DAP's Kampung Tunku assemblyperson Lau Weng San questioned whether the government was quietly giving fuel subsidies while publicly claiming otherwise.

This comes after Finance Minister II Johari Abdul Ghani said the fuel prices are supposed to increase by 20 sen per litre, but was increased by 15 sen per litre instead on Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s instruction.

“Does the government actually have a fixed formula to use? Even if it did, it is subject to the prime minister’s discretion.

“If it is true that the fuel prices depend on the global market prices, (why) does it still require human intervention?

“If that is the case and the final price is lower than the market price, then the government may need to make up for the difference through subsidies.

"Why then does the government keep saying that fuel subsidies have been discontinued?” he said in a statement today.

Lau said that although Domestic Trade, Cooperatives, and Consumerism Minister Hamzah Zainuddin had explained that the prices are determined by the Automatic Pricing Mechanism (APM), the details remain obscure.

The fuel retail prices in Malaysia are reviewed monthly, and the price of RON 95, RON 97 and diesel were all increased by 15 sen per litre on the stroke of midnight of Nov 1. These are the highest prices so far in 2016.

The sharp increase coincided with falling crude oil prices over the previous week.