I refer to the letter Suffering from the subsidy diarrhoea.

What the writer does not understand is that giving subidies does not benefit anyone. It does not solve inflation and no developed country gives out subsidies likeMalaysia does.

Government subsidies can be a powerful economic tool if used correctly: it softens the impact of sudden price rises and moderates inflation, but only for a short term. In fact, I'll agree on subsidies if there is a clear-cut plan to remove that subsidy within a given time frame.

No government anywhere in its right mind could lock themselves in to an indefinite subsidy scheme, absorbing inflation completely. Sadly, the BN led government has been doing that for years, and that's why the current predicament.

The writer claims that subsidies is an established economic tool in developed countries. As far as I know, nobody does it. The writer also claims that comparisons with Singapore is irrelevant because we earn less.

Well guess what? It is our tax money that is used to pay for the petrol subsidies, and subsidies for any other essential goods. So yes, you are still paying full price for petrol, just that you pay it to the tax man, not at the counter of the petrol station.

It was also argued in the letter that we'll be at the mercy of developed countries should we remove all subsidies. Well, if we do not spend our tax money developing our country, making ourselves richer, but instead spend it to make pretend that all is rosy, well, basically this happens - we end up at the mercy of others.

If our government (formerly led by the oh-so-noble! Dr Mahathir Mohamad) had instead asked the hard questions and looked at real solutions, none of this mess would have happened. We would have been rich enough to pay the full price for petrol and weather this storm comfortably.

The subsidies which have been given out has snowballed into such a bill that it is no longer sustainable. Yes, we are a net exporter of oil, but to remember that petrol is a finite resource. We are going to run out of it one day. What happens then?

The current sharp increase in petrol and electricity benefits nobody, not the dealers, not wholesalers, not producers, not retailers. If you don't believe me, speak to them. Find me someone who jumped at joy at the sudden price hike because it'll be a boon for business.

Like everyone else, they have a family to feed, bills to pay. The cost of running a business goes up because of the price hikes, yet consumers constantly complain that they are taking on more than their fair share. But honestly, what do you think they should do?

All in all, what goes up must come down. Subsidies of any kind have always been built on a fragile foundation. And our national subsidy structure has grown too big, too clunky to sustain.

It will crumble eventually. To allow it to even grow to such a massive bill and let it topple on its own is the real crime. If it had been well-managed all along none of this would have happened.

What next from here? I believe a strong, educated, intelligent leadership as well as unity from all Malaysians will pull us through this. Of course, since the present government was the one who brought us into this mess to begin with, and since they aren't showing any sense of remorse or apology, our future is only looking grimmer by the day...