Najib mocks PH for ‘taxing’ rakyat for oil instead of subsidising it

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 22 — Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has taken another swipe at the Pakatan Harapan government, saying that rather than it subsidising fuel prices for the rakyat it is now the other way round.

Noting that oil prices were Brent estimated to be US$72 (RM301) a barrel when Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng announced the Budget 2019 in November 2, he said this has since dropped sharply.

“As of yesterday the Brent price is around US$52 (RM217) a barrel. The actual price of RON95 is RM1.90 per litre, and to compare Brent prices when BN lost (in May 9) was US$73 (RM305) with RON95 at RM2.20 per litre,” Najib said in a Facebook post.

Claiming that this meant the government has imposed an increased tax of 30 cents per litre for RON95 since early last month, he said as much as RM120 million have been taxed from the rakyat via the sale of RON95.

“During the campaigning period PH made numerous promises in their ceramahs, on how they will reduce the petrol price to around RM1.50 to RM1.80 per litre.

“The rakyat has the right to demand the government stop taxing RON95 and allow them to enjoy the lowered petrol prices which is a result of the falling global oil prices,” Najib said.

Since the government announced it would float petrol prices again in April, he questioned why this was not being done immediately.

“Why not now so the rakyat can enjoy it seeing as it is currently a period full of festive days? Subsidies not given, aid slashed or abolished, yet the PH government has silently been collecting tax on RON95 and diesel even.

“In truth I never once imposed a tax on RON95 petrol during my tenure as prime minister. Even when global oil prices reached as high as US$120 (RM501) a barrel, we provided a high subsidy every week,” Najib said.

He said many may have forgotten that for an extended period throughout 2015 and 2016, RON95 was sold at RM1.60 to RM1.70 a litre, using an article from The Edge as a reference.

“When I became prime minister in April 2009, one of the first steps I took was to replace RON92 with the higher-quality RON95. And it is a fact that when I lost the election, RON95 was priced at RM2.20, lower than RM2.40 for RON92 when I became Finance Minister in 2008.

“This is contrary to the popular assumption that I oppressed the rakyat in matters of petrol prices. But who is the real oppressor now?” Najib said.