Fueling the problem – Petrol price might double?

Not too long ago, I blogged about Tan Sri Vincent Tan joining the Billionairre’s club, and asked our 10 richest Malaysians to help out with the fuel subsidy after the Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said that the new scheme for subsidised items (where he hinted that lower- and middle-income groups would benefit) - including fuel – will be announced by the Prime Minister Pak Lah.

Today’s headline in The Star:

New fuel subsidy

The article reported that a new fuel subsidy scheme will be announced by the Government tomorrow. I suppose this is part of the scheme that Tan Sri Nor was referring to?

Either way, this is the 11th month I’m paying for my car instalment – my first ever car. Those of you who have followed The Bangsar Boy (my fortnightly column in StarMetro) will know that I had some trouble deciding on what car to get and that was back in November 2006 – how fast time flies!) . Well, let’s just say that with the increase of fuel prices, I’m slightly regretting owning a car (not that I can survive without my car, but still).

Let’s just hope that the subsidies are good, and that fuel prices won’t hike too much. I’m already stretching my salary like crazy.

~ TOOK A BREAK FOR WORK ~

So, I took a break from writing this post ‘cos things got busy at work and now, I have just returned to the office from an outside meeting. On the way there, my car gave me a fuel warning, so I thought I might as well pump full tank in case prices go up tomorrow. It was about 88% empty so it cost me RM90.01.

I come back here and Ivy tells me that Malaysiakini has reported that fuel prices will double. If this is true, and I have no way to verify this at the moment, that means I would have to pay RM220 for a full tank? Good grief. Now I’m depressed.

Foong spoke her mind and she is not happy. But I came by HTNET who thought it would be fun running a competition. It’s called: “HTNet Speculate Guess The New Price Of Malaysian Petrol Contest”

Like any competition, terms and conditions apply – click here for details. It’s not my competition, and seeing as I might need the money, I think I will enter it too.

Incidentally, this post you are currently reading was not originally about how broke I am going to be, but about the front page photo from today’s The Star. You can see it also on the main page of The Star Online but the photo will be removed by tomorrow I think.

Anyway, the caption reads:

Ban comes into effect – A notice at a petrol station near Padang Besar in Perlis informing Thai motorists that they are not allowed to fill petrol as the ban on the sale of fuel to foreign cars in the northern states bordering Thailand took effect yesterday.

The “notice” reads: “Kenderaan Thailand tidak dibernarkan mengisi minyak!!!!”

Translated, that means “Thai vehicles are not allowed to pump fuel!!!!” and yes, there were four exclaimation marks. My question is (and this is genuine, not sarcastic), do the Thai people read Bahasa Malaysia?

6.00pm

Tags: Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, cars, fuel, malaysiakini, oil, Pak Lah, petrol, Second Finance Minister, Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, thailand, The Bangsar Boy, The Star