Much hype over nothing - HYDROFUEL idea | Malaysiakini | Malaysian Sentinel : Malaysia's Politics from a Malaysian Citizen Blogger


Monday, July 21, 2008

Much hype over nothing - HYDROFUEL idea | Malaysiakini

Last week Abdullah Badawi made a remark that on Friday (18th July) he was going to make an announcement about another measure the government had come up with in regards to lightening the people's burdens due to the recent fuel price hike. I gleefully waited, hoping that it would be some form of sustainable financial package.

Friday came and went and I had to ask friends what the measure was because I just did not see it.

My friends pointed out the Hydrofuel launch the PM had that day. "That's the BIG announcement," I was told. What no financial package? Was my response.

NOP! No SUSTAINABLE financial package. Instead we have to fork out more money to buy the so called locally-made hydrofuel technology to install into our cars. Furthermore, it was announced that we can save 50% on our fuel expenses when using this technology in our cars.

Question: How the heck can we save 50% on our expenses when the price of fuel is fixed? Does this mean we produce a discount card and get fuel at half the price that others are paying? Would this help reduce the cost of other essentials?

Come, Monday (21st July) and we hear nothing else about the launch on Friday (18th). It's just another case of "much hype over nothing." Yup, there was a launch and pictures of a smiling PM were taken and, obviously, this small bumiputra company that had been working on this solution since 2006 were happy.

But are we happy?


Whatever measure the current government puts in must be sustainable and long reaching. It must be an ECONOMIC solution not some gadget we install into our cars. It must address the matter at the source - the reduction of the price of fuel itself. Lower the RM2.70 and this would cause a domino effect on the market which in turn would trickle down to the consumer regardless of their income standing. Lower the fuel price and you would increase the spending power of the consumer thus you get the people to drive the economy forward. As we see it now, the Malaysian economy has grounded to a halt because no-one wants to spend. Why should we when right now when most of our money goes into fueling our commute to work or to power our airconditioning when the police decides to organized those crazy roadblocks.

What then from this government, who seems to have no idea on how to foster confidence in the people it governs? Free solar panels for home-owners? Windmill farms in Terengganu or Kelantan? Yup, sounds realistic in order to reduce spending on electrical expenses. Mandate it, make it law to have state government self generate reusable energy and you would see change not only for today for the future.

What we need are concrete solutions, not some lame statement that disappears after the launch. Come Monday and it's back to the normal political fare of yester-months.

Malaysia is so caught up in a political medley, we have all grounded to a halt. Real issues are left hanging and the people grow restless by the day. There is no confidence in the police nor the justice system and what more to say the government. I don't trust the MSM because they are merely throwing up smokescreens to protect the government but hide the real facts from the public. In the end, this would create disillusion among the populace and generate chaos. Malaysia has grounded to a halt and until we all wake up from this nightmare, we all might as well pump water into our fuel-tanks and hope the price of fuel will go down.

1 comments:

sawit futures trader said...

I did the same thing. I waited for friday.

The announcement of the plan disclosure was made a couple of days before the Anwar-Shabery debate. Anwar came up with a plan of how to get RM5 billion to justify a 50 sen reduction in petrol/diesel price. Shabery mentioned little about the future as he was more interested with the past.

So I waited for friday.

And there was nothing. As always.

I believe, the hydrofuel hype was only a coincidence. A business event that just happen to be held on friday.

You are just being too kind.

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