TAWAU: Tawau fishermen are asking the government to review the existing method of distributing subsidised petrol to ensure the target group can really benefit from the facility.
They are unhappy that they have to travel long distances daily and incurring a substantial expenditure merely to collect 20 litres of subsidised petrol each, which was “not worth the effort”.
Mohd Mihidin Ibrahim, 48, of Balung, 31km from here, said it was also compulsory for fishermen to declare their daily catches before being allowed to buy the subsidised petrol from the kiosks provided.
“The return bus fare between Tawau and Balung is already RM10. At the Fisheries Board (LKIM) I have to pay RM1 to declare my catch before I am allowed to buy my subsidised petrol at the petrol kiosk.
“I have to take a taxi to the petrol kiosk to cart the petrol to the bus station at a cost of RM10. This situation repeats itself daily. It is a burden.
“According to my calculations, the transportation costs for every fisherman from Balung who want to buy subsidised petrol in town everyday can reach up to RM700 a month not including the purchase of the subsidised petrol,” Mohd Mihidin, a fisherman for the past 28 years, told Bernama.
He said many of his friends often ran out of petrol because they could not afford to go to town to buy the subsidised petrol and, therefore, could not go out to sea.
He suggested that the fishermen be given the flexibility to declare their catches and to buy the subsidised allocated to them on a weekly basis in order to cut down on transportation costs.
Mahat Sair, 53, from Tanjung Batu deplored that LKIM and the Area Fishermen’s Association (PNK) were taking too long to process the renewal of his appointment as the representative of 30 fishermen for buying petrol.
Due to the delay, which had stretched to one month, Mahat said he had to bring along the fishermen’s MyKad to the LKIM office to be scanned before being allowed to buy the petrol. He was aware that it was an offence to carry another person’s MyKad. – Bernama