About a week after a joint U.S.-Israel military strike on Iran, sending global oil prices above US$100 a barrel, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim started to panic. He immediately warned that the government’s subsidies to maintain RON95 petrol at RM1.99 per litre can last for only two months. That was the clearest hint that his Madani was ready to scrap subsidy or to hike retail price for RON95.
When the Premier announced in July last year to bring down RON95 from RM2.05 to RM1.99 per liter, he did not anticipate a war and it was largely to boost his sagging popularity before the 16th General Election, and partly to face the Sabah state election (November 2025). But Sabah voters could see through the little gimmick, and annihilated Anwar-led Pakatan Harapan alliance in the Sabah election anyway.
After all, it does not take a genius to figure out why it took three years since Anwar was installed as the 10th Prime Minister in November 2022 to slash petrol price – an old promise he made every time he campaigns as the opposition leader. While the current Iran War is a valid excuse, the reason isn’t strong enough to convince 18 million voters enjoying the RM1.99 pricing.
A few days after his threat to abandon RON95 subsidy, he made a spectacular U-turn. The PM said on March 11 that Malaysia can continue to provide subsidies for the widely used fuel, amid the surge in oil prices worldwide due to the Middle East conflict. Can he make up his mind whether his Madani can or cannot maintain RON95 petrol at RM1.99 per litre? But Anwar was still upset and frustrated.
If not for the coming national election, the fake reformist would have bulldozed the scrapping of subsidies for RON95 petrol. So, on March 13, barely two days later, Anwar Ibrahim whined, moaned, and bitched that government subsidies to maintain the price of RON95 petrol at RM1.99 per litre could spiral to RM24 billion by the end of 2026.
Apparently, the Premier argued that crude oil prices above US$100 a barrel will see petrol subsidies skyrocket to RM2 billion per month from RM700 million. He deliberately and conveniently ignores the fact that the Middle East conflict would see Petronas, the national oil company, enjoys additional revenue in the range of RM25 billion to RM35 billion – more than enough to offset the fuel subsidies.
Even when the Brent Crude prices were at about US$70 a barrel last year, Petronas reported a profit after tax of RM45.4 billion for the full year 2025. Its revenue was a whopping RM266 billion. To say people cannot tap into Petronas’ sudden windfall to subsidize fuel during the current crisis is not only irresponsible and selfish, but also screams hypocrisy and incompetence.
If Anwar were still the opposition leader, you can bet your last dollar the chameleon would milk the Petronas’ profits and exploits the Iran War. “What’s wrong with using Petronas’s sudden windfall to help the people? After all, the national oil company belongs to all Malaysians, not certain politicians or political parties,” – Anwar would argue like Socrates and pretends to be people’s champion to fish for votes.
Desperate times call for desperate measures – tapping into Petronas is a necessity, not a luxury. It is essential for people’s survival and to prevent inflation or worse, recession. People are already struggling with the high cost of living and various new taxes thanks to Finance Minister Anwar. Besides, people are not draining Petronas’ private funds, but just making use of “extraordinary profits” due to Iran War.
The government had already raised the price of RON97 petrol by RM1.30 in the past two weeks while diesel in West Malaysia has gone up by RM1.60. The price of non-subsidized RON95 has also gone up by 60 sen. Worse, companies such as Pos Malaysia and Malaysian Airlines have imposed mandatory fuel surcharges on top of base shipping rates to offset rising air transport costs due to global fuel price fluctuations.
If tapping into Petronas’ profits to subsidise fuel in view of the surge in oil prices is labelled as unsustainable and irresponsible (as apple polisher DAP MP Chong Zhemin claims), then the Anwar administration is equally guilty for allowing EPF members to prematurely withdraw tens of billions from their retirement savings, never mind the nature of withdrawals. Exactly why people were allowed to tap into their own savings, but not Petronas’ profits?
What type of leader that described halving crooked Najib’s jail sentence from 12 years to six, and reduced his RM210 million fine to RM50 million was a matter of “compassion” and “mercy”, but insisted the temporarily subsidizing of fuel subsidies as inappropriate and unacceptable? Still unhappy, PM Anwar continues to grumble about fuel subsidies.
In his latest argument over the weekend, he argued that Malaysia, while an oil producer, remains a net importer of petroleum, making it vulnerable to global price fluctuations. That’s not entirely true. Anwar, with a penchant of telling half-truth stories, has lied about Malaysia being a net importer of the commodities. In truth, Malaysia is a net energy exporter, as noted by Maybank Investment Bank’s research.
The Prime Minister selectively and conveniently did not tell about the fact that Malaysia is considered a net energy exporter – the only one in ASEAN – due to its strong oil and gas reserves, particularly Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). In fact, the country exports its premium-quality “light sweet crude” and imports cheaper “heavy/sour crude” from the Middle East to feed its refineries.
