Today the Malaysian government reduced the price of petrol and diesel at the pump by a further 10 sen a liter. The latest cut will save the average Joe another 3-4 bucks every time he refules his car. This is in addition to the RM 4.5-6 that he saved after the 15 sen cut just under a month ago.
Is Joe happy? No.
News of the price drop broke just hours ago and many Joe's are complaining about how "little" the price slash has been. I need to remind Joe that this isn't the Malaysia on Sale carnival. I'm not complaining as though I like paying high prices for a comodity available in my backyard. Far from it.
What irks me is how we are drawn to the idea of cheap. We're so smitten by getting more for less that we've forgotten about everything else in between. In the case of fuel price, we've become engrossed in pump price that we've completely ignored the need for better fuel subsidy management.
When the price of fuel took that major upshot, many were busy suggesting new ways in which to delivery the subsidy to the people. Fuel cards, quota, rebates and the likes were the talk of the town. The idea was to deliver the rebates to the people who need it the most and to reduce the amount of subsidy given to higher income groups and the bloke who drive the new S-Class.
Better resource management.
Today we're still throwing subsidy into the S-Class' 90L fuel tank. For each full tank the S-Class takes on, about RM 27 worth of subsidy goes with it. On the other hand, for every Kancil's brim fill, it's RM 8. That's a 238% premium. We're losing the plot. We're still spending excessive amounts of public funds to subsidise wasteful spending.
Now I am not suggesting that the higher income group get nothing from the tax buckaroolas that they (are supposed to) pay. They're entitled to their fair share of subsidy too. But let's be realistic, the S-Class is going to guzzle more fuel than the little animal.
I'm sure most will remember who empty KL roads were after the the big hike. 45 minute journeys became 15 minute journeys for one reason and one reason only - people cut wasting. But today everyone's more comfortable to waste again. We've gotten used to the idea of the current price and these price drops further encourage our wasteful habits.
I can't change how the government chooses to spends my money overnight. In the meantime, I'm going to continue to do my part by reducing the amount of travel I do. If I must travel, I'll plan my journey or better yet I'll car pool.
To those who are still complaining about 10 sen, I suggest you do the same.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Sunday, September 14, 2008
The next big German?
The last time I heard the German and Italian national anthem play one after the other at a Grand Prix, I would have just witnessed Michael Schumacher take the chequered flag after having destroyed the opposition. Today however, the two national anthems played back to back and the field had been well and truly destroyed but the top step of the podium was occupied by one Sebastian Vettel.
After securing pole position on a rain soaked track, Seba started the race behind the safety car for two slow laps. The Mercedes powered safety car pulled into the pits on the 3rd lap and open racing was the order of the day. The pole siting Torro Rosso didn't waste anytime opening a lead over Hekki in 2nd.
Armed with a 2 stop strategy and some serious racing skills, the 21 year old German carved a fine race to take the chequered flag with his head held high. None of the emphatic screaming was heard over the radio but as you'd expect, the now youngest ever winner of an F1 race was speechless.
The race was not without drama further down the field. Both the Ferrari's made decent progress over the first stint of the race managing to make their way past the slower cars in front of them amiss heavy spray in their visors. Kimi Raikkonen starting from a lowly 14th however ended up finishing 9th.
This performance wasn't the spectacle I was expecting from the Finn who had just had his Ferrari contract renewed up to 2010. In contrast, the man starting behind Kimi was really the next big winner of the day. Lewis Hamilton despite starting 15th, made light work of most of his opposition - Kimi included - and finished the race just behind Felipe Massa.
Massa having started 6th finished exactly where he started despite Hamilton who had been 2-seconds a lap faster than him until he was caught. I had initially thought Hamilton was just sizing up his move but he stayed in that 2nd last point scoring position until the end of the race. Massa had shown some pretty good bravado despite some near-catastrophic moments.
