MGG Pillai Commentary View

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Are Malaysians bothered about withdrawing the 30 cent fuel subsidy, or Petronas's RM1,000 billion earnings?

THE PETROL PRICE IS what it is, only the subsidy the government pays to the oil companies has changed. The subsidy withdrawn amounts to RM4.4 billion annually, and with it comes the promise that petrol prices would not be any higher this year. But the prime minister, Dato' Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, is worried. He has told UMNO to explain the fuel increase. But should it not be his government which should explain, not his political party? The government was ordered to withdraw the subsidy to meet the shortfall of RM20 billion for the projects proposed by his son-in-law under the 9th Malaysia Plan. As if on cue, the public ignored the larger amounts misused, and demonstrated against the withdrawal of the petrol subsidy.

The government, although it says otherwise, is happy because neither it nor the politicians in power can explain the larger losses hidden from the public eye. Petronas, for example, has earned about RM1,000 billion in its 31 years. But we are not told how that money was spent. Even Parliament cannot discuss it because Petronas is an off budget agency and its purview. Malaysians do not know about its finances. How much of this is still Petronas', and where has the shortfall gone? Neither was the excesses of Malaysian Airline System (MAS) known until anonymous messages from inside the senior managements wrote about it. But Malaysians are not allowed to question nor are they told how the government linked companies are doing, even after wrong doing is established.

They are off budget agencies, and therefore cannot be questioned even in Parliament. To hide the larger losses and expenditures, minor ones like the fuel subsidy are made public to get the people riled. This will not raise the larger losses or earnings in the off budget agencies. The government knew the reaction before they withdrew it. However painful that is, it was easier to explain it away than the larger amounts of money received and spent by the off budget agencies. But Malaysians must be told about it too. And the government would only when forced to.

Mahatma Gandhi in India forced the British to hand over the government to the Indians, and that helped in the decline of the British Empire. It took 90 years – from Mangal Pandey objecting to using lard-encased bullets, which also got the Muslims to side with the Hindus, in 1857 to Mahatma Gandhi in 1947. He had the genius of hitting the establishment where it mattered, not the carrots the British threw to divert his campaign. He refined civil disobedience. He called it satyagraha, and his movement hit at the guts of the British rule of India. He realised early that the British wanted opposition limited to the non-essentials of its rule. He was clear in his mind that that was unimportant.

He started the khadi movement, which struck at the heart of the textile industry in Manchester and encouraged Indians to wear Indian-spun cloth. He made a symbolic trip to Dondi, at the sea, where he made salt, then a government monopoly. Sir Winston Churchilll refused to give India its independence to the 'half-naked fakir' but his successor, Mr Clement Atlee, did. He had brought the British Empire to its knees. During this time, his friendship with Britain did not waver. India was finally given its independence, and it opted to stay in the British Commonwealth of Nations, and stays in it to this day. Nelson Mandela used Mahatma Gandhi's tactics in South Africa to end the white supremacy there. Like the Mahatma, Mr Mandela spent years in jail for his views but he retained his belief in the South African white who supported the White-Only government.

Civil disobedience a la Gandhi is how to force the government to explain to the people what it does not want to. More begin to believe that the government is not telling the truth. But they will still be a minority if most people will protest at the government gaining RM4.4 billion a year but not at Petronas' receipt of RM1,000 billion or its expenses. A civil disobedience campaign will force the government to answer. What Mahatma Gandhi did do in India was to get civil servants to call in sick on the same day throughout India. He did this so often that government and private business was affected. If 1,000,000 civil servants in unison took sick leave for a day, and frequently, it would disrupt government work more thoroughly than the department head who locks his files when he goes on leave.

But civil obedience cannot work in present day Malaysia. UMNO has ensured it by getting them to protest at inessentials. UMNO had the same focus as the Congress in getting independence. But UMNO today is not the nationalist movement that brought independence to Malaysia. It is in the same boat as the Congress in India, both political parties, and therefore can be opposed. The opposition leaders in India was once from Congress the nationalist movement. But Congress the political party had even had them arrested to fulfil its political functions. It is the government now, but it was in the opposition before. But the civil disobedience which Congress the nationalist movement was effective. In Malaysia it will not work just yet, but so they said of Mangal Pandey's rebellion in 1857.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com