A lie by any other name would still stink!

This piece of news really gets my goats. I don't like liars. I especially don't like incompetent liars who assume everyone else is more stupid than the dumbest bald-face lies they tell. This is my Eyes Wide Open line-by-line rebuttal of our Mr Minister.

Saturday, 06 December 2008

Shahrir insists government can profit from petrol sales

By Frank Julian Martin (Bernama)

JOHOR BAHARU, Dec 6 — It is not unusual for the government to gain revenue from the sale of petrol, Domestic Trade and Consumers Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad said today.

Yes, the practise is not unheard of. Many countries practise it. The difference between those countries and Malaysia is:
1. Those countries have laws that allow the government to collect fuel tax
2. The BN govt PROMISED to maintain a 30 sen subsidy
3. The BN govt broke its promise by sneakily manipulating the market price to eliminate subsidies and collect "fuel tax".

In fact, the last time government gained such revenue was from September 2001 to February 2002, he said.

That's a revelation! Please provide details of this period when the BN govt lied to the people! As far as I know, Malaysian fuel has always been subsidised.

“This is done in countries like Singapore, Australia and United Kingdom even when the price of petrol is high.

Yes! but the trade-off is a wonderful public transport system, cheap cars, and efficient government. Do we have that here? If not, don't compare!

But in our country the government subsidises petrol when the price is high, thus when the price is low the government would gain revenue,” he said.

This has got to be the greatest joke! The BN govt subsidised fuel when the price was LOW. But when oil prices reached record highs, the BN govt pulled the rug from under the rakyat's feet DESPITE the fact that Petronas was contributing record revenues to govt coffers - certainly more than enough to maintain (then) current levels of subsidies. The effects of that ridiculous and irresponsible action is still being suffered by the rakyat and the substantial loss of purchasing power will not recover for a long long time.

“If you based the assumption on the US$48 per barrel, then of course you will talk about RM1.30 per litre but since it is US$58 average price per barrel for the whole of November, then the market price after you add in the industry margin would be RM1.50,” Shahrir lambasted the analyst who was not named.

This is completely irrelevant nit-picking. Whatever the market price is, the fact of the matter is we are paying an artificial price set by the govt at more than 25% above real market price.


Stop trying to pull the wool over the rakyat's eyes, Mr Minister. I used to respect you as you seemed to be one of the very few UMNO members who had integrity and balls. Especially when you headed the PAC in the last Parliament.

Now, it looks like you're a liar and a crook just like the rest of the UMNO wolf pack.