Ok peeps, time to know how to get your RM625 from our beloved government.
Now for those who don’t know, the subsidy payout is done in two phases:
|
Vehicle Type
|
Engine Capacity
|
Annual Subsidy
|
|
Cars
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Up to 2,000 cc
|
RM625.00
|
|
Jeeps & Pick-Up Trucks
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Up to 2,500 cc
|
|
Motorcycles
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Up to 250 cc
|
RM150.00
|
Phase 1: Those who bought and renew their vehicle road tax during the period of 1st April 2008 until 31st May 2008.
Phase 2: Those who bought and renew their vehicle road tax during the period of 1st June 2008 until 31st March 2009.
For those who qualify under phase 1, you can start collecting your not-really-enough subsidy on 14th June 2008 onwards.
Now, there are some eligibility criteria that you might not wanna overlook.
- Malaysian citizen who is the private registered owner of vehicles
- Vehicle owners who had their road tax renewed and with effective date from 1st April, 2008 till 31st May 2008 for Phase I.
- Vehicles that run on petrol or diesel (what else can we run on? if I’m not wrong, it means hybrid cars don’t qualify)
- Limited to a maximum of 5 vehicles per owner depending on the vehicle types and engine capacity
5 vehicles. With any combination of motorcycle and cars that runs on petrol or diesel.
Boss, I ada 5 kancil. Jadi, RM3125 la, terima kasih!
*ehhh…. boleh beli hand phone baru ni! Kena minta binni beli 5 lagi kancil, jadi dapat 2 hand phone! Pandai pun aku.*
So what do you need to do to get your kacang putih?
Firstly, if you fall under phase 1, only vehicle owners are allowed to claim the subsidy. You will need to bring along your myKad/Police/Army Identity Card when you make your claim.
You will be required to fill in a form regarding your claim and the pos fella would cross check the data you provided with JPJ’s database.
If it’s a positive match, then they will need to make a thumb print scan to verify your identity then only you get your goody money.
If doesn’t match, well……you decide la.
Now if you’re in phase 2, can start to claim the subsidy from 1st July 2008 (Tuesday) onwards.
Third parties are only allowed to make the claims on behalf of the vehicle owners during phase 2.
So go on and choose your time and choose the most pretty post office among the 683 post offices in Malaysia and go make your claims!
Pos offices are open from 8:30am to 5pm Monday to Saturday, except for post offices in Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, which are closed on Fridays. Post offices are closed on the first Saturday of each month and on public holidays.
And for those who don’t wish to join the long queues at the pos offices, you may fill up the same form, and slot it into a special mail box provided by Pos Malaysia. At the end of the day, they will cross check with JPJ and will post the money to your mailing address. (no finger print verification?)
Happymah!
I’m sure everyone knows The Tasmanian Devil of Looney Toons, or rather the more familiar name - Taz.
Taz
Taz is one of my favorite Looney Toons characters and when I was small. I used to imitate Taz’s ” tornado spin that destroys everything in it’s path.
The only difference is that I get so giddy way before i can destroy anything. The next thing i know i would be lying flat on the floor looking at my ceiling spin.
But many do not know much about the animal that inspired the creation of the Taz character.
Mini bear
The Tasmanian Devil, scientific name Sarcophilus hrrisii, is the largest carnivorous marsupial that can only be found in the Australian state of Tasmania, hence it’s name.
The Tasmanian Devil is about the size of a small dog, stocky and muscular which stands at 30cm shoulder height. Covered in black fur with white marking on it’s rump and chest, it has a relatively large head, a powerful jaw armed with razor sharp teeth and short thick tail.
It’s yawn, often mistaken as aggressive expression
It used to roam on the mainland Australia some 400 hundred years ago, way before the European colonial explorers reach the shores of Australia. It’s extirpation (local extinction) was because the Aboriginal people introduced dingos that lead to the sad fate of the devils on the mainland.
Today, the devils still roam wild on Tasmanian island as the 240km wide Bass Strait which halted the spread of dingos from entering.
Being nocturnal, the devil earned it’s name from the European settlers as the devils often haunted them at night with it’s spine chilling screeches, demonic growls and reputed bad-temper.
Click here to listen to it’s screeches. My advice to you is to turn your volume knob down.
Although having only the size of a small dog it can look and sound incredibly fierce. When stressed it released a strong odor that can rival the fart of a skunk.
Despite that, the devil is actually a shy and wary creature.
This is aggresion
Long ago, the devils were hunted widely by European settlers for bounties provided by poultry farmer which lead to a drastic decrease of its population on Tasmania. In 1942, The Australian government declared the Tasmanian Devil as a protected species, only then the population of the devils slowly climb back.
However today, the devils a plague with a disease. They are now vulnerable to cancer.
You heard me right, CANCER.
Its called the Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD). First identified in 1996, DFTD is a disease where cancerous tumor cells start to grow on the devil’s mouth and head, sometimes spreading to different parts of it’s body. It spreads through biting of devil to devil. Once infected, lesions start to grow. Usually when it’s visible, it’s as good as writing the poor devil’s name in death note over the next 3 to 8 months.