Many of the drivers were cautious not to do a Lewis overtaking maneuver in Monza. Many were found giving back track advantage; even if the advantage was well deserved. That being said, Lewis did well to make a new name for himself in Italy. His over aggressive driving - pushing his fellows wide and faking moves - will surely leave a bitter taste in the mouth of several drivers.
All in all, it was a great day of racing. We saw a new winner, records smashed and a 1-point lead at the top of the drivers championship. In 2 weeks, more history will ensue as F1 heads for the streets of Singapore for the 1st ever night race.
I'd love to be in a position to write my next F1 entry after witnessing the race with my own eyes. Complimentary tickets anyone?
After securing pole position on a rain soaked track, Seba started the race behind the safety car for two slow laps. The Mercedes powered safety car pulled into the pits on the 3rd lap and open racing was the order of the day. The pole siting Torro Rosso didn't waste anytime opening a lead over Hekki in 2nd.
Armed with a 2 stop strategy and some serious racing skills, the 21 year old German carved a fine race to take the chequered flag with his head held high. None of the emphatic screaming was heard over the radio but as you'd expect, the now youngest ever winner of an F1 race was speechless.
The race was not without drama further down the field. Both the Ferrari's made decent progress over the first stint of the race managing to make their way past the slower cars in front of them amiss heavy spray in their visors. Kimi Raikkonen starting from a lowly 14th however ended up finishing 9th.
This performance wasn't the spectacle I was expecting from the Finn who had just had his Ferrari contract renewed up to 2010. In contrast, the man starting behind Kimi was really the next big winner of the day. Lewis Hamilton despite starting 15th, made light work of most of his opposition - Kimi included - and finished the race just behind Felipe Massa.
Massa having started 6th finished exactly where he started despite Hamilton who had been 2-seconds a lap faster than him until he was caught. I had initially thought Hamilton was just sizing up his move but he stayed in that 2nd last point scoring position until the end of the race. Massa had shown some pretty good bravado despite some near-catastrophic moments.
Many of the drivers were cautious not to do a Lewis overtaking maneuver in Monza. Many were found giving back track advantage; even if the advantage was well deserved. That being said, Lewis did well to make a new name for himself in Italy. His over aggressive driving - pushing his fellows wide and faking moves - will surely leave a bitter taste in the mouth of several drivers.
All in all, it was a great day of racing. We saw a new winner, records smashed and a 1-point lead at the top of the drivers championship. In 2 weeks, more history will ensue as F1 heads for the streets of Singapore for the 1st ever night race.
I'd love to be in a position to write my next F1 entry after witnessing the race with my own eyes. Complimentary tickets anyone?
Sunday, September 7, 2008
No spa for the Ferrari men at Spa
I am a man with a broken heart.
After watching Kimi Raikkonen lead my and his favorite racetrack for 41 and half of the 44 laps only to let it all blow up in his face on lap 42, I am increasingly confident that the 2008 World Driver's Championship will be heading to the team who has the last pit garage in the pit lane. It wasn't a cranky con rod this time but rather the wrath of mother nature that took its course.
As one Fernando Alonso would agree, Lewis Hamilton has a knack of being lucky.
For those of us who missed the action packed final few laps of this year's Spa thriller, the rain began to fall sporadically and Lewis who had closed up well on Kimi's rear into the Bus Stop chicane. Kimi closed the door forcing Lewis to short cut the chicane and take the lead. Lewis had to back off slightly to allow Kimi to retake the lead.
But here's where I have an argument. As Lewis let Kimi by, he was already faster than he would have been had he taken the Bus Stop chicane the way he did on every other lap. Remember that the Bus Stop is one of the slowest corners on the track. Any momentum gained there would give you more speed into the hairpin at turn one.
And that's where Lewis wrong footed Kimi and took the lead. Kimi tried to fight back but could only tuck in so close as to nudge the rear end of Lewis' McLaren. Lewis leads with Kimi in close pursuit.
