Every Wednesday evening, Malaysians will wait with bated breath for the new petrol prices but for the past six weeks, the price has steadfastly remained unchanged from March 22. This has made locals rather curious seeing as the global oil price has been on an upward trend recently.
The price for RON95 has stayed at RM2.20, RM2.47 for RON97, and RM2.18 for Diesel even as Brent crude oil prices have risen from US$68.91 (RM270) to US$74.27 (RM291) currently. You must have wondered why!
Now, the Second Minister of Finance, Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani has made a statement about this issue, according to Oriental Daily. He said that the caretaker government has currently postponed any changes to the fuel prices because they cannot come up with a formula that can help to reduce the burden on the rakyat’s wallets when the government was dissolved.
He said that the caretaker Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak made this decision in order to benefit the people especially as polling day is approaching soon. Many people would be travelling up and down in their cars to go to their polling station so he says the government wants to help them reduce their travel expenses. Wah, so thoughtful!
He explained, “The government does not have a formula yet to solve this issue so the Prime Minister has decided to stop making any changes to the oil price at the moment. I just want to inform everyone that he made this decision as he wants to help the people.” Didn’t know it could be controlled so easily!
Johari said this at an event at PPR Cochrane on April 26, and added that this decision should not be politicised as it was just to benefit the people. He also said that the rising crude oil prices brings in additional income for Malaysia, which can help subsidise the losses for maintaining the current fuel prices in Malaysia. If only they could always do this!
What do you think of his statement?
Also read: Minister Says Total Fuel Price Only Increased by One Sen Since Weekly Pricing Began