The Johor state election is scheduled for July 11, and, by a remarkable coincidence, diesel prices are set to come down on July 1.
At present, diesel is sold at a subsidised retail price of RM2.15 per litre in Sabah and Sarawak, while motorists in Peninsular Malaysia pay the unsubsidised market rate of RM4.37 per litre.
Beginning July 1, however, many diesel vehicle owners in the Peninsula — particularly the proud drivers of Hiluxes, Tritons and other workhorse pickups — can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Their fuel bills are set to fall dramatically.
Starting in July, the subsidised diesel price for Malaysians will fall to RM2.10 per litre .
Now, I am not suggesting that the timing of this announcement has anything whatsoever to do with the Johor election.
After all, I am sure that our governments make policy decisions based on careful economic planning, not electoral considerations.
The fact that the reduction was announced just days before a state election in which the ruling coalition is expected to face a difficult contest is, no doubt, purely coincidental.
Still, one cannot help but wonder.
If, in some mysterious and poetic way, elections do have a tendency to coincide with lower fuel prices, perhaps Malaysians have discovered a new economic model.
Johor votes in July.
Negeri Sembilan is expected to vote shortly after.
Malacca's election is on the horizon.
Sarawak's election is also approaching.
If every election season the gods in heaven are moved to be more generous to us salt of the earth sorts, perhaps the solution to the cost-of-living crisis is not economic reform at all.
Perhaps what we really need is more elections.
Why stop at one every 5 years?
Let every state hold elections every 6 months.
Let there be a general election every year. .
If fuel prices fall a little before every election, then by the time the next general election arrives, who knows, Malaysians may become the first people in the world to receive petrol and diesel free of charge!
Who says democracy doesn't work?
TheRealNehruism (nehru.sathiamoorthy@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.
