SHAH ALAM, 19 Nov: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should make an announcement of the price reduction for RON95 petrol and diesel during the Umno General Assembly next week.
The PKR Vice President, who is also the PKR Secretary General, Rafizi Ramli, said that the announcement is important to create a stable situation that is increasingly hard pressed by public outrage.
He said that the announcement can also reduce internal criticism and help in Najib’s popularity among the people.
“The announcement that the price of RON95 has been reduced by 20 cents yesterday shows that Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his administration know about the public outrage which has increased when the price of petrol and diesel has not gone down.
“Meanwhile, the price of crude oil in the world market has fallen by 20 percent in the past two months,” he said in a statement today.
Since midnight, the price of RON97 went down to RM2.25 per litre compared to RM2.75 litres previously.
At the price of RM2.55 per litre, the price of RON97 petrol is only 25 cents more that the RON95 petrol which is subsidised by the government.
Rafizi stressed that actually, the Federal Government’s petrol and diesel subsidy is only RM2 billion for 2015 when the forecast for crude oil price remains around USD70 to USD80 per barrel for 2015.
He said that the subsidy comes at a savings of RM11 billion for 2015 and savings of RM2 billion for the last quarter of 2014.
“This savings should be returned to the people and not channelled to Barisan Nasional (BN) projects that do not benefit ordinary citizens.
“If the price of RON95 and diesel does not go down by December 1, PKR will mobilise the #turunhargaminyak (reduce oil prices) campaign which will culminate with a demonstration on December 31,” he said.
In relation to that, Rafizi will begin a campaign on social media sites before touring the country from December 1 if the price of RON95 petrol and diesel does not go down.
NS
