The move made by the Malaysian Government to hike up fuel prices by 40% in June 2008 was badly received by the public. Not only did it mean extra expenses on petrol for the public, but also additional costs to everyday living in general as food prices rised and other related (both directly and indirectly) services introduced higher charges subsequently.
A mere 6 months later, fuel prices that had once soared in the USD150 per barrel range had dwindled to less than USD50 per barrel. Was the absurdly high price of oil at the time cause for such drastic action? Personally I feel that it was a rather hasty decision. From the flabbergasting price of RM2.70 per litre for unleaded petrol, prices have been lowered via at least 7 revisions since to the current RM1.80 per litre price that we all enjoy. My once RM90+ per full tank expenses for my 1.3cc car is now down to a mere RM50+ these days. (Thank goodness!!)
Unfortunately, although during the price hike everything else seemed to be influenced by the domino effect, these so-called petrol influenced businesses/services are still maintaining their post petrol increased prices despite the new low oil rates at present. For instance, many food operators imposed an increment in their menus due to higher transportation costs previously and have sinced maintained the new pricings. I suppose this is due to the fact that transportation costs affected previously by the hike have decided to not decrease their fees accordingly.
It's human nature to succumb to greed I suppose. Those with the sole intent to make profit will see only dollar (or in our case ringgit) signs and pounce at the opportunity to manipulate and make use of every shred of money generating possibilities out there simply because there is always a constant demand in the market (if not a growth in demand) regardless of the price tag they put on the products and/or services. On this note, I strongly feel that the oil prices should not have been escalated to an all time high 6 months back. They should've had some fore-sight in this matter to predict the fall in prices not long after. This was clearly a disappointing decision as price regression is practically non-existent today (at RM1.80 per litre).
At this point the whole RM625 reimbursement sounds like a joke. However, the government have no choice but to follow through for at least 1 year to be fair to all eligible car owners considering a little more than half of those eligible have already claimed their part (myself not included).
If the government were serious on cutting back and saving the nation's wealth, than they could start with a substantial cut in maintenance expenses of the PM and DPM's residences which is said to total up to RM10mil. Their (as well as other ministers) entertainment allowances are also an exhorbitant sum. I don't think anyone voted for these people during the elections so that they (candidates) can live a life of luxury. In true democratic nature, people vote for their representatives to be their voices (read: represent the people) in the administration (i.e. government). Where is the democracy?
Monday, December 22, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
over the weekend...
last weekend was another one of the few long weekends for the working community thanks to the celebration of hari raya haji (a.k.a. hari raya aidiladha) on monday. a whole lot of events were held last weekend and unfortunately i couldn't make it to all of them.
the pikom pc fair kick started on friday (5/12) at the sabah trade centre all through to sunday (7/12) from 11am to 9pm. excited as i was to go, i was personally disappointed at the reseller turn out and the overall size of the fair floor space. this was by far the smallest and least interesting of all the pc fairs that i've been to here. i can't believe that even the earlier organized fairs back in the days it was held at palm square's 5th floor at centre point was better than what i'd experience last weekend. the fact that there was another fair of similar nature held by the government at the likas sports complex might have affected the one held by pikom. unfortunately i was in kl during the earlier fair. nevertheless, i managed to get the things i'd set out to get sans an external 3.5" hdd casing. so i can strike off the hp pc (hp pavilion a6650d) and printer (hp deskjet f4280) from my wish list now. yay! this 19" lcd really needs some getting used to. picked up the pc package yesterday from the reseller at karamunsing complex and excitedly set it up in place of the old pc (which i might work on as a side project - pimp my pc - hehe).
of course there's the raya celebrations the night before (7/12) and on the day itself (8/12). we had dinner at my aunt's place then lunch at another aunt's house the next day. it's always fun to have these little family gatherings. sorry but i've soo underutilized my camera these days.
