Saturday, March 04, 2006

Protes Membantah Kenaikan Harga Minyak di Pulau Pinang

Oi... Macam tu kah rakyat Malaysia akan jadi?

Sebelah kanan: "Petronas untung sampai gila, rakyat terus hidup merana!"; Sebelah kiri:(dalam Bahasa Tionghua)"Petronas untung besar sampai menjadi gila, rakyat pergi makan angin barat laut (maksudnya rakyat apa-apa pun tak dapat, malah perlu menanggung kesuasahan)"

Aiyo... sampai bila Kerajaan BN nak paksa rakyat sampai bunuh diri dengan pam minyak?

Kenaikan harga minyak mengemukkan kroni!

Harga minyak naik, semua ni susah!


Kita bantah kenaikan harga minyak dan penganiayaan terhadap rakyat!

Naik bas pun susah!

BK Ong dari SOS

Lau dari Parti Keadilan Rakyat

DAP juga datang

Chow dari DAP

jurugambar dari SB (Siput Babi???)

Ini polis kah? Atau pengawal untuk Petronas?

SB-SB sekalian yang rajin bekerja...

Tangkap (gambar) betul-betul...

Satu demontrasi jalanan membantah kenaikan harga minyak telah diadakan pada hari ini di hadapan Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak (KOMTAR). Kenaikan harga minyak (petrol, diesel dan gas cecair) sebanyak 30 sen telah mengejutkan rakyat Malaysia.

Sementara keuntungan Petronas berlipat ganda apabila harga minyak mentah sedunia melambung naik, beban tanggungan rakyat pula berlipat ganda juga. Protes daripada rakyat tidak akan berhenti, selagi penganiayaan oleh kerajaan ke atas golongan pekerja dan yang miskin masih berterusan.

Satu protes yang disertai oleh lebih 2000 orang telah diadakan di KLCC, Kuala lumpur semalam. Dan hari ini, Pulau Pinang pula digegarkan dengan laungan bantahan terhadap kenaikan harga minyak. Walaupun bilangan peserta yang mengambil bahagian dalam protes hari ini amat kurang (lebih kurang 40), tetapi mereka yang lalu-lalang di situ menunjukkan reaksi yang agak positif.

Jika kerajaan tidak mendengar seruan rakyat, dan terus berdegil dengan melaksanakan dasar-dasar yang menindas rakayat yang miskin. Protes begini akan berterusan.

Di bawah ialah kenyataan oleh Suaram yang dikeluarkan semalam:

3 March 2006

Press statement:

Fuel Hike Unjust, Make Petronas Accounts Public

Suaram deplores the fuel price hike by the government recently with petrol, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) all increased by a sharp 30 sen, from RM1.62 to RM1.92 per litre, RM1.281 to RM1.581 per litre and RM1.45 to RM1.75 per kg respectively.

This latest price hike made the petrol 40.1 percent and the diesel 102.4 percent more expensive than they were in a period of less than two years.

The fuel prices hike will undoubtedly lead to the increased cost of other goods and services and this eventually will bring about prices hike in everything and lead to high inflation. The lower income groups in the country are already feeling the pains of the inflation and they are surely going to be the worst to be hit.

Suaram agrees in principle that fuel consumption should be decreased gradually in view of the deteriorating global warming and destruction of environment. However, Suaram questions the flawed distributive justice of the gains and the losses to various social groups in the government decision of the fuel price hikes.

The government has argued that the price hike was due to the global rise in fuel prices. While this is true, it is also a matter of fact that the national oil company, Petronas, has also benefited from the global fuel price hike which saw its profit increased by about 50%, from RM37.44 billion in the financial year ending of 2004 to RM58.03 billion in the financial year ending of 2005. Why has not the increased profit of RM20.59 billion by the Petronas used to cover the RM4.4 billion subsidy that the government will save from the price hikes? If the government is genuinely serious about setting up a fund to improve public transport system, why not retrieve it from the RM20.59 billion increased profit of Petronas? Why instead did the government choose to further burden the people and leave the profits of Petronas untouched?

Furthermore, we have seen in the past how billions ringgit from Petronas has been used by the government to bail out ailing companies of its cronies and built white-elephant projects such as the Formula 1 circuit, Putrajaya and etc that eventually only benefited the rich and the famous and a small group of cronies closed to the government that have easy access to these mega projects. Clearly, the fund of Petronas has not benefited the people at large and the fuel prices hikes will further exacerbate the gap between the rich and the poor.

The accounts of Petronas have long been shrouded in secrecy. Suaram calls on the Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to open the books of Petronas for public scrutiny as one of his major steps to fight massive corruption in the government. Only by doing this that the government can convince the rakyat that it has done its best with the national oil wealth of the country in benefiting the rakyat. Only in this circumstances that the people would be able to judge if the fuel price hikes by the government are reasonable or justified. Without transparency and accountability in Petronas, and based on the track record of Petronas, it would seem that Petronas is only benefiting the rich while gaining from the rest of us.

Yap Swee Seng

Executive Director

SUARA RAKYAT MALAYSIA

Address: 433A, Jalan 5/46, Gasing Indah, 46000 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

Telephone: +6 03 7784 3525 Fax: +6 03 7784 3526

Email: suaram@suaram.net Web: www.suaram.net


Anda juga boleh membaca laporan dari laman web MALVU.


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