Diesel Subsidies

In principal, I am against subsidies. Whether it is for petrol, diesels, gas, utilities, food and many others. It will create inefficiency in the market. Though there are a few exceptions such as in the area of education and health where I believe that the government have to fully support due to the inherent responsibilities of governments to maintain the public well being.

It is a fact that prices of materials and commodities have increased dramatically in the global market. A higher income population in Asia and Latin America are eating and consuming the resources of the world. This have inadvertently push the prices of most goods to record high.

Locally throughout the decades, the government have tackled this issue in a populist manner by giving subsidies in most critical areas. From fertilizers to petrols, the government have spent billions in subsidies to maintain fixed prices. Unfortunately, the global prices of materials and commodities are still moving upwards with no sign of stabilizing in the near future. It has thus come to a point where the government could not afford to support subsidies for the people.

Recently, the government have made known their intention to pull back or reduce subsidies for diesel. The government chose diesel as their first commodities due to their logic that diesel have a smaller user based compared to petrol. Though, I have to point out that this small user base consist of trucks, lorries, buses and heavy machines that more or less serves as the backbone of our logistic industry. Meaning any price increase on diesel will directly increase the cost of deliveries of goods. This will most assuredly increase the prices of consumer goods. And thus, reducing discretionary income of the public.

The problem with this country is that our income do not increase in proportion to that of the price increase. Which means as we move forward, we will be getting less discretionary income.

Unfortunately, I do not foresee any short term solutions that will be good enough to solve the diesel subsidy issue or any subsidies issues without creating a shock to the consumer. It is my view that the government have to come up with a clear and holistic plan and policy in reducing subsidies in the long term and not tackle the issue piecemeal by piecemeal.

Purpose to blog

What is your purpose to blog I wonder?
Mine?
I write to fill my spare time.
I write to form my thoughts (whatever it maybe).
I write to form my half form thoughts.
I write to lay bare my demons.
Sometimes I write just because.

How now brown cow?

It's been more than a month since the last election. Everything and everybody seems to settle down to their purpose and work. The Federal Government introduces several institutional changes and reforms in the administration of justice and anti-corruption. A pretty good move if i do say so myself. But the more important thing is, is changing the mindset of individuals and masses to put others before self. How to do that?

Gblogs or Goblok?

Haha..this is a funny one....Google is coming up with a new personal publishing service called Google Weblogs, in short Gblogs... I maybe asinine to say this but Gblogs sound soo much like Goblok...

I dream of a better Gini

For those who are not familiar with Gini Coefficient it is measure of statistical dispersion most commonly used to measure inequality in income distribution. The value used is between 0 to 1. 0 being perfect equality while 1 is perfect inequality. Basically, it's says how equal is the distribution of wealth in a given study.

In the case of Malaysia, based on survey in 1997 that was published in 2007 by World Bank we are rated at around 0.492 or 49.2 %. Looking at the table, highest 10% of the population owns 38% of the nation wealth. Looking at top 40% of the population owns 74.6% of wealth, while more than half of that wealth is concentrated within the top 10% of the population (38.4%). The rest of the 60% of population owns just 25.4% of the nation wealth. This is a terrible indicator of our distribution of wealth. It just shows that we have a skewed economy where only a small minority of the people (1/10) own more than 1/3 of the nations wealth. That was in 1997.

I fear to know the current situation.

Wife

When the day turns to night,
you are the star that shine so bright.

Nephew

Bright, clear and fresh,
like spring in a forest.
Flowing, tinkling
like spring in a forest.

Time...not enough

Argh...too little time..too many things to do... online projects, residence management committees, office works, books to read, blogs to type and read...argh..

Fare thee well.

I lost a friend yesterday to a motorcycle accident. He was on an tour with a group of super-bikers to Johor. He's 29. He left behind a wife and 2 children (4 and 2). Fare thee well, Firwance. May God protect and bless your journey in the Hereafter. Al-Fatihah.

