Pardon my flatulence...

but the price of gas is on the rise again. This time by about 30 sen or so I hear. Looks like I'm going to have to go back to taking the train to work. And so I can look forward to seeing all my old 'carriage-buddies' again. Funny how everyone habitually sits in the same place on the train every day.

Anyway, painful as it is, it's about time the government raised the price of fuel/cut subsidies to put that money to better use. Exactly what better use remains to be seen. In any case, the repercussions are going to be severe.

1 As it stands, many families in Malaysia are only just scraping by financially. Now that petrol is up, they're going nowhere fast. All those RapidKL buses (departures every 5 minutes) which are currently empty are suddenly going to fill up. So while others get poorer, someone's getting rich.

2 I predict the crime rate will rise. Sociologically, in a society where there is abundance, people don't need to take from others. Malaysia barely has enough. From now on, I'm going to have to watch my back.

3 The divide between rich and poor will grow ever wider. As it is, anyone with a smidgeon of vitreous humour will know that there is an undercurrent of racial polarisation in the country. Now the people will further segement by race as well as status.

4 One factor that makes our country "globally competitive" is "cost effective labour". This means we get paid less for doing the same job as compared to our western counterparts. Don't count on your salaries being raised as the cost of living escalates.

5 Be prepared for some killer inflation. Goods cost more, people spend less. Economy becomes sluggish.

While we can't blame the government for this price hike and everything that follows, who's fault is it that our state is as it is now? Our house simply is not in order, and the in-laws have arrived. Or so to speak. We had a few good years to make good our situation, but unfortunately little seems to have been done.

Now one must ask in the light of the fuel subsidy cut, just where this money is being channeled to. The 'jewels' in our national economy namely MAS and PROTON haven't exactly been bringing home the bread. *ahem*