KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said steps should be taken to lessen the burden of the people due to the hike in the price of fuel.
He said Malaysia could not avoid the negative effects of the worldwide increase in fuel prices but there must be ways to mitigate them.
"I am sure the government will not just pass down all these problems to the people as the review of oil prices every month seems to suggest," he said yesterday in his blog www. chedet.com.
The restructuring of fuel subsidies announced on Wed-nesday involved capping the government's cost to about 30 sen per litre of petrol, a move advocated by economists to prevent the budget from sliding out of control.
The pump price would be adjusted monthly according to world prices after subtracting the fixed subsidy.
Dr Mahathir said the price of crude oil had increased by 400 per cent in the last three years and that prices of other products would go up soon. "I believe the people expect the increase in the price of petrol. But what they are angry about is the quantum and the suddenness."
NST, 6 June 2008
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