The price of crude oil has increased by 400 percent in the last three years. It follows that the price of products must increase, sooner or later. In other countries petrol prices had already increased. In the United Kingdom one litre of petrol sells for more than one pound sterling or RM7. In the United States it is about RM5.
That the price in neighbouring countries has gone up is shown by the rush to fill up by Thai and to a lesser extent Singapore vehicles.
The Government has now announced an increase in petrol price by 78 sen to RM2.70 per litre, an increase of more than 40 per cent.
I may be mistaken but there seems to be less vehicles on the road today. But obviously that is not all that will happen. All other consumer goods, services and luxury goods would increase in price.
The cost of living must go up. Put another way there will be inflation and the standard of living will go down.
Obviously our increase in petrol price is far less than in the United Kingdom or the United States. But our per capita income is about one-third of theirs. In purchasing power terms our increase is more than in the UK or the US.
The increase hurts but the pain is greater not just because of the increase percentage-wise is higher than in developed countries but because of the manner the increase is made.
A few days ago the Government decided to ban sale of petrol to foreign cars. It flipped. Now foreign cars can buy again. Flopped.
Knowing that in a few days it was going to raise the price and foreigners would be allowed to buy, why cannot the Government just wait instead of banning and unbanning.
But be that as it may what could the Government have done to lessen the burden on the people that results from the increase in petrol price.
In the first place the Government should not have floated the Ringgit. A floating rate creates uncertainties and we cannot gain anything from the strengthened Ringgit. Certainly the people have not exprienced any increase in their purchasing power because of the appreciation in the exchange rate between the US Dollar and the Ringgit.
Actually the Ringgit has increased by about 80 sen (from RM3.80 to RM3.08 to 1 US Dollar) per US Dollar, i.e. by more than 20 per cent. Had the Government retained the fixed rate system and increased the value of the Ringgit, say 10 per cent at a time, the cost of imports, in Ringgit terms can be monitored and reduced by 10 per cent. At 20 per cent appreciation the cost of imports should decrease by 20 per cent. But we know the prices of imported goods or services have not decreased at all. This means we are paying 20 per cent higher for our imports including the raw material and components for our industries.
Since oil prices are fixed in US Dollar, the increase in US Dollar prices of oil should also be mitigated by 20 per cent in Malaysian Ringgit.
But the Government wants to please the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and decided to float the Ringgit. As a result the strengthening of the Ringgit merely increased our cost of exports without giving our people the benefit of lower cost of imports.
This is not wisdom after the event. I had actually told a Government Minister not to float the Ringgit three years ago. But of course I am not an expert, certainly I know little about the international financial regimes.
I believe the people expect the increase of petrol price. But what they are angry about is the quantum and the suddenness. The Prime Minister was hinting at August but suddenly it came two months earlier, just after the ban on sale of petrol to foreigners.
If the increase had been more gradual, the people would not feel it so much. But of course this means that the Government would have to subsidise, though to a decreasing extent.
Can the Government subsidise? I am the “adviser” to Petronas but I know very little about it beyond what is published in its accounts. What I do know may not be very accurate but should be sufficient for me to draw certain conclusions.
Roughly Malaysia produces 650,000 barrels of crude per day. We consume 400,000 barrels leaving 250,000 barrels to be exported.
Three years ago the selling price of crude was about USD30 per barrel. Today it is USD130 – an increase of USD100. There is hardly any increase in the production cost so that the extra USD100 can be considered as pure profit.
Our 250,000 barrels of export should earn us 250,000 x 100 x 365 x 3 = RM27,375,000,000 (twenty seven billion Ringgit).
But Petronas made a profit of well over RM70 billion, all of which belong to the Government.
By all accounts the Government is flushed with money.
But besides petrol the prices of palm oil, rubber and tin have also increased by about 400 per cent. Plantation companies and banks now earn as much as RM3 billion in profits each. Taxes paid by them must have also increased greatly.
I feel sure that maintaining the subsidy and gradually decreasing it would not hurt the Government finances.
In the medium term ways and means must be found to reduce wasteful consumption and increase income. We may not be able to fix the minimum wage at a high level but certainly we can improve the minimum wage.
Actually our wages are high compared to some of our neighbours. The investors who come here are attracted not by cheap labour but by other factors, among which is the attitude of the Government towards the business community and the investors in particular.
