JOHOR BARU, Dec 28 — The Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry will include a comprehensive database in its final mechanism for targeted subsidies, especially for the RON95 grade petrol.
Its minister Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub said the data will be sourced from various agencies such as Bank Negara, the Inland Revenue Board (IRB), the Department of Statistics, the Treasury, and the Road Transport Department (RTD).
“The RTD data is just one of the several elements that will be used in the provision of targeted subsidies for the RON95 petrol grade that I had previously stated.
“We also have data from Bank Negara, IRB, Department of Statistics Malaysia and the Treasury, in addition to studies done by local universities that will be our reference,” he told reporters after a meeting with the Malaysian Islamic Chamber of Commerce at the Berjaya Waterfront Hotel here last night.
Salahuddin, who is also Pulai MP, gave an assurance that the government will take into consideration other relevant data, and will not be dependent only on the RTD’s data.
He was responding to public brickbats after the government said it would look at a vehicle’s cubic capacity when determining targeted petrol subsidies.
“It is true that among the data that we will refer to is from the RTD, but we understand there is a need to have an integrated and comprehensive data centre for the government to succeed in providing any form of targeted subsidies efficiently,” he said.
Salahuddin said the government needs to gather all data from the relevant agencies in order to create an efficient integrated database for the implementation of other targeted subsidies.
“The Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry and the National Action Council on Cost of Living, which is chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, will look into and consider all the data before the government finalises the subsidies,” he said.
Last Saturday, Salahuddin was reported saying his ministry will use the RTD’s vehicle database as part of its provision for targeted subsidies involving RON95 petrol grade.
He said the RTD data was a result of discussions and engagement sessions with the Finance Ministry and Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli.
However, experts have urged the government to adopt a more holistic approach in its bid to implement targeted fuel subsidies as a vehicle’s cubic capacity does not reflect the true state of the consumer’s financial standing.
They pointed out that many new luxury and performance vehicles are employing a lower cubic capacity displacement due to efficient technology such as forced induction engines (turbo or super charging), thus the mechanism of only referring to RTD’a data for subsidies targeting RON95 petrol is not appropriate.
Ongoing development of new vehicles have proven that its capability is not strictly tied to the engine displacement, and so there will be a need to establish the difference between vehicles by more than just engine capacity as a measure.
