Stop selling subsidised Petrol and Diesel to Foreigners.

When leaders are under siege and the political scenario they operate are in a state of turmoil, there is a tendency for them to make the wrong decision.The decision to increase the price of petrol and diesel signifies such a case.
The flawed decision of granting the subsidy scheme for petrol and diesel in the beginning was a bad decision. The decision to increase the price now was made too late and long overdue.Basic economic principles dictate that market forces should be allowed to determine supply and demand.and hence price will prevail at the point where demand equals supply.Any attempt to manipulate price by means of subsidy will create an artificial demand and supply situation.
Subsidy will inevitably create a black market situation and encourage smuggling of the goods for pecunary gains.In this case subsidy depresses the price of the goods vis-a-vis the market price and unscrupulous people will capitalise the situation by selling the subsidised goods to neighbouring countries where it is sold at market price.
Such a scenario is displayed along the coastal boundaries of kelantan, Kedah, Selangor and Malacca where fishermen under their legitimate guise of fishing, transfer their load of subsidised diesel to waiting foreign vessels for a quick monetary profit.Two thousand litres of diesel at a paltry profit of 50cts per litre is sufficient to net $1000 for a day's work.No wonder empty vessels returning home without any fruitful catch is a common occurrence.
Common sense dictate that if the fishermen need subsidy to continue with their profession then its about time they should abandon fishing and seek new pasture in other ventures that are more lucrative.If Thailand and Indonesian fishermen can fish and sustain their venture profitably without any subsidy then why cant our fishermen do the same?Giving them subsidy for them to continue in a not profitable venture is not a viable option in the long run.It would be better for the govt to encourage them to venture into something else without the dependency of a subsidy.

In the case for increasing the price of petrol and diesel, the govt at first made the right decision to ban the sale to foreign vehicles on a 50km radius of the border towns.This option was sensible and most practical since it immediately cease to subsidise the sale of petrol and diesel to foreigners who were capitalising from the difference in the pump price of the neighbouring country.In Thailand the pump price of petrol is $4.00 per litre and at the border town of Rantau Panjang the pump price is $2.70 per litre.With the unending daily queue of foreign cars lining up to fill their cars a modest estimate of one million litres of subsidised diesel sold could translate to $1.3 million loss of daily revenue.In a year the govt will be subsidising an astronomical amount of $468 million and that is just on the border town of one place. How much is lost in total from all other border towns is any body guess.
The question that begs to be answered is why are we selling subsidised petrol and diesel to foreigners?The fact that subsidised petrol and diesel are not reaching the targeted group should be good reason enough to stop the sale of petrol and diesel to foreigners at border towns.Why the flip flop decision to lift the ban of sale to foreigners?
The lack of a proper policy to address this serious leakage of our country's finance is a mismanagement of our country's resources.Previously when the pump price was subsidised at $1.92 per litre our country must have lost billions.Can the policy makers please tell us why we are not addressing this serious financial leakage?

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