From what I hear business friendliness is wanting in the present Government – so much so that even Malaysians are investing in other countries. There are rumblings about political affiliations influencing decisions. Generally Government politicians are said to be arrogant.
Malaysia is short of manpower. The labour intensive industries are not benefiting Malaysians. Foreign workers are remitting huge sums of money home.
The industrial policy must change so that high tech is promoted in order to give Malaysians higher wages to cope with rising costs of living.
The world is facing economic turmoil due to the depreciation of the US Dollar, the sub-prime loan crisis, rising oil and raw material prices, food shortages and the continued activities of the greedy hedge funds. The possibility of a US recession is real. In a way the US is already in recession. The world economy will be dragged down by it.
Malaysia will be affected by all these problems. I wonder whether the Government is prepared for this.
We cannot avoid all the negative effects but there must be ways to mitigate against them and to lessen the burden that must be borne by all Malaysians. I am sure the Government will not just pass all these problems to the people as the review of oil prices every month seem to suggest.
Source: Tun Mahathir
Showing posts with label Tun Mahathir Mohamad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tun Mahathir Mohamad. Show all posts
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Saturday, May 31, 2008
The Racist Card
Source: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
It is strange that whenever people like Param Cumaraswamy accuse others of being racist they end up by exposing the racist in them. For them you are racist only if you talk about Malays and their need to catch up with other races. If you talk of the imagined plight of other races in Malaysia, and make ridiculous statements that the Tamil Indians in Malaysia are facing “ethnic cleansing” when you know that no such thing is happening, it is not racist.
It is only in Malaysia that people of immigrant origins, so identified by their insistence on being linked race-wise with their countries of origin, are actually accepted as citizens.
In other countries including the much-admired democracies of the West, citizens are not linked to or classified by their countries of origin. They speak the national language habitually, go to schools where the national language is the medium of instruction and adopt the culture of the indigenous people, or at least the people who originally founded these countries (the indigenous people having been systematically wiped out).
But in Malaysia although the national language is the language of the indigenous people, many Malaysian citizens cannot speak the language, much less use it habitually in their homes and with fellow citizens. Whenever some foreigner speak Bahasa Malaysia to them, they would reply in English. Foreigners cannot understand why they seem to downgrade their national language. And yet these citizens question why there is, for practical purpose, no Bangsa Malaysia.
Schools using languages of the countries of origin are not only permitted but are actually financed by the Government. Try and find such schools in South East Asia or in the so-called liberal developed countries where they claim there is no racial discrimination. There are actually more Indians in the United Kingdom than in Malaysia. But there is not a single school where the teaching medium is in any of the Indian languages.
People like Param would not notice all these. Instead he sees the effort to bring up the indigenous people to the level of the non-indigenous people as racist. Arrogantly he seems to want the indigenous people become the deprived in their own country.
I admit that I spoke on “Ketuanan Melayu” in Johor. The Malay intellectuals have been talking about this for a long time. There was no suggestion about them being racist or that they should be detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA).
I spoke on this issue critically as I consider that claiming to be masters when you are not is ridiculous. How can the Malay driver driving a car belonging to someone else regard himself as the “Tuan” and the owner of the car as inferior to him? Actually it is the owner and his employer who is the “Tuan”.
In my speech my advise to the Malays is to acquire knowledge and skills and use them to enrich themselves for only then can they be regarded by their servants and employees as “Tuan”.
Is this seditious or near seditious? Is speaking about Malays and their needs seditious?
On the other hand let us consider the Hindraf memorandum to the British. Most people including Indians have not read it. To gain the support of the Tamil Indians, Hindraf demands that the British compensate every Tamil Indian in Malaysia one million pounds sterling (about RM 7 million). That should tempt even middle-class Indians. Surely Indian workers would fall for it.
The Hindraf memorandum also contains the following extracts which are obviously racist;
1) “Commonwealth ethnic Indian peace loving subjects in Malaysia persecuted by Government backed Islamic extremist violent armed terrorist who launched a pre-dawn violent armed attack and destroyed the Kg Jawa Mariamman Hindu temple at 4.00am this morning (15.11.07)”.
2) “Appeal for United Kingdom to move emergency United Nations Resolution condemning “Ethnic Cleansing” in Malaysia”.
