Everybody knows petrol up by 30 sen but...

Last night, I didn't believe it was going to happen when I received an SMS from my sister as if I remember correctly last time such SMS were passed around, it was just a false alarm.

Ha-ha false alarm my head lah. Padan muka, my tank is on E now.

So by now I am sure that almost everybody affected would already know about the 30 sen increase in petrol prices effective last midnight, and as expected the grouses were many. The government also keeps on giving the same reasons for each hike in the recent years :

"The increase was to tackle the impact from the increase in the price of crude petroleum in the world market and to curb the increase in subsidy which had to be borne by the government.."

And many of us are not satisfied with that.

But we have to read further and have a hard look at the fact that without the subsidy and tax exemption, the prices in the peninsula would have been:

RON 97 - RM2.46 /litre
RON 92 - RM2.37 /litre
Diesel - RM1.98 /litre
LPG - RM3.21 /kg

Now compare that the current (albeit increased) price :

RON 97 - RM1.92 /litre
RON 92 - RM1.88 /litre
Diesel - RM1.58 /litre
LPG - RM1.75 /kg

Also,

"Although the government is raising the price of petroleum products, diesel and LPG, the price of petrol and diesel in Malaysia is still cheaper compared to the price of most of these products in the Asean countries except for Brunei Darussalam"

Let's see what our neighbours are paying for their fuel right now:

Thailand
RON 97 - RM2.52 /litre
RON 92 - RM2.45 /litre
Diesel - RM2.28 /litre
LPG - RM1.65 /kg

Philippines
RON 97 - RM2.21 /litre
RON 92 - RM2.20 /litre
Diesel - RM1.95/litre
LPG - RM4.90 /kg

Singapore
RON 97 - RM4.15 /litre
RON 92 - RM3.89 /litre
Diesel - RM2.39 /litre
LPG - RM5.32 /kg

Indonesia
RON 97 - RM2.30 /litre
RON 92 - RM2.20 /litre
Diesel - RM1.68 /litre
LPG - RM1.89 /kg

So come on, we just have to understand and live by these changes. There's not much we can do to prevent the prices from going up, but we CAN take a look at these tips and pick up a pointer or two on how to minimise the effects :

Tips to Save fuel & Money
Top 10 Tips for Improving Your Fuel Economy
Thirty Gas Saving Tips

P.S - Thanks to LONE whose post first made me aware of the facts.

P.P.S - Also, please be aware that other price hike(s?) may also take place soon (or very soon). Please understand the facts and underlying reasons before we start slamming left and right for every hike there's gonna be.

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Thanks to comment from reader kimberlycun, let's look at some additional info here (via Wikipedia):

GDP at purchasing power parity per capita for the year of 2004 (the value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year, divided by the average population for the same year):

(figures below in US dollars)
Malaysia : $10,423 (ranked no. 62 out of 192 countries)
Singapore : $26,799 (ranked 25)
Thailand : $7,901 (ranked 72)
Philippines : $4,561 (ranked 108)
Indonesia : $3,703 (ranked 121)

Clearly a hypothetical Singaporean with $26k to spend yearly may not suffer much having to pay $1.11 (at USD 1 = RM3.75) per litre for petrol, but we still have it better in comparison to the rest of the gang, don't we?