i considered heading down to kolombong for the sebor warehouse sale too but there really wasn't anything there that i'd really like to buy. i barely use make up so the loreal/maybelline part of the warehouse sale didn't quite interest me. what else is there? paint? household detergents/soaps, car cleaning aerosols/liquids?!?!?!? nah. so i'm skipped it this time around.
then there was the hobbycon event at kompleks asia city for cosplayers (i really don't even know what that is). i've seen pictures from the event and it looks fun. quite a bunch of people dressed up as their chosen characters and that's always fun to see. this unfortunately was another one of the events that was on last weekend that i couldn't go to (sorry fara!!).
i finished another one of my sewing projects too. yay me! hehe. my mum bought a piece of kain batik (sarong) and lining to make a skirt for my grandma. it was a success and i was so tired i didn't take pictures of the finished product. my mum cut the fabric and i helped piece it together with our trusty singer sewing machine (too bad this awesome version has been discontinued) and serger/overlock machine. this skirt sewing frenzy is the aftermath of me sewing my mum's skirt a few days prior to this. lol!
my very first successful project was a simple v-neck maxi dress i made for my company annual dinner end of last month completed over a 2 night period (last minute!) which was supposed to be inspired by the 70s maxi dress era. the dinner was themed the rolling 60s & 70s so i thought it was apt. i'd upload the photos here but it's in my laptop so ir you wanna have a looksee, just click on the respective links in the text above. *smile*
the pikom pc fair kick started on friday (5/12) at the sabah trade centre all through to sunday (7/12) from 11am to 9pm. excited as i was to go, i was personally disappointed at the reseller turn out and the overall size of the fair floor space. this was by far the smallest and least interesting of all the pc fairs that i've been to here. i can't believe that even the earlier organized fairs back in the days it was held at palm square's 5th floor at centre point was better than what i'd experience last weekend. the fact that there was another fair of similar nature held by the government at the likas sports complex might have affected the one held by pikom. unfortunately i was in kl during the earlier fair. nevertheless, i managed to get the things i'd set out to get sans an external 3.5" hdd casing. so i can strike off the hp pc (hp pavilion a6650d) and printer (hp deskjet f4280) from my wish list now. yay! this 19" lcd really needs some getting used to. picked up the pc package yesterday from the reseller at karamunsing complex and excitedly set it up in place of the old pc (which i might work on as a side project - pimp my pc - hehe).
of course there's the raya celebrations the night before (7/12) and on the day itself (8/12). we had dinner at my aunt's place then lunch at another aunt's house the next day. it's always fun to have these little family gatherings. sorry but i've soo underutilized my camera these days.
i considered heading down to kolombong for the sebor warehouse sale too but there really wasn't anything there that i'd really like to buy. i barely use make up so the loreal/maybelline part of the warehouse sale didn't quite interest me. what else is there? paint? household detergents/soaps, car cleaning aerosols/liquids?!?!?!? nah. so i'm skipped it this time around.
then there was the hobbycon event at kompleks asia city for cosplayers (i really don't even know what that is). i've seen pictures from the event and it looks fun. quite a bunch of people dressed up as their chosen characters and that's always fun to see. this unfortunately was another one of the events that was on last weekend that i couldn't go to (sorry fara!!).
i finished another one of my sewing projects too. yay me! hehe. my mum bought a piece of kain batik (sarong) and lining to make a skirt for my grandma. it was a success and i was so tired i didn't take pictures of the finished product. my mum cut the fabric and i helped piece it together with our trusty singer sewing machine (too bad this awesome version has been discontinued) and serger/overlock machine. this skirt sewing frenzy is the aftermath of me sewing my mum's skirt a few days prior to this. lol!
my very first successful project was a simple v-neck maxi dress i made for my company annual dinner end of last month completed over a 2 night period (last minute!) which was supposed to be inspired by the 70s maxi dress era. the dinner was themed the rolling 60s & 70s so i thought it was apt. i'd upload the photos here but it's in my laptop so ir you wanna have a looksee, just click on the respective links in the text above. *smile*
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