Protesters target Malaysian fuel price hike
Friday, 6 June 2008
KUALA LUMPUR, June 5 (AFP): Malaysia's government faced demonstrations and public outrage today over its decision to hike petrol prices 40 per cent overnight, in a bid to curb its massive subsidies bill. "The fuel increase is both economically inefficient and socially unjust," said Lim Guan Eng, secretary- general of the Democratic Action Party, which is part of the opposition alliance.
"So long as rich companies continue to enjoy such fuel subsidies, especially the independent power producers, the fuel increase will be seen as both pro-rich and punishing the poor," he said in a statement.
The new pump price for petrol will be 2.70 ringgit (0.84 dollars) and 2.58 ringgit for diesel. Petrol previously cost 1.92 ringgit, among the cheapest in Asia.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's announcement Wednesday evening triggered chaos across the country as motorists swamped fuel stations to fill up before the measure took effect at midnight.
Traffic snarls brought streets to a standstill in the capital Kuala Lumpur as up to 100 cars queued at each petrol station, which still had fuel to sell, while many others said they had sold out and turned angry customers away.
Abdullah indicated that further increases were in the pipeline as Malaysia moves to completely abandon fuel price controls that would have cost 17.4 billion dollars this year-about a third of the national budget.
Motorists who turned up at petrol stations Thursday to pay sharply higher prices to fill their tanks were uniformly furious over the decision.
"So long as rich companies continue to enjoy such fuel subsidies, especially the independent power producers, the fuel increase will be seen as both pro-rich and punishing the poor," he said in a statement.
The new pump price for petrol will be 2.70 ringgit (0.84 dollars) and 2.58 ringgit for diesel. Petrol previously cost 1.92 ringgit, among the cheapest in Asia.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's announcement Wednesday evening triggered chaos across the country as motorists swamped fuel stations to fill up before the measure took effect at midnight.
Traffic snarls brought streets to a standstill in the capital Kuala Lumpur as up to 100 cars queued at each petrol station, which still had fuel to sell, while many others said they had sold out and turned angry customers away.
Abdullah indicated that further increases were in the pipeline as Malaysia moves to completely abandon fuel price controls that would have cost 17.4 billion dollars this year-about a third of the national budget.
Motorists who turned up at petrol stations Thursday to pay sharply higher prices to fill their tanks were uniformly furious over the decision.