KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition parties Thursday (5 June) vowed to stage nationwide protests after the government raised gasoline prices by a whopping 41% in a politically risky decision that could undermine its already-shaky position.Long lines of vehicles formed at gasoline stations overnight to fill up before midnight when the new pricing came into effect, and brawls broke out as some motorists tried to jump the queue.
On Thursday, gas stations were mostly deserted. Small groups of opposition workers staged protests in downtown Kuala Lumpur and in northern Ipoh town, denouncing the sudden hikes as excessive and a burden for the poor amid the country's poor transportation system.
The Democratic Action Party, or DAP, said it would hold more protests to demand the government back down from the plan.
"There is a sense of public outrage ... both on the increase and the manner in which it was done," said DAP chief Lim Kit Siang.
PROTES, an anti-inflation coalition of opposition parties and non-governmental groups, is planning rallies nationwide which will peak in a mass demonstration in Kuala Lumpur on 12 July, said a coalition leader Hatta Ramli.
"We are hoping for 100,000 people to turn up. We want the government to revert to yesterday's price," said Hatta, who is also a member of the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party or PAS.
The pump price of gasoline went up to 2.70 ringgit (US$0.87) a liter, or 10.23 ringgit (US$3.30) a gallon, from 1.92 ringgit (US$0.61) a liter. Diesel prices rose even higher by 67% to 2.58 ringgit (US$0.80) per liter.
Like other Asian countries, Malaysia, is facing a spiraling fuel subsidy bill that could have been more than 56 billion ringgit (US$17 billion) due to rising world oil prices.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has urged the people to remain calm and not take to the streets.
Despite the hike, gasoline prices remain lower than other Asian nations such as Singapore, Thailand and India.
In addition, Malaysia also increased electricity tariffs from July by as much as 26 percent for some consumers. It also imposed windfall taxes on independent power producers and plantation companies.
Truck and bus operators complained that they can't absorb the drastic price hike, which may force many of them to shut down.
Former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, who now leads an opposition alliance that includes the DAP and PAS, criticized the government for cutting fuel subsidies when national oil firm Petronas is making profits.
"This is what we call weak and irresponsible economic management," he said.
Malaysia's stocks, bonds and currency fell Thursday amid concerns that the energy price hike would push inflation to a 10-year high of around 5 percent, up from 3% now, slow consumer spending and hurt economic growth.
The move carries great political risk for Abdullah, who is fighting for his political survival after his ruling coalition's shock election losses in March.
Ibrahim Suffian, director of independent think-tank Merdeka Center of Opinion Research, said Abdullah's popularity will plummet as the price hike will hit his main supporters _ low-income rural ethnic Malays _ hardest.
"It's going to be hard for people to accept. There will be an immediate adverse effect on his popularity. It will mean a massive drop in his last bastion" of support, he warned.
Abdullah has said the revised energy prices would save the government 13.7 billion ringgit (US$4.4 billion), part of which will be used to help subsidize rising food prices.
The government also scrapped a short-lived ban on sale of gasoline to foreign-registered cars near its borders with Thailand.
Many Malaysians appeared resigned to the cut in fuel subsidies.
"If we don't increase the fuel price now, the economy will go down," said Chong Wai Ket, a 29-year-old shopkeeper in Kuala Lumpur.
(By JULIA ZAPPEI/ AP)
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