Petrol Station Strike over Commission

Long queues again in Malaysia as rumor spreads that petrol stations are going on strike today or tomorrow. Petrol Stations here in Kota Kinabalu are swamped with cars as rumors spread about the strikes. So far unable to confirm whether its true or not. Guess better to be safe than sorry.

Only references to the Petrol Stations disputes are at the following

• Malay Mail
  
• The Star

An extract from today's Malay Mail

"In fact, in a show of force, some 3,500 petrol stations had threatened to shut down for eight hours on June 26. However, yesterday, PDAM called off the strike after it was hinted at that the government had agreed to the association’s demands."

So why the panic? Could it be a hoax? The latest sms rumors I heard was that the petrol station would be closed for 3 days. How true, probably we will only find out tonight.

Petrol price causes massive jams and chaos

Been driving around to take a look at the impact of the sudden announcement by our PM. There is chaos everywhere. At this point in time might not be worth to queue up to pump. The queues at some places stretch to almost a kilometer. Take for example the Petronas station along the way from Lintas to the Terminal 1 Airport, the queue stretched way pass the Citreon dealer. There were lots of people cutting in from the curbside and on the right lane causing some deadlocks and traffic to stop.
I think the next time the PM decides to announce this mayb he should get the traffic police to go to major petrol stations to direct traffic flow. Glad to be home after a long jam.

Petrol and Diesel Price increase in Malaysia announced!

Looks like there is a mad rush for petrol and diesel as news spreads about the increase in price on 5th of June. Here's the story.. As of midnight tonight there will be a major increase in fuel prices in Malaysia.

Fuel	Old	New	Percentage increase
Petrol	RM1.90	RM2.70	42%
Diesel	RM1.58	RM2.58	63%

*Fuel prices based on Petronas prices

For those who drive to work everyday have to find ways of cutting costs. But I can imagine that the public transport sector such as buses are going to be hit hard. I am not sure if the government is helping them cushion the impact(Taxi's are receiving help from government), maybe someone can enlighten me.

Transport and logistics are also going to be heavily affected a few friends in transporting goods from KK to Tawau are going to have a nightmare with these sort of increments.

But wait.. The government isn't going to leave us hanging dry. Looks like there are still some subsidies available to most of us. Let's take a look at how it works now.
Whenever you renew your road tax the government will send you rebate via a money order.

Vehicle Type	Rebate/year
Cars > 2000cc	NA
Cars <>	RM625
Motorbikes > 150cc	RM150

I personally am not ready for the price increases. I was under the impression that the increases would be from August and they would be introduced incrementally. Or is this is the planned increment that the government is planning? How will the people react to this government? The next few months is sure gonna be scary. Looks like time to ask for a pay rise from the boss.

I'll leave you with pictures of the long queues encountered near the hospital in KK while having a last taste of old price fuel.

Wow busy day today

Queue queue queue

30mins later, almost there..