Towards a New Frontier

Recently, Malaysians were shocked by the Prime Minister when he announced that the petrol price will hike from an initial of RM1.91 to RM2.70 per liter. This equals to around 40%. Diesel on the other hand, rose from RM1.58 to RM2.58. That’s a jump of RM1.00!

To help Malaysians combat their burden resulting from the price hike, the government has agreed to give the following annual rebates to vehicle owners whose driving license are renewable between April 1 2008 and March 31 2009.

1. Owners of vehicles of 2000cc of less and pick-up trucks and jeeps of up to 2,500 cc would be given RM625 per year.
2. Vehicles over 2000cc would have their road tax would be reduced by RM200.
3. Owners of private motorcycles of engine capacity of up to 250 cc will be paid a cash rebate of RM150 per year.
4. Owners of private motorcycles of engine capacity of more than 250 cc will have the road tax reduced by RM50, subject to a minimum road tax of RM2.

This price hike has came to be expected by some, due to the current world crude oil crisis with each barrel costing USD$139 (as at Monday June 9 2008). This is a very huge figure. Trust me. Ever since the announcement, we can see tonnes of cars rushing to the nearby petrol stations just to pump their car before the price increase. Due to this, every where was experiencing massive jams. Just nearby my house, there is a Petronas station and I can easily see cars lining up on the road until as late as 12am! This is outrageous! The jam was so horrible that my dad’s car was barely able to get out from the road to have a drink with his friend.

Another impact of this price hike would be the inflation of almost everything! Almost everything in the market involves transportation, whether it is from the factory to the vendors, from the distributors to shops, or just about anything. So when there is a price hike in fuel, those pesky business man will surely take this chance to increase sale price of their items/services as well. Since the last fuel price hike, we have seen things being sold at prices of a whole new level. Nowadays where else can you see RM2.50 laksa Sarawak in Kuching? Never! RM3.50 is the norm now. The reason? Petrol price rose. Resulting in raw materials’ price rose.

So now comes to the question. What’s with the price hike thingy. The Malaysian government says that they no longer want to subsidize the petrol price. So just let the consumers pay the full price (with 30cents discount) since the global market price is ever so increasing. That’s fine with me. The government should be better off using those money elsewhere, in developments perhaps. Nothing wrong with that. However, they did not realize one thing: We are producers of petrol! Now imagine, you plant a lot of apples in your back yard. The market price for apples is RM1 each. Now your neighbours want to buy these apples from you. Since you plant this apples yourself, no matter how much you sell, you earn that much. You sell RM1 per piece, you earn RM1 each. You sell 50cents each, you earn 50cents also. So in the petrol front, Petronas (a government linked company for Malaysian petrols) will sell the petrol they dug out from the ground and sell them at full international market price. The whole subsidy thing is a huge joke. Unless you actually buys the petrol in the international market and resell to the Malaysian citizens, then you talk about subsidy. And from what I heard, Petronas will sell out those high quality petrols from Malaysia to other countries and buy back lower quality petrols from Saudi Arabia. If this is true, they are earning twice!

The following image was given to me through the Internet. I don’t know how true is the data inside. But you judge yourself. The Malaysian government is truly too dirty to be given any trust already.

Today I have decided to write about an old friend who was once an important member at my house.

When I was in Form 4 (1999), an unexpected visitor came to my house. It was a dog. A female dog. My mum had always against me bringing a puppy back to my home. But surprisingly, to this one, she was rather welcomed. She stayed at my house and did not want to go away. Seeing her that way, my mum decided to keep her. Later on, she told me, a dog that you bring home is not as good as one that came to your house by itself. This is because a dog will tend to know whether you have the ability to feed him/her or not and will not simply go to your house. Thus if he/she chose you, you are the chosen one.

This pet had been with use for quite a few years. Until sometime in 2006, I went to KL for a team building session in Ulu Langat and then official duty in Subang Jaya. When in Subang Jaya, I stayed in my friend’s house. I was in west Malaysia for around 2 weeks. At that time, there was a dog’s disease that was rather rampant in Sarawak. I paid no attention to it back then.

When I was in Subang Jaya, my sis called me and told me my pet had fallen sick. She was very very weak. Everyday, she would just be lying there and not move. My sis was crying when talking on the phone. I asked my parents to bring her to the vet nearby but they didn’t. They said she was too old already and there was no cure for the dog’s disease. I remembered I got angry and almost quarreled with them (or did I?). Days passed with my pet being sicked for many days. Until one day, while I was alone, waiting for my friend to come back, my sis called, and told me my dog died. She was in pain and just wouldn’t leave even though she had been sick for so long. Until my mum decided to tell her “to leave peacefully” and closed her eyes softly, then only would she draw her final breathe. I guess she just couldn’t bear to leave my family behind, especially my mum who was kinda like her guardian. I cried in the phone when I heard that. I had always treated her like a part of the family. For the first time, tears flow down my eyes like there’s no tomorrow. (Even now, tears are flowing while I am typing this) We shall never forget her for what she had done for us (keeping the front yard of our house safe from intruders and keeping us company while she was here) She had been a good friend.

She left behind a little pup, whom we decided to keep since her birth. This pup is called Chappi. She was the happiest thing I got and my family had kinda seen her grow up, from a little puppy to now a full-grown dog. I remember going back for Trimester break and saw her as a small puppy, only to be surprised to see her grown so much the next time I went back. We kept her at the back of our house. My mum and I always play with and bullied her.. haha.. but we love her a lot and she’s the next best thing that could happen here.

Enjoy the photos of my puppy. She’s pretty

Secret Lair permanently open from now onwards.. Love should be 光明正大 anyway. Nothing to hide, unless the things I wrote is fake.

I shall rename it to something else as it’s no longer a “secret”

真実の愛

Secret Lair opened for 5.28days..

Happy New Year!

Secret Lair will be opened from now until 11.59pm 2 October 2007..

Hehe.. whoever got jodoh then can read it lo..