vox populi big thumbnail ‘It has to pay them the difference from the market price and the price they are allowed to sell in our country. This the subsidy that the government is talking about.’

VI Old Boy: I believe this writer does not know that the government is paying other oil companies (such as Shell and ExxonMobil) the difference from the market price and the price they are allowed to sell in the country. Using his analogy, if we are producing our own rambutans, we can sell or eat all the rambutans.

In this case we have other producers as well and by not allowing them to sell at the prevailing market price, we have to pay them the difference ie subsidising them the difference. This the subsidy that the government is talking about.

It is not about Petronas wanting to reap more profits. But please bear in mind that even if they do, the government/people should benefit as we/government own Petronas.

However, in my opinion, the rakyat should not be bothered too much about the subsidy issue and why we have to pay for high oil prices although we are a producer.

What we should be concerned about and ask a specific clarification for from the government is what the government has been doing with all the money obtained from Petronas over the last 20 odd years.

Billions of ringgit have been given by Petronas as taxes and dividends but where has it all gone? There should be an audit to explain how every ringgit has been spent. From there, we will know whether it has been put to good use or otherwise.

On National oil company to open books to public

Waiting Citizen: At face value, this is a good piece of news. At last someone has agreed to be transparent with what Petronas has been doing over the past 30 years.

But one thing we must make sure. Petronas must unreservedly open up its books and not just partially.

It will not make sense if we cannot see the true picture of how the money has been utilised for the past three decades.

Petronas must give a vivid account without fail. Let us see what information they are prepared to share with rakyat .

And I also suggest all its accounts be presented to parliament for debate. Petronas, please do not fail us this time.

On 'Fuel price hike a blessing'

John Johnson: It has come to a sizzling point where salaries and allowances and not raised and subsidies are withdrawn. What are the people going to do? Is it unfair to have a second income when big corporations and companies insist on employees being loyal by not moonlighting?

These so-called corporate structures are not interested in your daily hardship but expect you to give them 200% in commitment for less pay and allowances. So what is wrong in working for yourself?

Some 80% of the Malaysian population are employees and the 20% are the rest who control the wealth of this 80%. Be an employee and you will die an employee. So go out there and do something for yourself.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket so to speak. This will ensure you will have a second income in this era of turbulent times. We all need income security and not financial security. To the big corporations and oil future traders I say: ‘Bollocks to all of you and shame on you’.

Xroy: The hike in prices for petrol is to prepare for the Umno general assembly. With the hike, Umno is set to earn billions from Petronas and that is why the Petronas chief has been calling for the lifting of all subsidies for oil.

Umno has been bleeding Petronas all these years. It was used to bail out Proton and it was used for the great Terengganu yacht project. Now that the Umno general assembly is approaching, those vying for positions must have money

It is an open secret that Umno men will travel with suitcases filled with money for this purpose. Now we know where the money comes from and why we are denied access to Petronas’ accounts.

Chee Siew Sim: The recent 41% hike in petrol is not a Malaysian problem but a world-wide issue faced by all mankind.

Why do the opposition parties and those demonstrators blame Pak Lah for this price hike? Pak Lah is protecting our future generations - we bite the bullet now rather than suffer five years down the road when Malaysia becomes a bankrupt nation due to the oil subsidy.

The price hike is justified and yet in spite of it our petrol price is still cheaper than in Thailand and Singapore. We have a compassionate PM who is still dishing out petrol subsidies and food subsidies; we should count our blessings.

Joseph: Has anyone heard of our former premier making a pact with the Japanese and Koreans to sell our precious oil to these countries for 30 years at a fixed price? If that is true, then we are all being robbed, not by the Japanese or Koreans, but by the people responsible for these pacts.

How could you not be frustrated knowing all this is happening and drastically affecting us while those culprits and their children are all well-secured financially for generations to come.

We, the citizens, are ‘sold’ outright. Damn it.

On PM warns of 'disaster' unless inflation tackled

Mat Al-Jajawi: Who is the PM telling this to? He and his cabinet colleagues are the ones to tackle the inflation so I would like to ask the following to the cabinet:

Do we need two finance ministers to oversee the financial management of this country? Why is it that in the past (in the pre-Mahathir era) the country could be well managed by only one finance minister but under Mahathir and Abdullah Badawi we must have two such ministers? I think it is such a waste of the taxpayers money to have this luxury.