Enter lap 42 and all hell broke lose. Lewis lost it, Kimi took the lead. Then Kimi lost it and Lewis retook the lead. Kimi ended up in the wall. The heavens opened up and Lewis tip toed to the finish followed by and even tip toed last lap by Massa. There was no slow and steady lap from 3rd place Nick Heidfeld. He took several places right there on lap 44 to secure a spot on the podium.
In retrospect, the gap between the top two drivers would have been identical if they had finished in the order that they did on lap 40. Lewis still holds a reasonably comfortable 8 point lead over closest rival Massa. With McLaren's stellar reliability this year, Lewis is looking good to take the numero uno on his 2009 racer.
My first post talked about how you've got to be there to be lucky. At the end of today - just like Hekki did the last time a Ferrari feel short at the end - a McLaren was just there being lucky.
Update:
Looks like justice has been served. The chicane cutting, slip-streaming Lewis Hamilton is handed a 25 second penalty for that oh so clever move. Baring any successful appeals from McLaren, it looks like the lead at the top is down to just 2 points.
I can't wait for Monza!
After watching Kimi Raikkonen lead my and his favorite racetrack for 41 and half of the 44 laps only to let it all blow up in his face on lap 42, I am increasingly confident that the 2008 World Driver's Championship will be heading to the team who has the last pit garage in the pit lane. It wasn't a cranky con rod this time but rather the wrath of mother nature that took its course.
As one Fernando Alonso would agree, Lewis Hamilton has a knack of being lucky.
For those of us who missed the action packed final few laps of this year's Spa thriller, the rain began to fall sporadically and Lewis who had closed up well on Kimi's rear into the Bus Stop chicane. Kimi closed the door forcing Lewis to short cut the chicane and take the lead. Lewis had to back off slightly to allow Kimi to retake the lead.
But here's where I have an argument. As Lewis let Kimi by, he was already faster than he would have been had he taken the Bus Stop chicane the way he did on every other lap. Remember that the Bus Stop is one of the slowest corners on the track. Any momentum gained there would give you more speed into the hairpin at turn one.
And that's where Lewis wrong footed Kimi and took the lead. Kimi tried to fight back but could only tuck in so close as to nudge the rear end of Lewis' McLaren. Lewis leads with Kimi in close pursuit.
Enter lap 42 and all hell broke lose. Lewis lost it, Kimi took the lead. Then Kimi lost it and Lewis retook the lead. Kimi ended up in the wall. The heavens opened up and Lewis tip toed to the finish followed by and even tip toed last lap by Massa. There was no slow and steady lap from 3rd place Nick Heidfeld. He took several places right there on lap 44 to secure a spot on the podium.
In retrospect, the gap between the top two drivers would have been identical if they had finished in the order that they did on lap 40. Lewis still holds a reasonably comfortable 8 point lead over closest rival Massa. With McLaren's stellar reliability this year, Lewis is looking good to take the numero uno on his 2009 racer.
My first post talked about how you've got to be there to be lucky. At the end of today - just like Hekki did the last time a Ferrari feel short at the end - a McLaren was just there being lucky.
Update:
Looks like justice has been served. The chicane cutting, slip-streaming Lewis Hamilton is handed a 25 second penalty for that oh so clever move. Baring any successful appeals from McLaren, it looks like the lead at the top is down to just 2 points.
I can't wait for Monza!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Power blackout
The recent announcement by the government on tax breaks for non-luxury hybrid cars is most welcome. With the continuously volatile price of crude in the market and the fact that hydrocarbon fossil fuel will run out one day, taking a forward looking move to encourage the use of energy efficient vehicles couldn't come a day sooner.
The new ruling provides a tax break for a period of time after which is it envisaged that Malaysia may become the hybrid and electric motors de facto tech and manufacturing destination in the region. Good idea, but the jury's still out.
Over the weekend I supported a cause against the building of 12 hydro electric dams in the East of my dear country. I saw two sides of the story. On one hand, we needed more power on the other, we were going to eat away at someones home to get it.
