By Khairie Hisyam
There is a surprise tariff cut which has kicked in way past schedule and there is a Cabinet directive that apparently cancels a previous statement by the Prime Minister’s Department. Whatever happened to consistency?
It is only mid-February but already it feels less of a new year and more like 2014 in injury time, as the football lingo goes. (Some might say Fergie time, but no offense to you Kop folks.)
And, as seems to be the norm in Malaysia at present, consistency or the lack of it seems to be the name of the game.
Tariff cut – why so late?
First, the surprise electricity tariff cut announced yesterday for Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah – Sarawak, whose electricity is provided by the Sarawak Energy Board, already got their tariff cut in November last year.
Just a little under a month ago on Jan 20, prime minister Najib Abdul Razak was saying there would not be any electricity tariff hikes this year as part of his Budget 2015 revision.
Now note Najib’s exact words: The scheduled electricity tariff hike in 2015 would be postponed. He did not say there would be no tariff cut. However, the surprise still startled people and rocked the market yesterday.
Let’s recap a little. Under the fuel cost pass-through (FCPT) mechanism, electricity tariffs were supposed to be reviewed every six months. In December 2013 the tariff was raised from Jan 1, 2014 while the July-December 2014 period saw no tariff changes.
And we did not hear anything for the January-June 2015 period as last year wound to a close.
Fast forward about three weeks into 2015; on Jan 20 Najib said the scheduled electricity tariff hike was postponed, which may allude to the January-June 2015 period.
But here’s the thing: For the 2014 financial year ended Aug 31, 2014 (FY14) Tenaga over-recovered its fuel costs by an estimated RM800 million, according to RHB Research. For the first quarter of FY15 ended Nov 30, 2014 (1Q15), Tenaga over-recovered another RM200 million.
This means that going into December, Putrajaya was well aware that Tenaga had some savings from lower fuel costs to be passed on, as it was meant to under the FCPT mechanism.
Why didn’t Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Maximus Ongkili announce a tariff cut in end-December? Why didn’t Najib announce a tariff cut on Jan 20?
And why now? The media was sent a short-notice invitation to the press conference yesterday, barely two hours before the announcement was made, implying a sense of urgency.
Was the tariff cut in response to growing calls to cut tariffs from various parties, including Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin? If it is, then the question that needs to be asked is this — what were the people who are supposed to track these things doing? Sleeping on the job?
As a result, the public has been possibly robbed of two months’ worth of lower electricity tariffs in the current six-month period since the cut announced yesterday only kicks in on March 1.
Defending Ismail Sabri
The brouhaha surrounding remarks made by the Minister of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Ismail Sabri, calling for Malays to boycott Chinese traders, has clearly not died down.
Ismail Sabri Yaakob
According to a report by The Star, Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai had said that the Cabinet has ordered Ismail to explain his controversial remarks made on social networking site Facebook.
“The minister’s (Ismail Sabri) first Facebook post caused a huge uproar. The Cabinet has to resolve this issue as quickly as possible to prevent it from getting out of hand,” Liow was quoted as saying by The Star.
Ismail Sabri has confirmed this directive from the Cabinet, as quoted by news reports saying that he will clarify his remarks before the Chinese New Year celebrations.
But Malaysians with a slightly longer memory would recall that Ismail Sabri was previously absolved by no less than the prime minister.
In a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Department earlier this month: “The rebuke he made was targeted to all traders and not just traders from a particular race. Besides that, he suggested consumers use their purchasing power to force traders to reduce the price of goods.”
So what gives? Are Ismail Sabri’s remarks fine by Putrajaya or not? Was the statement from the Prime Minister’s Department made too hastily? Does the Cabinet directive not run contrary to the spirit of that statement? Did the prime minister change his mind on Ismail Sabri’s statement?
If this is a taste of what’s to come this year, maybe Tiger should find a cave to hibernate in. All we need is a little consistency in action and speech from those in power – surely that’s not too much to ask for.
Because if it is, we probably need a really big cave.
GRRRRR!!!!
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