Did you enjoy the Father’s Day yesterday? Strangely I found that most restaurants are not as packed as during Mother’s Day celebration. Guess the labour pain makes the difference although with the current escalating cost of living, thanks to the “competent” government we have now, the fathers’ effort in shouldering the burdens of putting foods on the table are equally painful. While I was savouring my meals yesterday, I can’t help but overheard a conversation from table next to us.

An older guy asked another young chap (presumably his brother) whether he has collected the RM625 to which the young chap replied no. The young chap then raised his voice and ridiculed those people who were rushing to the post-office for the money. He said that these people were so stupid to queue for hours when in fact everybody has abundance of time to do so (till Mar 31 2009). The older guy was obviously offended; smacked the young chap’s head and ask him “How do you know the government will not change the policy before then? What are you gonna do if the government announces the whole thing will be scrapped?” The young chap just replied “I hope they won’t.” I just grinned and continue with my butter-crap.

So, you see it was a proposition that people can never win. The government was damn sure they could save RM13.7 billion from the fuel hike. As long as the fuel pumps say RM2.70 a liter for petrol and RM2.58 a liter for diesel, the government can pretty sure confirmed the RM13.7 billion would be in their pocket. Whether they would use this RM13.7 billion or only RM13.7 million for the welfare of the people is totally beyond your control. On the other hand not all the people will get to dry the money stashed inside the post-office because there’re still some ignorant people who thought the RM625 rebate is “guaranteed”. It’s not easy for a newbie to make RM625 profit investing stocks during current climate, let alone to earn such interest from the bank within a year period in fixed-deposit etc. Hence the government wins again from this pool of naive people. You mean you’re so loaded that you do not wish to claim “your money” for now?

You might scream why so “kiasu” or “kiasi” or whatever but if you care to read the newspaper today, I bet you couldn’t smile anymore. Barely two days after people flocking to the 683 post offices claiming their rebate the government is now considering fuel card plan to “improve” subsidy rebate system. Of course to use the word “replace” would sparks new criticism and mad rush to the post-offices thus the word “improve”. It was reported that the Government is looking at adopting a system whereby motorists can buy a fixed amount of subsidised fuel each month and pay for the rest at market rate.

The new flip-flop Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Shahrir Samad said the fuel subsidy rebate system would be fine-tuned for the convenience of the people. He said the present cash rebate system was not the perfect long-term solution using the crowds of people rushing to collect their rebates as an excuse. Here’s the keyword he said “We don’t know whether it will be continued or not”. First of all, what do you expect the people to do Mr Minister when the public do not trust even the highest decision maker, Prime Minister, himself? Secondly to blame it on rushing crowds is tantamount to slap government’s own face – another proof that the government does not possess proper planning and execution skills despite 50 years administering the country. Thirdly, the flip-flop mentality is slowly but surely infecting the rest of the ministers. Boy! This disease is highly contagious! If post-offices cannot handle the crowds, then get the banks to do the job, period.

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June 16th, 2008 by financetwitter

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