MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek has urged the opposition not to politicise the government’s decision to hike fuel prices beginning today, and sow hatred against the BN government.

He said he expected that the news about the 20 sen price hike on RON95 and diesel would result in many quarters, especially the opposition, to question it.

NONE However, Chua ( left ) said the people need to understand that a gradual subsidy cut is part of the subsidy rationalisation process in stabilising the economy.

“The people need to be educated on the importance of subsidy rationalisation instead of being told to hate the BN government for the measures it undertook in safeguarding the national economy and its competitiveness,” he said in a statement.

The MCA president also said inflation is still manageable and hence, the government’s move to increase aid will help cushion the impact of the fuel hike.

“We hope that more targeted aid will be introduced to help the lower income group. The government must also speed up the construction of one million low-cost houses for the middle and lower income group.

“Besides this, MCA is also expecting more people taking public transport due to the new fuel price. Hence, it is imperative that the government speed up the improvement of the public transport system and to ensure that the MRT project will not suffer any delay,” he said.

The MCA president pointed out that the current subsidy mechanism is benefiting people across the board regardless of whether they are rich or poor and this defeats the purpose the government’s purpose to help those in need.

He said the government had previously subsidised 83 sen for every litre of RON95 petrol and RM1 for every litre of diesel, costing the government RM24.8 billion last year.

“It is MCA’s stand that subsidy aid should benefit those who qualify as it is meant to ease the burden of the poor,” he said.

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