Our govt is again finding itself at odds with reports from international agencies in regards to the way that it is handling the fuel crisis.
The latest kerfuffle involves the Philippine News Agency, which has reported that about 329,000 barrels, or 52.311 million litres, of diesel from Malaysia had been shipped to the Philippines to boost the country’s fuel supply.
The National Economic Action Council (MTEN) last night confirmed that the 329,000 barrels of diesel has recently been delivered to the Philippines, but it also added that the shipment did not originate from Malaysia, contrary to international media reports.
So where did it originate from and why are international media saying that it originated from Malaysia - this the MTEN doesn't explain,
Instead, in a statement, the MTEN’s crisis management team had the gumption to advise the public against speculation and urged reliance on official government sources, Bernama reported.
Go figure.
Worse, although our government is denying the claim by the news agency, the Philippines News Agency itself has yet to retract it's report or issue an apology.
This by the way, is not the first time this is happening.
Last March 29, Petronas had also issued a similar denial that it was involved in a fuel supply arrangement with a local government in the Philippines.
This followed a report by ABS-CBN, a major Philippine media and news organisation, that the Davao del Norte province in Mindanao planned to import 44 million litres of diesel from Petronas.
I am quite certain that ABS- CBN has yet to retract it's report or issued an apology either.
Are these news agencies in the Philippines lying? Are they misinformed? If so, has the government called the news agencies in the Philippines to ask for an explanation or correct them? If not, why not?
Reports from news agency in the Philippines are not the only agency that our government is at odds with.
Earlier, The Japanese investment agency Nomura had declared that Malaysia is an energy exporting country that is going to be one of the few countries that will benefit from the global fuel crisis.
Anwar however, has denied that Malaysia is an energy exporting country, and has instead declared that Malaysia is an energy importing country.
A couple of days ago, Tengku Zafrul would also claim that instead of benefitting from the global energy spike, Malaysia is actually losing billions, because our energy subsidy is far greater than our energy profits
According to Tengku Zafrul : “Fuel subsidies are currently estimated at about RM4 billion per month, or roughly RM48 billion annually.
“Meanwhile, the increase in oil revenue is only around RM10 billion to RM14 billion, which is clearly insufficient to cover the cost of subsidies.”
I doubt if Nomura has retracted it's statement or issued an apology after hearing what Anwar and Tengku Zafrul have said however.
But still, despite none of these international agencies retracting their reports or issuing an apology, our government doesn't seem to mind it.
It just says the opposite of whatever they say, and expect us to believe in it, as if it is their due to be believed.
Now as a rule, when outsiders are giving us one version of the story and our own govt is giving us another, we should choose to believe in our own govt right ?
Well, that is the theory anyway.
In practise however, I doubt if many Malaysians are believing our government over foreign agencies.
I know I don't - I don't know anybody who does either.
How are we supposed to believe in our government, when the explanation it gives does not even satisfy common sense.
This is the serious crisis of credibility that is engulfing our government today. It is so serious, that when the people are presented with two versions of a story - one telling us that our government knows what it is doing, has our best interest at heart and is something that we can trust, and another telling us that our government doesn't know what it is doing , and that it is something that will make a fool of us if we trust it and that it will throw us under the bus to secure it's best interest, the number of people that will believe the latter is likely far greater than the ones that believe the former.
While I am not sure whether our government can do anything to fix this crisis of credibility - trust is something that takes years to develop and minutes to destroy - I am quite sure that unless the government fixes it, bad things are going to happen to it in the very near future.
When people are suffering but you cannot do much to help them , the least they need to know is that you are doing your best and that they can trust you.
If you look like you are a dodgy character that can not only not be trusted, but is probably profiting from their suffering, then woe be to you.
The people are going to vent their frustration on you, and when they do, an election will be called and you will lose.
I seriously feel that the government is doing very badly in the heart and mind of the people today, and from how the government is handling it , I am fairly certain that the impression that the people will have of the government in the days to come is only going to go from bad to worse.
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