I will not quote other highly inflammatory remarks found in the Hindraf memorandum. However I would like to mention the threat made by Hindraf in its conclusion;
“We fear that the peace loving Indian community of Tamil origin having been pushed to the corner and the persecution getting worse by the day may be forced into terrorism in a matter of time as what has happened to the Sri Lankan Tamils”.
Is Hindraf planning to make Malaysia a Southeast Asian Sri Lanka?
I don’t believe the majority of the Tamils in Malaysia would agree with the picture painted by Hindraf. Unfortunately, like the Malays, few of them read the actual memorandum. And so they support Hindraf blindly.
But if you read what I have quoted would you not conclude that Hindraf and Param Cumaraswamy, who objected to their detention under the ISA as racist especially as his desire to have me detained under the Act for telling the Malays to realise that they are not “Tuan” when they have to clean the shoes of others. If they want to be “Tuan”, then they must acquire the skills and knowledge to succeed in life. And when they succeed they would be highly regarded whether they are called “Tuan” or not.
It seems that according to Param Cumaraswamy talking about Malays is seditious.
Who is racist; Param Cumaraswamy or Dr Mahathir?
I am not going to call for his detention.
He should as a lawyer who understands the law, decide whether he is a racist and should be detained or not.
It is strange that whenever people like Param Cumaraswamy accuse others of being racist they end up by exposing the racist in them. For them you are racist only if you talk about Malays and their need to catch up with other races. If you talk of the imagined plight of other races in Malaysia, and make ridiculous statements that the Tamil Indians in Malaysia are facing “ethnic cleansing” when you know that no such thing is happening, it is not racist.
It is only in Malaysia that people of immigrant origins, so identified by their insistence on being linked race-wise with their countries of origin, are actually accepted as citizens.
In other countries including the much-admired democracies of the West, citizens are not linked to or classified by their countries of origin. They speak the national language habitually, go to schools where the national language is the medium of instruction and adopt the culture of the indigenous people, or at least the people who originally founded these countries (the indigenous people having been systematically wiped out).
But in Malaysia although the national language is the language of the indigenous people, many Malaysian citizens cannot speak the language, much less use it habitually in their homes and with fellow citizens. Whenever some foreigner speak Bahasa Malaysia to them, they would reply in English. Foreigners cannot understand why they seem to downgrade their national language. And yet these citizens question why there is, for practical purpose, no Bangsa Malaysia.
Schools using languages of the countries of origin are not only permitted but are actually financed by the Government. Try and find such schools in South East Asia or in the so-called liberal developed countries where they claim there is no racial discrimination. There are actually more Indians in the United Kingdom than in Malaysia. But there is not a single school where the teaching medium is in any of the Indian languages.
People like Param would not notice all these. Instead he sees the effort to bring up the indigenous people to the level of the non-indigenous people as racist. Arrogantly he seems to want the indigenous people become the deprived in their own country.
I admit that I spoke on “Ketuanan Melayu” in Johor. The Malay intellectuals have been talking about this for a long time. There was no suggestion about them being racist or that they should be detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA).
I spoke on this issue critically as I consider that claiming to be masters when you are not is ridiculous. How can the Malay driver driving a car belonging to someone else regard himself as the “Tuan” and the owner of the car as inferior to him? Actually it is the owner and his employer who is the “Tuan”.
In my speech my advise to the Malays is to acquire knowledge and skills and use them to enrich themselves for only then can they be regarded by their servants and employees as “Tuan”.
Is this seditious or near seditious? Is speaking about Malays and their needs seditious?
On the other hand let us consider the Hindraf memorandum to the British. Most people including Indians have not read it. To gain the support of the Tamil Indians, Hindraf demands that the British compensate every Tamil Indian in Malaysia one million pounds sterling (about RM 7 million). That should tempt even middle-class Indians. Surely Indian workers would fall for it.
The Hindraf memorandum also contains the following extracts which are obviously racist;
1) “Commonwealth ethnic Indian peace loving subjects in Malaysia persecuted by Government backed Islamic extremist violent armed terrorist who launched a pre-dawn violent armed attack and destroyed the Kg Jawa Mariamman Hindu temple at 4.00am this morning (15.11.07)”.
2) “Appeal for United Kingdom to move emergency United Nations Resolution condemning “Ethnic Cleansing” in Malaysia”.
