THE 1 sen coin is no longer in use. We have to round up our bills to the nearest 5 or 10 sen now. This means our 5 sen coin is still circulated widely but really, we don’t pay much attention to it. I suppose that if we accidentally dropped a 5 sen piece, we wouldn’t even bother to pick it up. It’s too small a fraction and 5 sen will buy you nothing today.
However, when you consider a 5 sen increase in a litre of petrol, it can add up to quite a tidy sum.
Actually, I did not pay much attention to the announcement last week that the government had increased the prices of RON95 grade of petrol, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas and sugar.
Sugar went up by 20 sen a kg while RON95 petrol, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) all went up by 5 sen a litre. The new price for RON 95 grade petrol has gone up from RM1.85 to RM1.90 a litre; diesel from RM1.75 to RM1.80 a litre.
The thing is when you spend an average of RM25 daily on petrol and toll in Kuala Lumpur on an ordinary 1.6 saloon car, and then only RM10 daily driving around in Kuching with no toll to pay, it’s still affordable. For those living and working in Kuching however, they feel the pinch.
A reader, J Law from Kuching, drew my attention to this saying he was surprised that I did not touch on the issue last Saturday. I suppose most of us have grown so used to the frequent increases in the prices of essential commodities that we have accepted them as a fact of life.
But Law pointed out why he was unhappy with the recent hike and he has some points to make. Here are excerpts from his email to me, which may be useful to share with readers.
“Regarding the recent fuel hike, there is contradiction in what the government said last month and the action it took this month. On Nov 3, 2010, minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob was quoted as saying in Kosmo that there would not be a fuel hike this year for RON95 and that the price of RON97 would be determined by the market,” Law wrote giving a link to the minister’s statement in Kosmo.
“It’s not the 5 sen hike I’m not happy about, but the promise an d assurance given by the government to the public. That was the cause of my dissatisfaction. A minister who represents our government spoke to the press, giving an assurance that there wouldn’t be any fuel hike, but the very same government broke its promise the following month.
“To add fuel to the fire, I read a quote from (the aide of) another minister in mStar Online on the reason for the recent fuel hike. The reason he gave was to reduce the price gap between RON95 and RON97.
‘Setiausaha Akhbar kepada Menteri Perdagangan Dalam Negeri, Koperasi dan Kepenggunaan, Datuk Ruhaidini Abdul Kadir, ketika mengesahkan perkara ini kepada mStar Online sebentar tadi berkata, kenaikan itu bertujuan mengelakkan jurang harga besar antara RON95 dan RON97.’
“It’s simply absurd to have such a statement coming from (the aide of) a minister if the above quote is true.
“How can we trust our ministers if they who manage our country can’t even keep things straight up, keep their promises and uphold their integrity as expected of them?
“What about the slogans our Prime Minister has promoted to our nation? The concept of 1Malaysia, Rakyat Didahulukan, Pencapaian Diutamakan. Why can’t some of our politicians keep their promises? Our ministers should not jump the gun when announcing policy matters. They must make it a point to keep their promises.
“I decided to write in to share my frustration and dissatisfaction about the action of some government leaders. Because some of them could not perform, they put the credibility of the government at stake in the eyes of the people.
“Then again, the voters are the ones who elected some of these people in the first place. So we should all share the blame,” added Law.
I think Law brought up an important issue of governance — that our ministers must be consistent and stop making flip-flop decisions. If they continue to do so, the days of their political careers are numbered.
But let us also hear the government’s explanation for its hike decision last week.
It reasoned that the subsidy rationalisation was necessary as the government recognised that it must continue to manage its fiscal position by enhancing revenue and, at the same time, reducing expenditure.
The Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) aims to increase the Gross National Income (GNI) per capita to US$15,000 by the year 2020, it said.
To achieve this, it added, the GDP must grow at least at 6 per cent per annum and this would allow government revenue to increase via tax collection.
The Government Transformation Programme (GTP) attempts to address issues in the six National Key Result Areas (NKRAs), amongst which poverty, rural basic infrastructure and education clearly had an impact on the bottom 40 per cent of the population, it said.
The government was taking the welfare of the poor as a key priority under the GTP, it added.
So the key phrase here is ‘the welfare of the poor’. For the poor, every sen counts, including 5 sen or even the 1 sen that is no longer in circulation.
A government with a heart will always bear that in mind.
(Comments can reach the writer at [email protected])