Mohd Eddieham Ahmad, in Petronas knows what it is doing , unfortunately does not address the main issues raised. Instead he rants on about Petronas being the corporate model contributing to the development of the country, which nobody in the right frame of mind will refute.

(And while one would reasonably expect a multinational corporation to have their own private jet, I'm not so sure if it is to be used to sell bonds in the manner that he has so graphically described.)

What we want is more transparency on Petronas' spending in the context that Petronas' bounty is also the country's. Sure, as a business it is entitled to its trade secrets but there is a perception that this is the well that the government will dip into when it runs out of money to bail out some failing concern or for the needs of 'sponsorship' of some sort.

With the increased fuel prices worldwide, all the major oil corporations are having a bumper harvest and one would expect Petronas is too. The government, though, is feeling the pinch since it is heavily subsidising our fuel prices, or so it tells us. It therefore decides to reduce the subsidy (which indirectly pushes up other prices) and tells us to change our lifestyle.

And so while our Petronas is laughing all its way to the bank, we are driving into their petrol stations (in most probably a Malaysian car that has been made much more expensive by our government) and wondering why our government is making us pay more and more for what comes out from our own earth.

At the end of the day, it is not Petronas we should be unhappy with. It should be with the government which manipulates Petronas to serve an agenda when it suits them best but hides behind its cloak of autonomy and business independence when it does not.