Fitna the Movie (Short film to be exact)

Finally, after reading about it sometime ago, the movie is out. I had guess the reaction to the clips would be 'explosives', pun intended. And it was badly accepted by the majority of Muslims. At first I was quite hesitant about watching it, but then if I don't watch it, how can I comment on it. So, I managed to watch it in youtube. After watching it, I had a conversation with Farrish through gmail on this issue. And this is what we discussed:

23:14 me: salam
Farrish: salam
wassssaaappp bro
23:15 me: writing my blog...
on fitna
Farrish: aaaaa
23:17 me: before that...i have to watch it first
Farrish: is it still available?
tot it was put down?
me: it's in youtube
flagged though
Farrish: damn
23:19 me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCrCsTMokTU

23:27 me: done watching
Farrish: not yet
half done
me: k
nothing much really...
23:28 i was expecting more interesting scenes..
or at least better cinematography..
23:32 Farrish: ok
done
23:33 me: so how was it?
not really oscar type
Farrish: hahaha
dat guy who did fahrenheit 911 was better la
me: moore?
Farrish: yeah
but still
23:34 me: yeah, he did a better documentary
Farrish: makes my blood boil just watching it
me: why?
Farrish: did u watch it?
me: yeah...
Farrish: i mean apart from the cinematography and all?
me: ohh...that...
23:35 a very skewed view on islam..
Farrish: very
me: well..it happens
Farrish: and worst part
i read da commetns at the bottom
just sad to see so much hatred
me: didn't read that much of the comment
23:36 most of them are sub-literate anyway
Farrish: yeap
me: i bet some of them get their infos from youtube..
23:37 Farrish: haha
me: seeing how most have a short attention span
Farrish: call it selective memories then
me: the 10 mins youtube clips would be their bread and butter for info..
anyway...not really that awe-inspiring..
Farrish: nah
23:38 me: it's just a cut and paste thing
Farrish: just something to rile the non-muslims against us
me: with very little editting..
Farrish: yup
me: i heard about this clip for quite sometime now..
Farrish: mostly from cnn and other news source
me: more than 3 months i think
Farrish: u did?
me: yep..
Farrish: so long ago?
23:39 damn
me: he was planning this since last year i think..
Farrish: crap
me: he needs a better director i think
or at least better editor and special effect
Farrish: think he save cost and directed it himself i guess
and the edditing
23:40 and the cinematography
me: yeah...very unprofessional way of directing
Farrish: yup
da cut and paste way
sounds like plagersm...
me: hmmm...most of it IS from other sources..
23:41 i would reckon only 5-6 seconds of actual camera shoot
the last part where the hand seems to fold/tear the page..
Farrish: yeah\
me: the rest are all clips..
23:42 Farrish: yup
think the hand belonged to him
to save cost again...
me: maybe..
he needs to go to a better school of movie directing
Farrish: hahaha
me: limkokwing should be good
23:43 Farrish: guess so
me: a lot of creative juices there..
Farrish: cant think of any good dutch movies....
hmmmm
he might not afford limkokwing
since everyone is sueing his @$$
23:44 me: what..i'm sure he's salary is enough to cover long distance learning
Farrish: guess he spent his paycheck on dis thing called a documentary/short film....
23:45 me: hmm...btw, i dont think he can be sued for the film
Farrish: how so?
me: he might be sued for his action of disrupting public peace...
but the film...i dont think so..
Farrish: heard that dutch co's wanna sue him for lost of income
23:46 me: the content is basically an interpretation from his POV on the Quran
obviously he did not hire good translators..
Farrish: hahaha
yup

Bapa - Bapa

Almarhum Tengku Abdul Rahman - Bapa Kemerdekaan,
Almarhum Tun Abd. Razak - Bapa Pembangunan,
Almarhum Tun Hussein Onn - Bapa Perpaduan,
Tun Dr. Mahathir - Bapa Permodenan,
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi - Bapa ?