The Information Ministry has launched a campaign to explain to the people on why the government needed to raise fuel prices, which has led many to see red.

The ministry will monitor the extent of the people's acceptance and understanding of the campaign to, said its deputy minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today.

He said the ministry had prepared a two-minute capsuled document which would be aired between the news slot and other programmes to explain the fuel price hike and make a price comparison.

The programme had already been shown on TV1 and TV2 while a special announcement was aired over 32 radio stations.

He said the monitoring to seek feedback from the people at the grassroots level was being carried out by information officers and officers of the other departments under the ministry.

"For example, the diesel price...what is the actual market price...and what is the market price approved by the government and what is the subsidy given per litre. The same also applies to liquified petroleum gas (LPG).

"If we feel that the people have accepted it and are satisfied (with the clarification), then we will ease up the campaign and we will take follow-up action using other approaches," he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

Pro-active measures

Ahmad Zahid said the ministry was taking pro-active measures to explain current issues to the people using two departments - the Information Department via face-to-face communication by the officers and through pamphlets distributed by the department.

Under the Special Affairs Department (Jasa), more than 600 officers will get down on the ground to present new facts on current issues to small groups.

Over the weekend, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahamad Badawi, in a special briefing for thousands of Barisan Nasional leaders, had urged them to explain to the people why the price of fuel had to be increased.

In the rises, the size of which took Malaysians by surprise, the government upped the price of petrol and diesel by 30 sen per litre to about RM1.90 and RM1.58 respectively.