It was like Malaysia exports premium “Musang King” durians and imports cheap kampung durians for the consumption of its own people. Clearly, the net profits are massive. In other words, profits from selling Musang King are more than enough to subsidize kampung durians. But forked-tongue Anwar does not want people to know about this.
Anwar talks only about crude oil, but not gas, to create a narrative that the government is heavily subsidizing petrol so voters should be grateful to the Madanistan. It was like McDonald’s complaining about losses when it was doing some value meal promotions. That explains why the PM shamelessly and repetitively brags about protecting the people with fuel subsidies despite rising global oil prices.
The best part is while Anwar blames the Jews and Americans for starting the conflict in the Middle East, for obvious reasons, he refuses to blame Iran for closing the Strait of Hormuz. There are actually two factors contributing to the spiking of crude oil – the U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran, and the blocking of the strait. The oil prices stayed above US$100 only after Tehran weaponized the strait.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz caused the route to be disrupted and global oil supply to become limited, therefore, prices surged. Even when the U.S. and Israel were busy bombing Iran, they allowed Iranian oil to be exported. Trump could actually block Iranian oil tankers from transporting oil to China or other countries after Tehran closed the strait, but allowed it anyway.
In fact, the Trump administration temporarily lifted sanctions on Iranian oil at sea on Friday (March 20) for 30 days, allowing the sale of 140 million barrels of oil. On the contrary, the Iranian regime has been attacking multiple commercial vessels – including the Thai-flagged Mayuree Naree – with rockets and drones, causing fire damage and missing crew – sparking a major energy transit crisis.
Mr Anwar complained that nearly 50% of the country’s oil supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz. This has raised an interesting question – why hasn’t Anwar Ibrahim, who self-praised his administration of being respected in the Muslim world, especially due to its so-called principled, moderate, and diplomatic approach, made a phone call to Tehran and asked for a free passage there?
When Chinese vessels could freely sail and even Japanese ships are being offered safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, it’s both puzzling and hilarious that a clueless Muslim champion wannabe like Anwar Ibrahim is still barking endlessly. What happens to the strong and strategic relations with Iran which Anwar used to brag about? Now is the best time for him to “cash in” on his pro-Iran and anti-Jews policies.
Rather than blowing his own empty trumpet, the narcissist Prime Minister should capitalize on his Muslim Brotherhood to extract basic concession such as uninterrupted passes through the Strait of Hormuz. His ideological roots were influenced by Islamist thinkers associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, such as Hassan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb, as well as by the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
It’s a slap in the face of Anwar when Tehran gives more respect to the Chinese and Japanese than to a Malay-Muslim leader of Malaysia, no? PM Anwar Ibrahim has expressed strong solidarity with Iran following attacks by the U.S. and Israel in early 2026, condemning the actions as violations of international law. He supports Iran’s sovereignty and maintains diplomatic ties. Yet, Malaysia under his leadership is struggling to get some ships to pass through the strait.
From the beginning, it was “illegal” for Iran to close the strait because it does not belong to the regime. The crucial shipping lane is governed by the UNCLOS doctrine of “transit passage,” which mandates that coastal states cannot prevent, restrict, or suspend passage for foreign vessels. Not only the Mullahs are blocking the shipping lane, but is trying to create a “Tehran Toll Booth” by demanding payments from vessels.
It was already bad that the disgraceful Anwar hasn’t expressed criticisms over Iran’s attacks on fellow Muslim Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman, or the illegal closure of the Strait of Hormuz. It becomes worse when the same coward keeps quiet over Tehran’s decision to collect a mind-boggling US$2 million toll from each vessel to pass the strait.
Other Articles That May Interest You …
- Ships Pretend To Be Chinese To Cross Strait Of Hormuz
- Energy Security – Why China Can Withstand $100 Oil Prices More Easily
- Strategic Error – How Iran’s Retaliatory Strikes At Gulf States Backfires
- Live By The Sword, Die By The Sword – How Ayatollah Khamenei Was Killed
- Iran Panicking – Armada Is Ready And Trump Could Strike Anytime
- Revolution – How One Man Rallies Iranians To The Street
- Gone In 25 Minutes – How Trump Tricked Tehran Twice Before Obliterated Iran’s 3 Nuclear Sites With MOPs
- Iran’s “Axis Of Resistance” Missing In Action – Why Tehran Became Isolated & Alone In WAR Against Israel
- Iran On Fire – Khamenei Should Flee To Russia While He Can Before US-Israel Upcoming Surprise
- Paying The Price For Hamas Attacks – How Trump Misled Iran Before Israel Sends 200 Jets To Attack
- Psychological Warfare – How Mossad Cracked Hezbollah Secret Network With Low-Tech Pager & Walkie-Talkie “Walking Bombs”
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March 24th, 2026 by financetwitter
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