I think, sometimes, in our attempt to find fault with the government, we forget to crucially analyse the issues involved. One such pathetic attempt by the opposition is well-documented in the your report Don't hoard Petronas profit, share the spoils .

Petronas' profit and the issue of oil subsidies must be looked at in different contexts.

I am all for the transparency malarkey in relation to the Petronas' profit. The government is very fond of saying that Petronas contributes billions of dollars to the government coffers without telling us how much is retained by Petronas for its frolicking in Formula 1, Proton and providing executive jets for its top officers.

That's what I am interested in. If Petronas is 100 percent owned by government - which means us, the people - then all funds belong to us. But Petronas is also being used as a personal banker for many things.

This aside, many Malaysians are being distracted with the subsidy issue and not seeing the wood from the trees. That is very common in Malaysia.

Why should government revenue be used to subsidise motor car owners who use their vehicles a lot? If petrol is expensive, just take a bus or car pool. The economy is distorted when subsidies like this take place.

Doesn't anyone think it is ironic that motor vehicle owners are being subsidised billions of dollars for petrol while the government always find a reason not to fund public transport upgrading?

I think that the two arguments - subsidies and Petronas profit - should be separated and not mixed up. In fact the opposition is only making the government look very responsible when they harp about the reduction in subsidies, a needful act given environmental concern and the nation's deficit financing.

If at all the government should be faulted, it should be that they did not decrease the subsidies when oil prices were low as opposed to the commodity's high price now.

If fisherman and other low-income wage groups need subsidies, these can be given as income support and so on to reduce the black-market racketeering and profiteering vis-a-vis illegal diesel and petrol smuggling.