You may be asking what the two stories have to do with each other. Well here's what I'm thinking: we want to have electric cars but we don't have enough juice to power them.
Where's the balance?
What's going to happen when 10% of the population has an electric car. What happens when that's 50%? Or maybe 80%? How much more electricity are we going to need?
I'm no electrical engineer. But putting 2 and 2 together, it doesn't take a genius to know that we're going to yank more kilowatts to power out jetsons-like road vehicles.
Sure this isn't' going to happen anytime soon. But when it does, would we have already shot ourselves in the groin?
The new ruling provides a tax break for a period of time after which is it envisaged that Malaysia may become the hybrid and electric motors de facto tech and manufacturing destination in the region. Good idea, but the jury's still out.
Over the weekend I supported a cause against the building of 12 hydro electric dams in the East of my dear country. I saw two sides of the story. On one hand, we needed more power on the other, we were going to eat away at someones home to get it.
You may be asking what the two stories have to do with each other. Well here's what I'm thinking: we want to have electric cars but we don't have enough juice to power them.
Where's the balance?
What's going to happen when 10% of the population has an electric car. What happens when that's 50%? Or maybe 80%? How much more electricity are we going to need?
I'm no electrical engineer. But putting 2 and 2 together, it doesn't take a genius to know that we're going to yank more kilowatts to power out jetsons-like road vehicles.
Sure this isn't' going to happen anytime soon. But when it does, would we have already shot ourselves in the groin?
Broken rubber band
I had no idea what it was when it first happened several months ago. The wind noise that was protruding into the cabin was too much. Overworked and tired my paranoia was high and I had assumed the worst. Perhaps even beyond. I thought the door got bent and for some reason wasn't closing properly, or the door lining was destroyed by some act of sheer carelessness.
After pulling over to the side of the road and inspecting the problem further on that late weekday night, I found that the rubber surrounding the window had been ripped off. Baffled how such a thing could happen my paranoia continued to play up and many irrational explanations followed.
Fortunately the rubber, or runner as it is actually called wasn't expensive to replace. For less than 20 bucks the problem went away. But an hour at the mechanic wasn't welcome.
I was happy to move on from then until several days ago when the problem surfaced on the passenger side of the car. I didn't have far fetched explanations this time but knowing that it wouldn't cost much to fix reassured me.
I always believed the pioneering local brand to be the market leader in defective products. After all, they successfully manufactured the same car for 20 odd years and managed to degrade it's quality in a steady downward trend over they years. Just ask anyone with a faulty power window motor.
I'm not happy to note that my ride - the one I considered the better of two political parties - was susceptible to similar issues. Although nowhere as drastic, I prefer not to deal with niggles like this.
The problem still isn't fixed but I know I won't break a leg in the interim. I put it down to age and use. I still believe that the brand I've subscribed to is better off than it's nearest competitor.
Fingers crossed, nothing else will break.
After pulling over to the side of the road and inspecting the problem further on that late weekday night, I found that the rubber surrounding the window had been ripped off. Baffled how such a thing could happen my paranoia continued to play up and many irrational explanations followed.
Fortunately the rubber, or runner as it is actually called wasn't expensive to replace. For less than 20 bucks the problem went away. But an hour at the mechanic wasn't welcome.
I was happy to move on from then until several days ago when the problem surfaced on the passenger side of the car. I didn't have far fetched explanations this time but knowing that it wouldn't cost much to fix reassured me.
I always believed the pioneering local brand to be the market leader in defective products. After all, they successfully manufactured the same car for 20 odd years and managed to degrade it's quality in a steady downward trend over they years. Just ask anyone with a faulty power window motor.
I'm not happy to note that my ride - the one I considered the better of two political parties - was susceptible to similar issues. Although nowhere as drastic, I prefer not to deal with niggles like this.
The problem still isn't fixed but I know I won't break a leg in the interim. I put it down to age and use. I still believe that the brand I've subscribed to is better off than it's nearest competitor.
Fingers crossed, nothing else will break.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)