Petrol for the Poor

Several days ago, in the face of the rising price of fuel on the world market, the Malaysian government announced a proposal to introduce a two tiered petrol pricing system. This system would provide for discrimination on the basis of income level. I.e. cheaper petrol for the poor and the standard pricing for the rich.

Well, does this proposal make sense? In the face of the generally held perception among the middle class that this is another stupid attention grabbing initiative for the government, I beg to differ. This proposal can be made to work, and yes it does make social and economic sense to implement. Especially for the lower income section of the population this is one effort which could make a significant difference in their burden of existence.

Petrol remains the fuel for the majority of cars within Malaysia. Alternative fuel sources, e.g. NGV, hydrogen or electric either require a steep initial investment or remain in the domain of higher end and hence more expensive vehicles. This means that for the large majority of Malaysians, and especially so for the lower income segment, petrol is an essential item if they have to commute.


The Worries of the Poor

For the lower income segment, this problem is further compounded by the fact that by virtue of being poor, they tend to live in low cost housing. Housing cost is very much so location dependent. Low cost housing therefore implies a more considerable distance to amenities and also to social centers where work can often be found. Hence, poor people, because they can't pay for housing closer to commercial or service centers where their jobs are located thereby have to commute further to their place of employment. In addition to that the distance to social amenities essential in city life such as their children's schools is also increased. What all this adds up too is an increased burden in terms of fuel cost just to survive.

On a second level, if we were to represent the nett income of a family to a pie, richer families naturally have a larger pie to start with. Now assuming in an ideal case scenario that a rich and a poor family have exactly the same commuting needs and use exactly the same vehicle (mind you that is not the case as proved earlier. note too that we're talking about needs essential for maintaining a family.) Their petrol cost will be exactly the same i.e. it will take a chunk out of each pie that is exactly the same. However, the effect on both families will still be significantly different. This is because the rich family starts out with a bigger pie already i.e. has more monetary resources available. Hence if you take a same sized piece out from each pie, the smaller pie will logically lose more of it's total pie value. [For those who don't understand the pie illustration, if the rich person has RM1000 of income per month, and the poor has RM250, but the both have to pay RM50 for petrol, that means 20% of the poor person's income but only 5% of the rich person's income. ]

Now, bringing this back to the real world, those of you who have studied economics will understand that needs taper off at a certain level. Within the Malaysian context, for a rich or middle income family then, the rest of the income above the needs level is essentially disposable income. For a low income family however, the needs level is often almost parallel with their nett income on a monthly basis. Increasing the price of an essential item such as fuel will have different effects on the spending habits of low income families vs those of higher income levels. This is because if they need to spend more on fuel, for a high income family, this would mean a little less disposable income i.e. less movie trips, less overseas holidays, but for a low income family, this means less income available to meet their needs i.e. less money for medicine, food, even utilities. Henceforth, an increase in price level of fuel which is an essential will result in a significant degradation of quality of life for the poor.

The Solution

Which brings us to the question, is there a way where this can be implemented? I believe yes, an over-the-dinner-table talk with my dad yielded this result.

Essential to the functioning of any such plan would be a mechanism that would be able to fit these requirements as listed below. Roughly,

i) method of determining income
ii) method of linking income level to mechanism for dispensing of subsidy
iii) mechanism for dispensing subsidy which is least prone to abuse

The mechanism works like this. Using the RTD as the department for the dispensation of subsidies. And proof of income level can be income declaration statements available from the Inland Revenue Board. The mechanism of providing the subsidy will be a debit card only useable for fuel at petrol stations.

Why the RTD and why a debit card?

One of the main problems that would face the government would be how to allocate the subsidy to those who actually need it and would use it rather than reselling it to the rich. The RTD is the one institution in the country that would know what type of vehicle a registrant is using and how many vehicles the registrant has. Hence, a low income candidate would only be given the subsidy if they come to the counter with their income declaration statement, and the RTD would only give out the subsidy if it can be proven that they own a vehicle. Different levels of subsidy for motorbikes and cars would be provided. Perhaps RM100 per month for a car and RM 20 a month for motorbikes. The debit card would be recharged when the candidate comes to renew the registration of their vehicles (a yearly affair for most people.) This essentially puts into place a check and balance at a reasonable time period. The level of subsidy would be fixed for each family, i.e. RM100 a month no matter how many cars (which should be only 1 for low income families) you might happen to own.

Making a difference

Modern society prides itself on it's morality, on it's civility towards it's citizens. Every human deserves the basic right of a reasonable quality of life. With this proposal, we've have a chance to improve the quality of life of the most oppressed segment of our fellow citizens. Don't ignore that chance. Put yourself in the shoes of the office clerk whose only thought everyday is how to feed her 3 children at home. Put yourself in the shoes of the factory worker whose heart aches desperately because he knows he will not be able to pay his child's school fees. Put yourself in the shoes of the pensioner who has served his nation for 30 years but cannot now afford to visit a doctor. Don't they deserve something better?

Scent of a Woman

Dude, watching this, I now want to learn to dance the tango before I die. :) and I know exactly which girl I want to dance the tango with.

