In my earlier entry I mentioned the fact that we will see routine changes and the re-establishment of new consuming habits throughout all of society in the upcoming months. The ripple effect is indeed kicking into second gear as various organizations are already sending out messages of warning to all people to expect an estimated 10% price increase of essential goods.
Actually the announcement is a waste of space because didn’t we all already know that this was coming since the first day? We already knew that prices of essentials will increase. I can also predict that prices of indirectly related goods will also increase because that’s how inflation works and this is just the start of a looming across the board price increase in all goods and services.
It is funny how as human beings, we have a knack for more reactive responses than proactive ones. This oil adjustment exercise is a great testament to that. Look around us… I believe most of us already knew that this was coming sooner or later. It was just a matter of time before the subsidies are reduced because as stated by the government, it is just not feasible or practical to subsidize a gigantic portion of fuel consumption in any nation – especially a developing one.
I agree.
The question now is, “Why are we making such a big deal over it?” Why did we not prepare ourselves earlier to take the inevitable in stride? It is just ironic and to an extent funny to see that AFTER the gas price adjustments, everybody especially the media have been jumping on the “10 ways to get better mileage” bandwagon. This goes to show that the sheer ignorance of our society is just mind boggling and how the media patronizes us by giving us tips such as, “Driving with your window down increases wind resistant resulting in less miles per litre” – what a genius.
As a consumer, it matters very little how I should be driving my car to save a few litres of fuel. What matters to me are the macro issues affecting the general public. Why didn’t we emphasize on upgrading our public transportation earlier? Why didn’t we look deeper into alternative energy in a more serious manner? Why wait until now to take action? How can we curb rising crime rate which is generally associated with an economic downturn? How do we address the immediate issues of the poor when price adjustments take place? These are some of the questions.
The problem with reactive responses is generally associated with the quality of the outcome. Since we started taking actions due to unforeseen and abrupt circumstances, there isn’t much time for strategic planning and execution. There is no plan A nor a plan B. We are basically sweeping our problems underneath the carpet without thinking much on sustainability and how we can continue to reinvent the ways in which we operate.
It’ll be interesting to see what other “useful” articles we will see in the near future from the local media. Stay tuned?
Filed under: Economics, Governance, Malaysia, Price, Uncategorized | Tagged: consumer, economy, Malaysia, Media, mileage, Oil, public, Transportation
You seem to forget that we live in Malaysia and we have been living life as royalty as everything is spoon fed to us.
Following that understanding, many of us were hoping somewhat that there would be a possibility the government would not have increased the price. Maybe just somehow, the government would somehow continue to subsidise. Thus, no contingency plans were brough about. Naive it may sound but that is somewho the reality, innit?!
Now that it has been increased, we complain, whine and grit our teeth.
Why do we even bother pondering on dreams and somehows? Without sounding political, it is essentially the government’s job to look into renewable resources, education and exposure to its citizens. These 3 factors play an ultra-important role in preparing ourselves psychologically and economically for times like these.
I do not blame those people for whining and complaning for the mere fact that majority of them are just ill-informed with the developments of Malaysia. How many of them know the current world price for a barrel of oil? Even if they know, how many of them can possibly grasp the effects of US139 per barrel (at time of writing) in regards to their daily lives.
Yes, we’ve all been protected but from what? Like I’ve mentioned in this post, the extent of our ignorance is just mind boggling. We were shut out of information and the inner workings of the country and suddenly we are being thrown into the dark pits of an energy price increase while we assume that the invisible hand of society will weather this shock out eventually.
Sad but true.
[...] wondering what is wrong with these people? I look back at some of my earlier posts predicting that crime rates are expected to rise but what I did not expect is to be so close to the after-effects. Of course I cannot ascertain if [...]