Everyday I read and listen about what politicians say and I wonder if they are the ones who actually contribute to the degrading economy in Malaysia.

During the Umno assembly, we hear Khairy Jamaluddin saying that he feels it is unfair that the pakcik riding a motorcycle pays the same price for fuel to those who drives Mercedes. It was obviously a planned speech done after consulting his father in-law, the prime minister, now that Abdullah Ahmad Badawi wants to introduce a two-tier fuel pricing system.

I am no expert in economics but for what is worth, I feel the leadership of this country is doing a lot of harm through their words, especially in issues related to economic expansion. If we want to introduce a two- or three-tier pricing system, we might as well look at how to introduce similar systems for basic necessities like flour, sugar and wheat.

You see, Khairy, the pakcik in the kampung also eats the same bread that we eat. How about a two-tier system between government servants and non-government servants?

Rather than talking about the rising prices of oil worldwide, which in actual fact should not bother us because we are exporters, we should be positive about how Malaysia is able to withstand the pressure. For every one dollar increase in world oil prices, Petronas' income also increases. If Petronas is smart, they can make tonnes of money and bring it back home.

The nation's source of income is from income tax and customs revenue. This is an area where Khairy and Pak Lah should focus on. If the cost of running the government is going up then it must find a way to improve its coffer. In other words, it has to make the Income Tax Department and Customs Department more efficient in generating income.

It must also promote more pro-business strategies to encourage companies to make more money that contributes more taxes. The issue of the pakcik in the kampung having to paying less for necessities can been addressed by a multi-tier income tax system, a system proven to be quite efficient..

Somehow, I feel the PM's economic advisors are not giving the right advice. If you increase the price of fuel and have a magical mechanism where you can control and sell oil at different prices to the kampung folk (assuming that it is water tight system where there is no leakage), it is still not going to do much good for the pakcik in the kampung .

This is simply because it will raise the prices of goods, which will in turn increase the cost of living. The deeper in the kampung our pakcik lives, the goods that reaches him will be more expensive. This will burden him more and the discounted oil price he gets is meaningless.

The energy crisis in Malaysia is manageable. Encourage car importers to bring in hybrid cars. Encourage the use of gas-powered vehicles. Build more gas stations in Malaysia. This has been spoken of repeatedly but nothing is done. We can reduce consumption of oil if we encourage the use of alternative energy.

Please don't talk about palm oil green fuel that the government have been promoting over the last few years. I predicted it to be a failure and my prediction is true as the rising palm oil price makes no sense for producing bio-diesel.

Mr PM, I personally feel that you and your advisors are not managing the economy efficiently. You are making life harder for most Malaysians, both in the kampung and in the urban area. Please wake up and face reality.