Movie tells the story of an unlikely friendship formed over a weekend in New York between a blind lieutenant colonel and a boy who takes up the weekend job of being his caretaker. It's as much a touching coming of age story as it is a masterful character study of a blind retired man frustrated with the world around him. You'd never think that Al-Pacino wasn't blind.

Hooo-ah.

Awesome movie, awesome story telling, wonderful performances. Watch it.


p.s. Watch out for the wonderful tango scene.

Much ado about funerals

Funerals fascinate me. Other people's or mine. Don't get me wrong, I don't enjoy funerals, but I certainly do think that they deserve abit more thought than most people would give them. And if I'm going to be going and pondering the day another poor dude is gonna die and his family mourn him, it wouldn't at all be fair if I didn't ponder my own first.

Well, for starters, I'd like lots of laughter, lots of beer, lots of good food and just a few tears for mine. Let's do away with the staid old sad coffin, bring in something light in colour, not so imposing, something rather more appealing. And definitely try and get rid of that funny smell of chemicals preserving my body. Mm, and my mortician better be able to make me smile in death. Cause I'm bad enough at smiling alive, it'd be just a small favour to me and keep smiling for posterity. Keep it short, simple, and when it's done, just chuck me in the grave, and you can take the coffin away.

Before you say that's just weird and sad consider this, the whole point of the exercise is precisely that it's not supposed to be sad. Yeah true, I'll be dead and all. But imperfect humans as we are, certainly I'd have vexed the hell out of a whole bunch of you guys attending my funeral and it just strikes me as inconsiderate that when I'm dead, people are going to have to get sad and vexed again. If one has already done his share of damage when he's alive, the least you could do when you kick the barrel and take your rest is give them all a rest as well.

The way I see it, life is something wonderful. You can only truly celebrate something wonderful when it's ended cause only then do you know really how wonderful it all was. We're all here to make a contribution to this world. For now at least, our contributions are limited to the 70 or 80 years we've to live. And if you've lived your life well, had a good family, had good friends, worked hard, believed in god, believed in your life, helped people, enjoyed most of those 28000 sunrises and sunsets, well, why be sad about that? If I'm happy with the life I've lived, then it's pretty pointless that everyone then be sad about what I'd have been happy with. And just like the culmination of a successful project where you can clearly see the results, I want my funeral to be that big bash where the biggest project I'd ever have undertaken be celebrated. With laughter, with joy, with a tinge of sadness, but most of all, with memories to be taken away and treasured safely.

Miss me yes, but laugh with me, at me, and most of all, think well of me. Drink up me hearties at my funeral. ;)



How would you like your funeral?

What cannot kill me will make me study like a dog next semester...

I get knocked down
But I get up again
Youre never going to
Keep me down

Pissing the night away
Pissing the night away

He drinks a whisky drink
He drinks a vodka drink
He drinks a lager drink
He drinks a cider drink
He sings the songs that
Remind him
Of the good times
He sings the songs that
Remind him
Of the better times

- tubthumping by chubawamba

I need to pay more attention to my studies... ;)

The power of wit...

Reading an article about the Vatican setting up a religious airline, this line just took the cake...

"Ryanair already performs miracles that even the Pope's boss can't rival, by delivering pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela for a heavenly price," - Ryanair spokesperson on competition posed by Vatican airline

Whoever is in Ryanair's PR department certainly has HELL of a lot of wit.

Article found here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6958921.stm

Bridge to Terabithia

5 stars and entrance to my list of all time favourite movies.

That's how I rate this movie. I loved it, no kidding. True it's a disney movie, and yes, it's based around a fantasy world. But deep down, this movie had heart, a heart unlike any other.

Be forewarned though, while this movie is about kids it is in very few ways a kids movie. By dealing with the theme of loss in a manner that dignifies it, this movie gains it's strongest points and teaches a great lesson. Life is dealt with in equal amounts cruelty and beauty. This is a movie that needs an open mind and heart to be truly appreciated.

Watch it.

Eureka...

Eureka! for me that is. Asking myself honestly why I don't take my writing more seriously and put a little more discipline into it, quite probably, I just don't care. That and perhaps the ability to write in such a way so as to shape opinions and beliefs just isn't in me.

Don't get me wrong, words do carry great power. The written word can convey more than perhaps any other medium over the longest time period available. Definitely a significant part of my thoughts, opinions, knowledge and wisdom were shaped by the written word. Good writers like Orwell, Marx, Swift, Asimov and Sagan have always moved and impressed me.

But keeping in mind that every action should have a reason and that the time every man is given is finite, perhaps instead of forcing the pen to paper so to speak [or rather in this case, reluctant fingers to the keyboard.] I'd have to admit that my reason for writing can certainly not be very good if my writing ain't. Or if I don't really give a s***e about what I'm writing, even though I might know it well, then there's little point to it.

So much for wanting to be a writer. Call me a wuss for running away and not being disciplined enough to push my digits but I'd rather be willing to admit my limitations. Cheerios

I have... a problem

Like the title reads, I have a problem. I can't seem to bloody put what I am thinking down on paper these days. A set of brilliant ideas or some good analysis might be floating around in my head, and then when I actually sit down to put it into writing, wallah! It's all gone.

