41% increase in petrol price!

from midnight tonight, it’s bye bye to petrol price of RM1.92 per litre!!  it will now be RM2.70.

few hours ago i read in malaysiakini, that the price hike will come in enforcement in august but now suddenly i was hit with the news that it will be enforeced today!!

caught this on malaysiakini:

Fuel hike:  78 cents more to RM2.70 per litre

The government has just announced that petrol price will go up by 78 sen at midnight – a 40.6 percent jump from RM1.92 per litre to RM2.70.

MCPX

The price of diesel will go up RM1, or 63.3 percent – from RM1.58 per litre to RM2.58.

The price hikes are among government measures to cut the spiralling bill for oil subsidies, which is expected to amount to RM56 billion this year.

At a press conference held at 5.30pm, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi also announced that the government plans to offer rebates to motorists to offset the fuel price increase.

Under the scheme, vehicles below 2000cc will receive a RM625 rebate annually – to compensate for 800 litres of fuel used under the new price.

Meanwhile, motorbikes will be given a rebate of RM120. The money will be paid by postal order.

Rebate will be paid when motorists renew the road-tax for their vehicles.

The government is expected to save RM4 billion under this new subsidy restructure.

However, the government is slowly expected to head towards totally abolishing the fuel subsidy.

If petrol is to be sold at full market prices, it could be as high as almost RM4 a litre – about 50 percent above current levels.

Since 2004, petrol has gone up by 97.1 percent, while diesel increased by a whopping 231 percent [see chart below].

arggh! i can no longer pay RM2.50 for my chaly! it’ll be less than 1 litre… not enough to feed chaly. now i have to pay RM3.50, i think… increase of one ringgit! think i had better consider selling my chaly and take the public bus. oops. but our bus system is  lousy… so no can do.

speaking of bus, alamak! bus fare might be increased too! oh no! and i do take the bus too. it’s my chaly and bus for me. alamak! what to do eh? everything increase (ok you can add ‘except salary’), what to do? according to the PM and DPM – "change your lifestyle!".

apa macam to change? PM and DPM are rich people can afford to change – e.g. from first class flight to economy class… poor people like me, already using bus, what lifestyle to change? from bus to what? take bicycle?

oh gee, why didn’t pakatan rakyat win the federal government? didn’t they promise NOT to increase petrol price if they win?

oh dear. i wonder will some activists plan for a demonstration? what’s the point when the price is already increased!! as if after the FRU bashed you with their batons or fire tear gas at you, the government will have a change of heart and revert back to the old price?

so what to do then? vote BN out completely next time!! er… but of course there’s no guarantee pakatan rakyat will not increase petrol price too.

so? what? change your lifestyle lah, silly.