Calling it a massive shock as tens of thousands of Malaysians completed their Chinese New Year holidays and school reopens today – except the Federal Territories, where it is a public holiday – Tony Pua said the impact is multiplied as it follows immediately after another big hike at the start of January.
“While it was painful, Malaysians could perhaps have understood when fuel prices went up for January. It was as a result of an increase in global crude oil prices for the month of December. Brent crude prices went up from US$51.48 to US$56.73 in December 2016.
“However, Malaysians cannot understand why the prices were increased for February when the Brent crude price actually declined slightly in January to approximately US$55.86,” the DAP national publicity secretary said in a statement following the announcement on the fuel price hike for February.
The price of RON95 and RON97 prices went up by 20 sen to RM2.30 (up 9.5%) and RM2.60 (8.3%) respectively, while diesel cost went up by 10 sen to RM2.15 (4.9%).
On Jan 1, the cost of RON95 petrol went up by 20 sen to RM2.10 per litre, while RON97 increased by 15 sen to RM2.40 per litre. Diesel too, saw a 20 sen increase to RM2.05 per litre.
Pua, who is Petaling Jaya Utara MP, said the price increase has no basis, even when taking the exchange rate of the ringgit against the US dollar into account.
“In December 2016, the ringgit depreciated from RM4.38 to RM4.48 to the dollar. However, for January 2017, the ringgit is currently trading at approximately RM4.42 to the dollar, which means it has strengthened marginally for the month.
“Therefore, the increase in fuel prices cannot be as a result of any increase in crude oil prices or further depreciation of the ringgit,” he said, adding that the people deserve a proper explanation.
He also called for a full disclosure from Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is also finance minister, as the drastic increase looked like a way for the government to earn more revenue.
“The finance ministry must disclose if the government is actually imposing hidden taxes on the consumers to cover up for government budget shortfalls?
“Barely a week ago, Najib said he did not want a situation where ministries use excuses, like ‘not enough budget’ to not implement people-oriented projects.”
Pua was referring to a special assembly at the finance ministry last Thursday where Najib was quoted by Bernama as having said: “Not receiving money or not enough budget should not be an excuse for any ministry to not start a project or programme.”
The DAP man questioned if the people are being forced to indirectly pay for the so-called “people-oriented projects”, so that the government can then claim credit.
“We call for the full disclosure of the data, formula and exact details on how the fuel price hikes are calculated so that Malaysians know exactly why they have been forced to suffer as a result of the government’s policies.”