JUNE 3 ― I have total reservations against the proposed fuel subsidy system by the Government which allows only qualified people to enjoy subsidised petrol and diesel as such a move will not help to curb the smuggling of diesel at our Malaysian borders but will cause more burden to the people.

I urged the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism to clarify on the proposed system and its effectiveness in curbing smuggling of diesel. Based on news reports, the system contains plenty of loopholes which may lead to more issues. To address the diesel smuggling, the authorities should immediately act against corrupted officials who are in cahoots with the smugglers at our borders.

According the Sinchew Daily report (3 June 2014), people who earn less than RM5,000 a month will be allowed to enjoy subsidised fuel while those who earn more than RM5,000 to RM10,000 are only limited to enjoy 300 litres of RON95 petrol and diesel per month. I would like to know how the Government will implement the new system as it will involve massive manpower and facilities to do so and it may not yield the expected outcome.

If the Road Transport Department or the Finance Ministry will issue a special card for the qualified motorists to enjoy subsidised fuel as reported in the news report, how will the Government ensure that the card will not be loaned to other people? The Government must address such leakages.

The proposed system to me is not realistic because it only causes more issues to the people and a new policy should be formulated to help the rakyat. By merely simplifying its procedure, the proposed system does not seem to be helping the people at all.

The proposed system will also increase the burden of the middle income group since they will not benefited from the system and their financial burden will increase because of inflation and non-subsidised fuel.

I agree that the Government should rationalise fuel subsidy for the long term benefit of the nation but it should not be done based on the proposed system. I suggest that the Government should first get feedback from the people and review the proposed system before it becomes a liability to the Government.

* Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong is the MCA Deputy President and member of parliament for Ayer Hitam.

**This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.