I refer to the Malaysiakini report Shahrir: No need for petrol subsidies .

This announcement by the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Shahrir Abdul Samad is a very clear sign of the BN’s arrogant and snobbish governance and its ‘die hard’ attitude of abusing the power entrusted to them by the rakyat.

Stop worrying about the petrol subsidies. With the advanced countries mostly in recession or on the verge of slipping into a recession, there is an urgent need for us to draw up an economic master plan for our country to stimulate sustainable local economic growth.

We need to do research to discover new sectors for viable economic ventures and a redirection of exports to other parts of the world with sustainable economic demand so that we could maintain the present pace of our economic growth.

In order for us to stimulate sustainable local economic growth, the government must ensure the rakyat had sufficient capacity and an increased purchasing power parity by increasing the income of the rakyat to boost their purchasing power which will in turn shore up demand for goods and services.

The second way is to reduce the prices of goods and services so that with the same amount of money, the rakyat are now able to buy more goods and services at a more reasonable price without compromising on quality and standard.

In the environment of an economic downturn, most prices of goods follow the natural trend of lower prices and it also true that during the high growth periods when supplies are scarce, high inflation occurs with the prices of goods and services being raised through a chain reaction.

The government must ensure that all industries start to reduce their prices as the cost of production has reduced considerably. This will create a chain reaction of price reductions so as to stimulate the capacity for demand.

If this is nor done, the country’s economy shall slow down as projected by the government or shrink at even faster rate into recession.

Now, Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Minister Noh Omar is apparently agreeable to a hike in express bus fares as claims that their cost of operations have increased but in actual fact, their operation costs are on the down turn waiting for who will take the lead in the chain reaction mentioned above.

In fact, express bus fares have recently increased with a 30% surcharge due to previous fuel hikes even though the price of crude oil has dropped drastically to US$52 - nearly one third of its peak price of US$148 per barrel.

The government has not only failed to honour its promise of maintaining the fuel price at RM0.30 below the market price but has also admitted recently that local fuel prices are fixed above market rate and the government is now making a revenue to gather funds for its RM7billion economic stimulation package.

What an anti-climax. These actions of the government are contradictory. The revenue raised from the fixing of fuel prices above the market rates so that the government earns money to support its RM7billion economic stimulation package runs counter to the spirit of the policy to increase the purchasing power of the rakyat in boosting demand to stimulate the local economy.

So what is the use of this ‘economic stimulation package’ when its very financing has a neutralisation or compensation effect?

This is the norm as far as BN policies and strategies are concerned. A lot of sweet talk but they are unable to carryout their tasks effectively due to a lack of sincerity, virtues and wisdom. The BN government lacks leadership.

They are unable to resolve problems with transparency, accountability and clean governance. If BN does not buck up and get rid of its chronic diseases, it could find itself in the delicate position of being discarded by the rakyat .