KUALA LUMPUR, 3 Oct: The shocking move by the Umno-BN government in raising fuel prices by 20 cents per litre in the absence of the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, and the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, has raised many questions.

A fellow at the PAS Research Centre (PPP), Mohd Hafiz Jamaludin, said that the move was done without the knowledge of anyone, not even from Petronas.

“We do not know why the fuel price hike was done this time in the absence of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister.

“This is an interesting, and not just that, but no one knew about it, not even from Petronas itself,” he explained in the Bicara Harakah on the ‘Budget 2015, People’s Challenges’.

He said that the people are not only faced with rising oil prices but that they are burdened by the chain reaction of increases when the Budget is tabled on October 10.

“We expect there will be withdrawal of subsidies that result in an increase of prices for other goods.

“The government needs to take a new approach in creating a new structure to find solutions to ease the people’s burden,” he added.

He added that the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) is not the best move and instead, the government should first strengthen the source of income.

“Previously, we used to be great in agriculture and minerals, why don’t we strengthen it again. It is as if it has been forgotten.

“This sector is not prioritised and we do not know what policies are being used by the government in realising the country’s source of income.

“We need to make changes by creating a structure through sources first and which will come,” he said.

The failure of the Umno-BN government to review and only focus on the implementation of the GST, he said, will cause the people, especially the urban poor, to continue to be pressured by the burden of survival.

NS