School bus operators who indiscriminately hike prices following diesel subsidy rationalisation risk having their licences suspended or revoked, warns Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim today.

“You have been given the subsidies and if you still hike the prices, watch out!” he asserted.

“I don’t know about others, but for me, if you increase the price when you have received subsidies, we will revoke your licences. If not, the schoolchildren will be burdened.

“If it’s true that you have not received (the subsidies), apply for the fleet card and we will pay.”

He said this during an address at the “Himpunan Aspirasi Madani Rakan Pembimbing Perkhidmatan Awam” held at the Putrajaya International Convention Center today.

On Tuesday (June 11), Transport Minister Anthony Loke said express and school bus operators should not raise fares following the implementation of targeted diesel subsidies in the peninsula.

This was because the diesel subsidy continues to be given to them through fleet cards under the Subsidised Diesel Control System.

Advised to postpone

In a related matter, Anwar divulged that some quarters advised him to postpone the announcement of the targeted diesel subsidy in light of the upcoming Sungai Bakap by-election.

“They advised me to do it after the by-election. But I said no. I said we must face it.

“What’s the point of giving (the people) the wrong message?” he added.

The rationalisation of diesel subsidy, he said, is a policy that his predecessors had wanted to implement but they were “not ready”.

“The previous prime ministers and I agree to implement the target (fuel) subsidy.

“They all agreed but were not ready to do it because they knew the problems they would have to face,” said the prime minister.

Previous administrations, since the tenure of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, have tried to tackle the issue of fuel subsidies.

However, the attempts failed due to various reasons, including strenuous public pushback and lack of data, especially for Malaysians working in the informal sectors.

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