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The recent fuel hike has yet again put Petronas in the spotlight. There have been many quarters who have sought to silence the rest of us in relation to our country's oil wealth. I am sure many others - like me - would never question the role Petronas has played in the development of the nation as to do so will be tantamount to being ungrateful to the God-given rich resources entrusted to Petronas.

But are our petrodollars actually being used for national development or on wasteful efforts such as the national service, sending people to space and other silly endeavours?

The complaints people have in coffee shops and elsewhere are mainly on the fact that Petronas' wealth and assets are actually the nation's wealth and Petronas is just the trustee entrusted in ensuring all is well. Therefore, it does not mean that Petronas has the sole and exclusive right to do what it wants with the nation's oil revenue.

These complaints are also about the general discomfort over the nation's wealth not being distributed equally among all Malaysians and being used for purposes that are not exclusively for nation-building. Whether these complaints are valid or not can only be resolved by having adequate sensible intellectual discussions, not chest-beating diatribes.

Just don't dismiss these concerns by saying how much the nation has benefitted; people such as me would counter that by saying we could have benefitted more. We can have very good intellectual discussions on this rather than merely regurgitating the 'feel good' diatribe without looking at all angles.

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