Surely, one minister is adequate to look after the financial affairs of Malaysia, even when the economy is heading into tailspin, by the look of things. If the PM is serious about minimising wastage in the public administration, he should reshuffle the cabinet and reduce the number of ministers by 25% at least.

The cabinet is too bloated at a time when the rakyat are asked to change their lifestyle where possible. The government, too, should change its own management style and go back to basics. I end this letter by asking the rakyat to Jom pakat tolak dan tinggal Barisan !

Lemon: Does he even know what he is talking about? He has just done something that spurred one of the biggest inflation moves in Malaysia, ever.

Why create a problem to solve the problem? To tackle the so-called inflation, maybe we can send our people out into the world to enlighten them on inflation rate calculations.

On 2,000 play 'cat and mouse' with cops

Best Citizen: Sad to say, I can never understand why the authorities are so worried over a peaceful march for a good cause. We claim ourselves to be a democratic country and yet the people’s voice cannot be expressed openly. This is absolutely illogical and against democratic principles.

Then fuel price hike is definitely affecting our daily lives, not to mention our living standard. Let the people express their plight and dissatisfaction as a normal process. I suggest the best formula is to open up the books of Petronas. Be very transparent with all the accounts and keep the people informed of the fuel situation.

The oil money is our money, the people’s money. We have the right to know what actually has happened. Please allow the rakyat to express freely. Look at South Korea. Millions of people walked on the streets this week to say ‘no’ to the import of US frozen beef due to the health factor.

Look at Taiwan, million of people walked on the streets last year to say ‘no’ to their previous administration due to corrupt practices. Democracy is a process. The government is elected by the raykat . So please listen to them don’t ignore them. Malaysians are matured enough to behave. Have trust and confidence on them.

On Expect more to come, says opposition

Isa Manteqi: I think that the opposition should seriously rethink the wisdom of holding street demonstrations as a way of expressing public dissent. If we have to have very large numbers of concerned citizens gathering for any cause, let them meet at a stadium where appropriate resolutions can be agreed on and then passed on to the authorities.

Alternatively, let there be a nationwide signature campaign, the results of which can similarly be delivered to the government. Large street demonstrations lead to unnecessary confrontations with the police, closure of roads and businesses resulting in losses of earnings of innocent citizens. They are also prone to infiltration by troublemakers.

The recent price hike of petrol has been accompanied by claims of the government reducing ‘subsidies’ - an idiotic stance. The government must be left in no doubt what the opposition thinks of this but please, let's do this in a way that does not create more problems than it solves.

On Lim: Do away with gas subsidies for IPPs

Izkandar: The statement made by the CM of Penang that Petronas subsidises IPPs is incorrect. For your information, electricity tariff comprises of the following components:

a. Cost of fuel which is gas. b. Cost of the setting-up of power plants which runs into billions of ringgit forked out by IPPs including TNB and c. Cost of maintenance of the plant during the operating period.

Note that the cost of fuel component has a ‘pass-though mechanism’ from Petronas-to-IPP-to- TNB and eventually to the end-users. With this pass-through mechanism, whatever the price of gas Petronas charges to IPPs, the IPPs do not derive any commercial benefit, even if the gas is free. However, the IPPs are required to ensure a certain level of performance output to ensure that the gas is used efficiently and not wasted.

Therefore, this fuel component of the tariff and the eventual subsidy from Petronas is passed through to TNB who then passes it down to the end user via tariff adjustment. If the fuel price reduces, the end-users should benefit from it and if the fuel price increases, the end-user ends up paying a higher tariff.

This explains why effective July 1, end-users will end up paying a higher electricity tariff.

Therefore, in essence, Petronas (and the government ) subsidise the power sector (and not TNB or IPPs) to ensure low electricity tariff. To reiterate, the IPPs derive no commercial benefit from the gas pricing as set by Petronas and the government.

On Petroleum pricing for the layman

Concerned Non-Economist: The writer left out the pricing. Russian Diesel-2 (D2) which can be landed in any South East Asian port for MDO price of US$600-700 per metric ton. The Singapore MOPs price today is US$1,198.00.per metric ton. In one metric ton, there is 1,198 liters. I am sure the consumers can work out the rest.