These subsidies only give rich EV owners cheap fuel
Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim has just called out the TNB blanket subsidies which are benefiting the wealthy and stated that he wants these subsidies to be redistributed to those who really need them such as the M40, B40 and small traders groups. Well, I couldn’t agree more.
In a statement with Free Malaysia Today, Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim stated, “As an example, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) has nearly 10 million customers, but 10% or 1 million include conglomerates who are enjoying over 50% of the electricity subsidy.”
“Government departments must design and develop appropriate vehicles to implement targeted subsidies after taking into account the interests of consumers and industries to ensure the smooth and effective implementation of this policy.” He added.
Moreover, it is no secret that most electric vehicles (EVs) are on the pricey side and thus the only people who can afford them are the wealthy. What’s more, the more expensive luxury EVs can only be bought by upper class Malaysians and they are the ones enjoying these TNB subsidies the most, essentially, giving them cheap fuel.
This is truly unfair as just as our Prime Minister said, the groups that benefit the most from these subsidies are the ones that do not really need the help anyway while the groups that really need the help do not have enough to go around as it has already been distributed to the wealthy.
Additionally, Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim also stated that relevant ministries and agencies (including TNB) will have to analyze and discuss targeted subsidies for the people as he believes the priority is to ease the burden of the people, especially those in the lower income groups.
Furthermore, these TNB blanket subsidies don’t do much for the lower income communities anyway since the people in this group are out working (usually two or more jobs) everyday and for some of them, this includes weekends. Plus the people in this group tend to drive petrol cars so the TNB subsidies make little difference, if any.
On top of that, Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim also mentioned that the current government remains committed to developing and supporting sustainable industrial development in the country and will consider examining intervention methods for the livestock sector at a consumer level.
We got all this from Free Malaysia Today and their full article is linked here. Thank you Free Malaysia Today for the information.
