I am sick of all these denigrating statements about Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad appearing in our printed press. Before long they will be saying he is "nyanyuk" (senile). The government has been implying that they had to reduce fuel subsidies because the nation was financially not too well off owing to the lavish mega-projects of the previous administration.

Mahathir counteracted on this, saying the government now has never been richer, and that out of Petronas's RM80 billion ringgit earnings, only RM15 billion ringgit is being used to subsidise the country's fuel prices.

Which begs the question, if the government is well off, why did they have to reduce the fuel subsidy? The second automatic question is - where has the RM80 minus RM15 equals RM65 billion ringgit gone or will go?

Mahathir's statement that the government has never been richer has let "the cat out of the bag" or in Malay we say "pecah tembelang". As Malaysian citizens, we have the right to know what happens to Petronas' money.

I hope we are not like Iraq under Saddam Hussein when oil money went into the pockets of Baath party officials or in Iraq as it is now, Iraq's oil money going into the pockets of Halliburton and Republican party officials.