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Monday, October 6, 2014

Deputy minister mocked for defending Najib over fuel subsidy cut

Ahmad Maslan believes that people are not grateful for Najib having reduced the price of petrol after the latter became prime minister in 2009. - The Malaysian Insider pic, October 6, 2014.Ahmad Maslan believes that people are not grateful for Najib having reduced the price of petrol after the latter became prime minister in 2009. - The Malaysian Insider pic, October 6, 2014.Irate Malaysians took to social media to mock the deputy finance minister for defending the government’s fuel subsidy reduction, which in effect raised petrol prices by 20 sen since October 1.
Commentators were especially miffed by Datuk Ahmad Maslan’s claim that his boss Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was the only prime minister who reduced fuel prices.
Ahmad had made the assertion in a chart he posted on his Twitter account on October 3, which showed a steady increase for the price of petrol from RM1.10 per litre in 2000 to RM2.70 in June 2008.
In the same post Ahmad said: “Najib is the only prime minister to have brought down fuel prices. When it came down, did anyone thank him for doing so? Are there? Or are people acting like they forgot?”
A majority of those who commented on his post accused Ahmad Maslan of being a sycophant and for trying to curry favour with his boss by defending an unpopular policy decision.
“This is the man I like to have in my office. The way he jacks, ten tons also ‘kalah’,” said a Facebook user going by he name “West Wood”.
Most other commentators were more crude and some of the more common words used in reply to Ahmad Maslan’s post and readers' comments on The Malaysian Insider story on it, were “stupid”, “vomit” and “die”.
So far, Ahmad Maslan has been one of only two members of Najib’s Cabinet who has written about the subsidy cut on social media. Most other ministers and politicians, who are usually prone to giving their opinions on policies, have stayed clear of the topic.
RON95 petrol went up by 20 sen to RM2.30 a litre on October 1 while diesel is up to RM2.20 per litre.
The more calmer commentators argued that Ahmad Maslan had glossed over the impact higher fuel prices would have on goods and services, and how it would drive up inflation.
“Firstly, when the price of fuel went down in 2009, did the price of goods also go down?,” said an individual calling himself Sham Ridzuan on Twitter.
“Secondly, how do you know we never thanked him?” said Ridzuan.
A user identified as Ben Yap said that the government was removing subsidies but not doing enough to help citizens earn more to make ends meet.
“They should remove all subsidies and increase minimum wage for all sectors, cancel all foreign worker permits to boost domestic employment and increase civil service pay.
“Will they do that? Removing subsidies bit by bit without making changes to livelihood (salary, interest rates) will only boost inflation.
“Even a kopi-o economist like me can see the detrimental effects of slow removal of subsidies. Who and what are our ministers doing? One wonders what qualifies them to do their jobs?”
Twitter user Mhchemat criticised Ahmad Maslan for being patronising for “thanking” Malaysians for “understanding the chart”.
“The issue is not that we do not understand. The issue is that the people feel burdened. You raise it a bit but constantly, that is ok. But 20 sen is not ok.
“Mr Minister, do you know that by the end of the month many people just have RM50 left in their pockets?”
Some commentators took a different tact, suggesting that Ahmad Maslan was confusing the public by using the prices of different types of fuels by listing them in order from 2000 to 2013.
A Facebook user identified as Chai Kian Hee claimed that the chart could be misleading as RON95, the most common type of petrol on the market now, was only made available in September 2009.
Before September 2009, consumers only had a choice of either RON97 or RON92.
Yet the chart did not make this distinction as it listed one set of prices.
- TMI

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