I will not quote other highly inflammatory remarks found in the Hindraf memorandum. However I would like to mention the threat made by Hindraf in its conclusion;
“We fear that the peace loving Indian community of Tamil origin having been pushed to the corner and the persecution getting worse by the day may be forced into terrorism in a matter of time as what has happened to the Sri Lankan Tamils”.
Is Hindraf planning to make Malaysia a Southeast Asian Sri Lanka?
I don’t believe the majority of the Tamils in Malaysia would agree with the picture painted by Hindraf. Unfortunately, like the Malays, few of them read the actual memorandum. And so they support Hindraf blindly.
But if you read what I have quoted would you not conclude that Hindraf and Param Cumaraswamy, who objected to their detention under the ISA as racist especially as his desire to have me detained under the Act for telling the Malays to realise that they are not “Tuan” when they have to clean the shoes of others. If they want to be “Tuan”, then they must acquire the skills and knowledge to succeed in life. And when they succeed they would be highly regarded whether they are called “Tuan” or not.
It seems that according to Param Cumaraswamy talking about Malays is seditious.
Who is racist; Param Cumaraswamy or Dr Mahathir?
I am not going to call for his detention.
He should as a lawyer who understands the law, decide whether he is a racist and should be detained or not.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Decision to bar outsiders irks Dr Mahathir
More news from the star on Mahathir’s forum in London. Mahathir complained about the freedom on speech in Imperial College where his forum was limit to the IC students. Hypocrite, isn’t he? He is the one who tried to clamp down opposing views and the media throughout his 22 years of administration. He should be the last person on earth that could say anything about freedom of speech!
LONDON: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was left fuming over a last-minute decision to bar outsiders from attending his talk on war crimes at Imperial College here on Friday.
The former prime minister said he regretted any attempt to block his speech entitled Expose War Crimes: Criminalise War at Imperial College.
Scores of Malaysians and non-Malaysians were left stranded outside the Sir Alexander Flemming building in the college when they were barred from entering the lecture theatre hall where the talk was held.
Security guards stationed near the entrance were seen checking for Imperial College identification cards before allowing them in.
During his speech, Dr Mahathir said he believed that Britain was a country where free speech was upheld.
LONDON: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was left fuming over a last-minute decision to bar outsiders from attending his talk on war crimes at Imperial College here on Friday.
The former prime minister said he regretted any attempt to block his speech entitled Expose War Crimes: Criminalise War at Imperial College.
Scores of Malaysians and non-Malaysians were left stranded outside the Sir Alexander Flemming building in the college when they were barred from entering the lecture theatre hall where the talk was held.
Security guards stationed near the entrance were seen checking for Imperial College identification cards before allowing them in.
During his speech, Dr Mahathir said he believed that Britain was a country where free speech was upheld.
Dr M: Charge Bush, Blair and Howard for war crimes
Seems that our ex-PM is enjoying his time in London. I am just a bit curious how did Malaysiakini produced a report on this event since all recording devides are banned and guests are restricted only to Imperial College Students? Must be an undercover’s job huh?
How could Mahathir be so concerned about Bush, Blair and Howard’s so-called war crime, while he himself haven’t settled his own “crime” in the country. Can’t wait for Anwar to get in power to expose all his wrongdoings throughout the 22 years iron fisted dictatorship.
How could Mahathir be so concerned about Bush, Blair and Howard’s so-called war crime, while he himself haven’t settled his own “crime” in the country. Can’t wait for Anwar to get in power to expose all his wrongdoings throughout the 22 years iron fisted dictatorship.
THE MILLIONAIRE CLUB
Touching one million hits among bloggers seem to be something to be celebrated. I was told that most bloggers will congratulate each other when one of them hits the million mark, and call the one millionaire.
Some bloggers have described my achieving the million mark within a month of my first posting as something phenomenal; one even suggested that it may be a world record of sorts.
I do not know whether it is.
To me, what is more important is that I have managed to generate enough interest to get that kind of traffic in my blog.
It is quite an experience to be a blogger even though I am only a month-old.
Much as I saw the importance of cyberspace during my tenure as Prime Minister and hence my commitment to the setting up of Cyberjaya and pursuing the Multi-media Super Corridor (MSC), I did not envisage that I would one day be a blogger.
I note that now the government has recognised the importance of the blogs. It is proposing to have its own blog. But more importantly the mainstream media are now quoting from the blog and even dare to write on formerly forbidden subjects.
