An opposition leader has expressed doubts as to whether the relevant parties would seriously listen to the repeated warnings from government ministers about not taking advantage of the five sen increase in petrol price effective yesterday.

Since the government announced the price hike on Sept 30, several ministers including Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak have publicly warned traders against a price hike in consumer goods.

But Parti Keadilan Rakyat deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali feels that no one would listen.

"While we welcome the statements, we don't think anybody would bother to listen seriously to the warning and request as it is well-known that the government is powerless to (enforce) them under the present circumstances," he said in a statement.

"We wish to emphasise that there is no strong reason for the government to increase the price of petroleum once again."

The last petrol price increase was five months ago.

"Malaysia is a petroleum-producing country. In 2003, we produced over 740,000 barrels a day, of which 300,000 barrels a day were for export," he added.

High quality petroleum

Syed Husin said the petroleum produced by Malaysia was "of very high quality" due to its low sulphur content and so fetches a good price.

"With the present price of nearly US$50 per barrel, surely Malaysia can collect large income from duties on the petroleum exports," he said, demanding that the government declare the annual revenue from export duties since 1974.

"Surely such income from export duties could be used to pay the increasing subsidies instead of burdening the consumers."

He cited Najib's statement that the government has to now bear up to RM12 billion as petrol subsidy due to the world price increase.

"We want to know how real the payment of the subsidy is. (Najib) or Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, as Finance Minister, should provide details on the financial resources to pay the subsidy."

Syed Husin demanded to know if the finance ministry was the main source for the subsidy.