Probably the reason is that I've been so lazy to put my thoughts down into writing in the past, now when I actually want to do it, the ability has atrophied! Or maybe I just need some pressure to do it, cause the Technical Communications paper certainly wasn't a problem. Anyway, here's to my new found inability to write, and to getting the drive back to rehabilitate this atrophied limb of mine.

the Weird tag...

Darn I've been tagged... Since I've also been labelled weird for ALL of sue's blogreaders to see, I shall respond, and prove her right ;)




Each player of this game starts off by giving 6 weird things about themselves. People who get tagged need to write in a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state the rules clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. After you do that, leave them each a comment letting them know you tagged them and to read your blog.

the Weird stuff

1. When I'm sick, I exercise. I'll jog, lift weights, do situps, cycle myself to exhaustion. Takes my mind of being sick and suprisingly helps me to heal within a day or two.

2. I think Im a closet adrenaline junkie. I love risk, more accurately, I love the feeling I get when I'm so close to the edge, my hands get clammy and the heart siezes, there's no time to think, and then the rush after that when you successfully pull back, and the rush comes. Applies in hell of alot of ways. Whether I'm biking, balancing on a beam, or making a large decision or dealing with a tough person.

3. I'd rather read a geopolitical brief than spend time on mindless chatter about the latest celebrity star, what they wore, who they're doing it with, or how beautiful they are.

4. I think that fast cars are toys. You want real beauty and power, stop talking about Subaru Imprezzas or McLaren F1's. Think Nimitz Class aircraft carrier or Typhoon ballistic missile submarine. The power to wipe 120 cities clean off the map in my opinion definitely beats being able to reach 300KmH 0.1 seconds faster than the next car. [I do however love the Elise - minimalist, agile, fast. Ssswwweeet.]

5. I love bathing in icy cold water early in the morning. Did that in NZ. Loved it. If I could, I'd take part in the crazy once a year jump into the alaskan sea stunt. Though I'll probably die of hypothermia after that, at least I'll die happy.

6. When I go to public places, the most interesting displays are the people walking around. Society is the most interesting creature.


Yeah, I'm weird. I kinda like it. Deal with it.


Tagged : Mel, May, Siew. too lazy to think of others.

The abyss of liberty

Post Disclaimer :- Ramblings Ahead. Reader be forewarned.
Listening to :- The Riddle - Five for Fighting, Pretty Fly for a White Guy - Offspring, Fade - Staind

“If you stare into the Abyss long enough the Abyss stares back into you.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

Some years ago, I stood alone under a moonlit sky. It was a starless void. The only light came from the moon. But a beautiful moon it was. Huge, round, a gleaming silver splash on dark blue velvet streaked grey.

That wasn't the best time of my life. It was a time of hopelessness. At that point, I didn't know what to do, or where to go. I couldn't see the path in front of me. The people around, most of them were oblivious to it. The external shell made sure of that. That night, I walked to the edge of the abyss.

For those people who know me now, I was once a very very different person. On the outside at least, not much has changed. Within though, I don't quite recognise the person anymore. The guy is no longer that of 5 years ago. The reason for this was the abyss.

Walking to the abyss, the first thing that hit me was immense fear. I had no idea of what was within. I had no idea how deep it was, how far I could fall. Like an acrophobic, at the pinnacle of a summit, the abyss was the ultimate death.

Looking into the abyss changes you they say. It shreds what you thought was you, chews it up and spits it out. Think of being turned inside out, your organs blended, and then poured in through your nose. The only bits that survive intact are those bits too tough to be blended by the blades of first contact. Those bits are parts of you, but they're not the soft, chewy, friendly parts that make you want to trust people, or the bits that make you soft and cuddly. What's left are the primal parts. Chunks of rashness and adrenaline, slivers of anger, but above all, a desperate need for survival. All tied together by a thin thread of duty.

Could I walk away from the abyss? I could not. I knew the only way to cross the abyss was to take a leap of faith. Faith in what I never truly realised till now. I needed to believe, to believe that I could do it. Because if I failed, there wouldn't really be a point anymore. So that night I leaped, soaring above the abyss, staring into it's depths... It would be a long ride.

I landed alright. But I had stared into the abyss, and everything within me had been torn up. I didn't realise it. How can you when everything, the nerve endings, the logic sections, the sinews of your being have been rearranged? Everything thinks everything is okay, because every bit is overloaded.

Life goes on, mornings come, evenings past. I met people, learnt new things, had different experiences.. Slowly the mush began to congeal, to take its new form. But the person I had once known was no longer there. I hope the new one is a better person, but I hope too that one day, the scars will heal. Five years later, I can finally look at the scars again, and maybe learn the lessons I couldn't while everything else was congealing.

I thank God for getting me through that time. I thank the several people who helped me down that path while not knowing it. I cannot yet say what will emerge, but I do know now that I will do whatever I need to survive.

You have no idea...