have no one else but ourselves to blame. After all, we voted Barisan Nasional all these years. Hopefully, this time we will wise up and vote Pakatan Rakyat. But not for lower prices but for a more responsible, caring, accountable and less corrupt government.