9 June, 2008
(The Daily Express) - The latest fuel price increase is unacceptable and an insult to the people of Sabah who gave almost 100 per cent support to the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the last general election to stay in power, said Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) stalwart, Datuk Tham Nyip Shen.
"The people of Sabah would not have imagined that this is what they would be getting for supporting the BN in the last election," he said in a statement, Friday.
Tham, who is also State Science Adviser, noted that the fuel price hike announcement came as a surprise after Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister, Datuk Shahrir Ahmad, had earlier the same day stated that the Government would only be announcing a new scheme for the fuel subsidy in August.
The SAPP think-tank chief, in this respect, considered the announcement of the latest and steepest fuel price increase a "major mistake" by the BN government.
He believed that the move was made hastily without fully exploring other measures to mitigate the impact of the global fuel price increase.
He pointed out that compared to Hong Kong and Singapore, Malaysia is still very much lagging when it comes to better public transport.
He argued that the Federal Government must not have simply resorted to increasing the fuel price without improving public transportation in the country.
Tham, a former Deputy Chief Minister, said the latest increase would inflict more hardship on the people, especially the lower-income group.
Towards this end, he called on all elected representatives to sit together and explore measures that can be taken to minimise the impact, instead of continuing to carry out petty tasks like inspecting the drains. He said even though he was no longer an elected representative as a member of the BN coalition, he was still very much concerned with what is happening in the country.
Tham also wants Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to come up with more concrete measures to resolve the Sabah issues, instead of just "talk ".
He also reiterated his call to the Federal Government, the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs especially, to expedite the move to standardise prices of goods in the country.
This was only appropriate as with the latest fuel price increase, the people of Sabah would be worse hit with higher goods prices, compared to Peninsular Malaysia.
Meanwhile, SAPP Youth Chief, Au Kam Wah said leaders who failed to safeguard the welfare and interest of the people should immediately step down and let others more capable take over.
In a statement issued in Sandakan, Friday, Au regretted that not only did the Government fail to ease the people's burden amid the high inflation rate currently experienced by the nation but, proceeded to announce a steep fuel price increase.
The Elopura Assemblyman also said the Federal Government has reneged on its election pledge that it won't hike the price of fuel within this year that was reiterated by Shahrir later.
This, he said, had inevitably caused the people to lose their trust and confidence in the Government.
He also argued that the latest move on price completely contradicted BN's proclamation of providing "security, peace and prosperity" as contained in its last election manifesto.
"This inevitably gave the people a bad impression that the Government always preached one thing but did another," he said.
He also feared that the move would trigger an "economic tsunami" that would inflict devastating suffering on the people.
He noted that the people's frantic rush to the petrol stations on the eve of the fuel price increase clearly indicated its impact on the people.
"The latest fuel price increase was too much, unreasonable and unacceptable to the people. The people just can't accept the reason given by the Government that the latest increase was to subsidise food and other items.
"The increase will only cause prices of goods to go up and the rebates given by the Government are just too insignificant compared to the additional cost incurred by the people, as a result of the fuel price increase," he pointed out.
He feared the fuel price hike would also lead to more social issues including the smuggling of subsidised goods and illegal money lending activities.
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