I read with great disbelief and sadness with regards to the reduction in petroleum subsidies in Malaysia. Luckily for me I am watching this from afar as I left Malaysia about a month ago for the Middle East to further my career. Unfortunately my family will be the ones who will be suffering in silence, yet again.

I do applaud the government for making such a bold move with an (honest) aim to reduce the amount spent on subsidising fuel yearly. And no, we do not expect handouts from the government at all. And the government has pledged that the RM4.4 billion ringgit saved would be put to good use by improving our public transport system.

Now, this has got me fuming. Why? That is because normal rakyat like us will never in our lives see an improved public transportation system in Malaysia. With the amount of corruption that is going on within all ranks of the government, this will never happen. I do wish and hope that Pak Lah will prove me wrong but I've been living in Malaysia for 27 years of my life and all that I get is a big disappointment. The only consolation was the fuel subsidy which is not much if you consider a normal working class person's salary and the amount of money he/she spends a month for petrol.

Contrary to popular believe, the cost of living in Malaysia is not low. In fact, it is one of the highest in the world due to our low spending power and low income topped with high prices for essentials. Normal Malaysians who want to purchase an average vehicle (a RM60k Proton Waja) needs to pay for it with at least two years of their full salary. In other countries such as Dubai, Australia, United Kingdom and even Singapore, you pay with less than six months of your full salary. I'm talking about an average educated person with three years work experience.

And to add salt to the wound, mind you, these countries have the best public transportation systems in the world. Now what does that tell you? To make it worse, we pay toll for every highway that we use (minus the Federal Highway of course, but it's more like a main road or sometimes a huge parking lot).

Unless you are a corrupt government official (especially those who stay on way past their expiration) or a good or shrewd businessman or a snatch thief, we the rakyat will suffer. I can tell you now that the RM4.4 billion ringgit will be wasted and laundered into the hands of corrupt government officials and their relatives with shell companies bidding for the contracts - just like the rest of our public projects.

We the rakyat don't need stupid beautification projects like the ones carried out by a lot of the local councils that costs millions of ringgit nor do we need an electronic board telling us which road is experiencing a high volume of traffic when we are already stuck in a jam. Nor do we need huge iconic mega-infrastructures to show to the world that we are of 'world-class standard' when the people suffer in silence.

Please don't get me wrong. I love my friends and family as well as the vast amount of variety of food and other great facilities in Malaysia. The islands and nature are just wonderful. But unless our government improves from within, we as a country will destroy ourselves, sooner or later.

And what happens to us, the rakyat? We suffer in silence.