Big Boy Nambee'story....: June 2008

Much have been discussed regarding the Rm0.78 increase in petrol price since it was announced by our prime minister on June 8 2007. That was probably the last day you saw the petrol stations displayed a figure of RM 1.92 per liter. I was one of the Malaysian who waited in line to fill in my tank. I was fortunate enough to get the news of the price hike about 5.15 pm, therefore I rushed to the station nearby, I had to wait for about 10 minutes before I got to hold the nozzle to fill my tank up.

Before we go deeper into this affair, let’s just take a few moments to observe this information below.

Malaysian price of oil compared to other OIL PRODUCING countries:

MALAYSIA - RM2.70/litre

UAE - RM1.19/litre

Eygpt - RM1.03/litre

Bahrain - RM0.87/litre

Qatar - RM0.68/litre

Kuwait - RM0.67/litre

Saudi Arabia - RM0.38/litre

Iran - RM0.35/litre

Nigeria - RM0.32/litre

Turkmenistan - RM0.25/litre

Venezuela

- RM0.16/litre

We often hear statements’ from the government saying our price is already cheap compared to other nations. Why on earth do you compare to nations that don’t produce oil and say ours is cheaper ? look at the information above, we are on top of the list of oil producing countries. MALAYSIA BOLEH !!!

Reflection time, Looking back at Anwar’s day from 1990 to 1998 as the Ministry of Finance. Our fuel price remained stagnant, RM 1.10 per liter. There was a time where the government increased by 3 cent, but eventually pushed back to its original price due to complains. Today, the oil price stood at RM1.92 per liter. I don’t want to praise Anwar for that matter, but he really did a good job.

Opposition Leader Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail has accused the government of being ‘stupid’ for repeatedly saying that our new petrol retail price of RM2.70 is low when compared to other countries in the region. “As a raw oil producing nation, Malaysia should be compared with other oil exporters I AGREE.

Second dissatisfaction, PETRONAS. It was reported that Petronas made RM45.4 billion sales of crude oil from 192.4 million barrels. To whom these crude oil belongs to? Yes, you and me. Picture this, you stay with your siblings in a house full of antics. You brother and sister sells these antics but the profit never got to you. Some of the profit goes to the beautification of the house. Question, do you want to look good and be poor or look bad but rich? Neither is good. We want balance. So if Petronas gets richer, who/where does it go to?

How much is the RM 625 per year subsidy going to help the public .My car, Proton Iswara 1.3 (M) needs RM 120 for a full tank now when it use to be RM 85. An individual like me who travels a lot, I need one full tank a week. The calculation goes –

One full tank RM 120 x 4 weeks = RM 480.00 a month.

Rm 625 ( rebate ) / 12 months = RM 52 a month.

RM 480 – RM 52 = RM 428

Now it is RM 428

Before it was RM 340

I LOOSE RM 88 a month

I think its high time we have our check and balance system in our country. Pak Lah is doing ‘great things for this country’. He knows that by increasing the petrol price he is just going to create a chaos in the country, and tell me I was wrong, we saw many people complaining and even a small protest. Since when Malaysia started having protest ? since Pak Lah took over. Since when we had such drastic fuel hike ? since Pak Lah became the finance minister. Since when the cost of living started booming ? since Pak Lah became the prime minister. Since when…….. im sure I can go and go, but there no point talking about a leader who is power crazy, he knows people don’t want him anymore, yet, today’s paper reported he wants to defend his UMNO Presidency post.

Im just another Malaysian who just cant accept the fact that im paying RM 2.70 for a liter. But i want something out of complaining and writing about this matter,

I WANT

THE PETROL PRICE TO GO BACK TO RM 1.92 OR LOWER
I WANT THE GOVERNMENT TO GIVE PETROL CASH VOUCHER TO ALL UNIVERSITY OR COLLEGE STUDENTS.

That’s the only way the government can win my heart again on this matter.

On 21^st May 2008, Corporate Communication Strategies students of School of Linguistic Infrastructure and Liberal Studies (SOLILS), KLIUC organized an event, Orange Blast 2008. The event consists of an exhibition, a talk and a dinner. The exhibition was from 9am to 4pm, in which we exhibited the Kancil Award Materials courtesy of Association of Accredited Advertising Agents of Malaysia. After USM, we are the second institution in Malaysia that was given the honor to exhibit the materials. A talk, entitled, the future of media in Malaysia was delivered by our prominent tv host, Mr.Suhaimi Suliman who is attached with Astro Awani at the moment. As the educational element was already taken care of during the day with the talk and the exhibition, it was time to have a little fun as well. Palm Garden Resort, witnessed our grand dinner to mark the closing uf Orange Blast 2008. I gave my opening remarks for the event and hit started dinner. We had our own ban that performed, our own students that sang and a choir by my classmates.

As the project director, I could only smile and breathe when it was 11pm on the 21^st, and I patted my self, saying, ITS ALL OVER.

I must give credit to my team member’s who gave me their undivided support in making this event a success. As the wise saying, organizing events like this bring you and your friends closer, I must admit its true. It showed me what a true friend means and also showed me how much I can trust people in life.

A good learning process, that’s something that every one of us would say as the experienced gained from this project, is something that I wouldn’t trade for.

Hope all of us can emulate this success to another event in the upcoming semester.