Following the recent removal of the diesel blanket subsidy in Peninsular Malaysia in favour of a targeted approach, many Malaysians expressed their concerns that such a move would cause a domino effect that would increase the prices of goods and services.
Well, the removal of the diesel blanket subsidy did cause a hike in prices for services recently, but in the most unexpected place and way.
Singapore transport and tour operators kantoi using subsidised diesel in Malaysia all this while
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Get this, due to the diesel prices now RM3.35/litre and subsidy being channelled via BUDI MADANI cash aid and fleet cards to eligible recipients, transport and tour operators in Singapore have announced that they’re planning to increase their prices to customers.
As reported by CNA, among the Singapore transport and tour operators that are planning to hike their prices include those offering transportation and tour services to Malaysia.
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1 of which is Singapore Cab Booking, whose CEO Farid Khan was quoted by the publication as saying,
“We have the Singapore-KL overland transfer. With the 50% increase in diesel prices, the price is almost equal to Singapore’s diesel price.”
Accordingly, the company is planning to increase prices by at least 20%.
Besides that, Singaporean companies EU Holidays, WTS Travel and Singatour have also confirmed that they’ll hike prices, saying that the profit margin is getting lower due to Malaysia’s blanket subsidy removal.
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Malaysians call out Singaporean businesses for abusing Malaysia’s subsidy mechanism
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Following this, many Malaysians took to social media to call out these Singaporean transport and tour operators for essentially admitting that they’ve been using subsidised diesel from Malaysia all this while for their businesses.
One commenter sarcastically said, “Rich country but steals subsidies from a poor nation.”
Another commenter echoed the same sentiment, sarcastically questioning whether this is how a 1st world economy works; by abusing subsidies from other countries.
Meanwhile, one commenter asserted that the CNA report just uncovered another leakage in Malaysia’s subsidy mechanism, 1 of the reasons why the diesel blanket subsidy removal was introduced in the 1st place.
So, what do you guys think of the whole situation? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
