hmm... then my cousins cant have their weekly art classes at jb anymore. and they cant visit their house in jb that often.
Currently there's a one week "FEE-FREE" period if you bring your car into the republic and I'm telling you the latest move by the government is suicidal. I won't be surprised if our Johorian counterparts sees a drop in their daily business transaction and mind you, we receive an annual figure of 9,000,000 visitors from Singapore so just imagine the influx of "investment"
But only RM20 wor or approx S$9. I think they'll still come as petrol and other goods are still cheaper here mah.
Isn't it a double standard? We pay to go there but they don't pay to come here... Now they might have to pay to come here and there's a fuss... It's not like they can't afford it and besides, it's really not much compared to what we pay...
In principal, the sum might be small but how much are we losing in petrol-subsidies to justify the RM20/SGD9 entry charges? If the loses are significant, then it maybe justifiable but it would be more prudent to remove the petrol-subsidies in the first place. GarPhreak: Singapore imposes entry fee for the reason of curbing unnecessary traffic therefore encouraging the public to opt for public transportation and mind you, their intergrated transportation is almost flawless and very affordable. On the other hand, Singapore has waived the entry fee for the first week to encourage tourist from Malaysia to drive across.
After reading blog from thestar, i dont understand why those malaysian who work in singapore complain so much about the entry fees?????
Hmm.. They will complain a bit but it will be business as usual. The RM 20 levy is actually nothing compared to the money they save by buying petrol, goods, etc. over here. It's actually LESS than what WE pay to go over. If anyone should complain, it's us.
I think the government is now subsidizing something like 70 cents per liter of petrol. Even if they only buy 30 liters of petrol (half tank) here in Malaysia, government would already have to pay RM 21 for their petrol. And that's just for 30 liters of petrol. Eventually, they should remove the petrol subsidy. But I think they are afraid to do so now because it will invoke a lot of anger from us Malaysians. If they cut off the subsidy completely right now, they will very likely lose the next elections. But really, I think it's about time Singaporeans paid a proper price for their petrol. Were I in charge, I would insist that Singaporean vehicles pay the FULL price of petrol. No matter what the petrol costs in Malaysia, Singaporean businessmen will continue to do business here. Businesses won't just close shop because of increased petrol prices. We all learn to live with it. But they will definitely complain... LOL!!
Frankly I don't disagree the fact that Singapore should be made to pay the full price of the petrol and if that's the case, why the double standards? Let's do some math, if we factor in world oil prices as of March 2K6 @ USD$66.45, the government is only subsidizing RM$0.54 for every litre we consume. Moving on, our Republican neighbours are only allowed 3/4 tank full of petrol when they go back and assuming that the average size of a fuel tank is 65 litres, we are in fact subsidizing them a total of RM$26.33. So in hindsight, it's best off to remove the subsidies rather than complicate matters further if we don't account the political mileage that of our current "leaders" and its goons. Furthermore, if the current administration is bent on the policy of "accountability" and "transparency", what would be of the RM$20 collected? Will it go to improving the countries transportation system or at the very least Johor's transportation system? Will it go to financing the new bridge because that would be a certain irony for our neighbours considering the fact that they're currently disagreeing on it's implementation? Considerations from the other side, I'm sure they wouldn't mind paying for "first class" infrastructure because I sure as hell wouldn't mind paying going into the Republic.
Yeah, I would remove the subsidy myself. But I guess it's not so easy to implement. Many people now pay by credit card at the pump. So, how will the machine know if the driver is Singaporean or Malaysian? I guess it's possible to actually check the credit card to find out the origin of the owner but what if they collude with petrol station owners and circumvent it by paying cash? As in paying cash for petrol at a slightly higher but still subsidized price. Hmm.. According to the government notices, the actual petrol price is something like RM 2.63 per liter, but we are only paying RM 1.93 right now. So, if they are correct, they are subsidizing the petrol by RM 0.70 per liter. Eh Jeremy, are you sure they are only allowed 3/4 tank max when they head back to Singapore? All I know is they need to have 3/4 tank full when they head over to Malaysia. I think they can pump full on the way back. Hahaha.. As to where the money goes, well, this is still very much a Malaysian government. Hehe.. As full of corruption as cheese is full of holes. Hopefully, Badawi is serious about improving the government and throwing off Dr. M's legacy. But with people like Samy Vellu still in power, I seriously doubt he has the political strength to walk the walk.
He's representative of everything that's wrong with Dr. Mahathir's administration. Not only is he corrupt, he's so daring that he doesn't even care if we know it.