This is to be expected as many people no longer read the mainstream papers or watch television. The NST circulation has been reduced to an average of 135,000 daily including free and discounted copies for hotels, schools and airlines.
Unless there is instruction to spin news from certain quarters, the mainstream media might become irrelevant.
Source:http://www.chedet.com/
Some bloggers have described my achieving the million mark within a month of my first posting as something phenomenal; one even suggested that it may be a world record of sorts.
I do not know whether it is.
To me, what is more important is that I have managed to generate enough interest to get that kind of traffic in my blog.
It is quite an experience to be a blogger even though I am only a month-old.
Much as I saw the importance of cyberspace during my tenure as Prime Minister and hence my commitment to the setting up of Cyberjaya and pursuing the Multi-media Super Corridor (MSC), I did not envisage that I would one day be a blogger.
I note that now the government has recognised the importance of the blogs. It is proposing to have its own blog. But more importantly the mainstream media are now quoting from the blog and even dare to write on formerly forbidden subjects.
This is to be expected as many people no longer read the mainstream papers or watch television. The NST circulation has been reduced to an average of 135,000 daily including free and discounted copies for hotels, schools and airlines.
Unless there is instruction to spin news from certain quarters, the mainstream media might become irrelevant.
Source:http://www.chedet.com/
Dr M Quits Umno
By now, everyone is talking about former Umno president and PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's announcement to quit Umno.
He announced his decision in Alor Star today before 1,000 people, mostly Kedah Umno members at a talk.
He said he was quitting because he had no confidence in the current leadership.
Dr Mahathir has explained his decision in his blog, saying that his wife, Tun Dr Siti Hasmah has also quit the party with him.
In his posting, Dr Mahathir said Umno today is not the party that he joined 62 years ago but one that exists only to support Abdullah and his family and policies that are not consistent with the interest of the race, religion and the country.
He announced his decision in Alor Star today before 1,000 people, mostly Kedah Umno members at a talk.
He said he was quitting because he had no confidence in the current leadership.
Dr Mahathir has explained his decision in his blog, saying that his wife, Tun Dr Siti Hasmah has also quit the party with him.
In his posting, Dr Mahathir said Umno today is not the party that he joined 62 years ago but one that exists only to support Abdullah and his family and policies that are not consistent with the interest of the race, religion and the country.
Che Det The Blogger
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has finally started his own blog -- H E R E (http://www.chedet.com)
Welcome to blogosphere, Sir!
Good for you, Tun. We're glad that you have finally started your own blog.
Rocky and I were probably among the first few who asked him to blog. In fact, we could well have been the first to plant the idea in his head.
At a luncheon gathering at the Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur, held in his honour in 2006, Dr Mahathir was articulating several issues and lamented that "people should know about these things". Seated near him were two former group editors of mainstream media and several former and serving civil servants, and corporate leaders.
Dr Mahathir had asked how could he get these issues across to people.
I remember saying, from across the table: "Blog, Tun. You should blog about about these issues."
He grinned and feigned surprise: "Blog? "
"Yes, you should," chipped in Rocky.
Dr Mahathir said he didn't think he would have the time to blog.
I don't know whether he ever thought about blogging after that. Probably not.
But well, Tun. Looks like you must have thought about it lately, and have found the time to blog now.
Dr Mahathir's first posting is "The Appointment Of Judges". And at my last count, he had 382 comments.
Keep them coming, Tun!
Welcome to blogosphere, Sir!
Good for you, Tun. We're glad that you have finally started your own blog.
Rocky and I were probably among the first few who asked him to blog. In fact, we could well have been the first to plant the idea in his head.
At a luncheon gathering at the Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur, held in his honour in 2006, Dr Mahathir was articulating several issues and lamented that "people should know about these things". Seated near him were two former group editors of mainstream media and several former and serving civil servants, and corporate leaders.
Dr Mahathir had asked how could he get these issues across to people.
I remember saying, from across the table: "Blog, Tun. You should blog about about these issues."
He grinned and feigned surprise: "Blog? "
"Yes, you should," chipped in Rocky.
Dr Mahathir said he didn't think he would have the time to blog.
I don't know whether he ever thought about blogging after that. Probably not.
But well, Tun. Looks like you must have thought about it lately, and have found the time to blog now.
Dr Mahathir's first posting is "The Appointment Of Judges". And at my last count, he had 382 comments.
Keep them coming, Tun!
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