Ever since then, there has been a 64% dive in the devils monitored population.
A research program - Save the Tasmanian Devil Program, has been initiated to investigate the disease and identify management options. To date, they have identified what was the leading cause that lead to DFTD.
It was evident from the research that a lack of genetic diversity among Tasmanian devils is a key factor in the transmission of DFTD and there are on going trials to determine a vaccine to prevent or cure these deadly disease.
In May 2008, given the circumstances the Tasmanian Devil has been formally upgraded to endangered under Tasmania’s Threatened Species Protection Act. Previously it was classified as “vulnerable”.
Now you know. Hope this post have instilled some awareness on these rare devils.
Happymah!
So much for the said August’s implementation.
Uncle Lah, our “beloved” PM announced that price of petrol will increase to RM2.70 effective 5th June 2008.
RM2.70.
That’s RM0.78 or 41% increment of petrol price from what we were paying before 5th June. In other words, for every RM50 that you used to pump, is now price about RM71; every RM21 extra for each RM50 you used to pump.
See how long the 2 cement trucks take to move about 100m
And for those who are using diesel, they will be facing a 63% increment from RM1.58 to RM2.58.
Quoted from thestar.com.my
He said the Government would save RM13.7bil through the restructuring.
From the savings, he said RM4bil would go to the National Food Supply Guarantee Policy, RM1.5bil for subsidising cooking oil and RM400mil to subsidise rice imports to make the price uniform in peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.
Those having 2000cc or less vehicles will have RM625 of government subsidy. Motorbikes below 250cc will get RM150. These will be paid though postal order each time you renew your road tax annually.
Vehicles above 2000cc will have their road tax slashed by RM200, bikes above 250cc gets RM50 off.
And of cos no doubt each and everyone would jump in the long queue to fill up their tank before the new price is effective, me included.
Be afraid of what danger you see in front of you, but be more afraid of what you can’t see.
So there the obvious damage has been made visible to us, but we have yet to set eyes on what our eye do not see.
Well, I would plainly put it that the petrol increase is just ONE of our concerns at the moment. Let me illustrate what happening around us.
Rice - The main food source that fill up our stomachs for Asians, has been increasing rapidly since the past year. I was just having a small talk with the lady boss of my favorite zhap fan in Taman U, Serdang.
“My cost of 1kg of rice used to be less than RM2 a year ago, and few months back it was about RM2 to RM3. Now it’s about RM4 per kilo. And i can’t use cheap rice, or else my customers would complaint and that will affect business eventually.”
By the recent announcement on pricing of rice - a control commodity under the Malaysian government, the increase of rice is about 20%.
The last i check at Jaya Jusco, the large pack of Jasmine brand rice is priced near RM50. It’s kind of crazy if you ask me.
Tol - Price of tol around Malaysia has also increased, ranging from 20% to 60%. Worst suffered of cos is the logistic industry. Well, these tol rates has been there ever since there is a highway. Justification is that, the companies who build and develop these highways - with government aid btw, are allowed to collect “a small fee” as a medium to recover cost and some profit.
British truck drivers jamming up major roads in the UK to protest against high fuel prices
So question is how long do the government allow these companies to operate the tol? Well, i have to be fair to the highway operators that a large amount of funds is needed to maintain and service the highways. But is the rate justified? or it’s just that the datuks want more coins in their deep pockets?
Chicken - When uncle Lah made his announcement on the petrol hike, alot of attention was given to the petrol rate. Little that many know that the government also lifted the ceiling price of RM6 of fresh chicken. These means the fresh chicken meat peddlers are allowed to price their meat at a price they deem suitable.
So basically, we will see restaurants of hawkers selling chicken dishes at a higher price.
The same lady boss i talked to also mentioned that she has increased the price of chicken rice. She explained that she didn’t have a choice, price of chicken meat has been increasing in the past week and she that the business could not afford to absorb the increment.
Thats not all, the government also announced a few days back that those involved in the supply chain of fresh chick
en will gradually received government’s review in their pricing and increment percentage.
So it’s definitely on a steep climb on chicken meat.
To the KFC lovers, its time to change to McD.
Electric - Along with the petrol price announcement, the PM too announce that the government has also approved TNB on the new charging rate affective 1st of July 2008. The current rate, if i’m not mistaken is about RM0.218 for every 1kwj used in households. If currently your average electricity bill is less than RM42.60,
then you can just ignore this announcement. But if you exceed this price, you are going to face a 18% increment in your bill.
TNB’s explanation was that they have been absorbing the high increase of coal price which is needed along with gas to produce electricity. So without the increment of electricity tariff, TNB will increase it’s current lost along with the petrol price increase.
Riot police clash with protestors of high fuel prices outside EU office in Brussels.
According to released statistic by the Prime Minister’s Department, 59% of households will not be affected my the 18% increment.
Now, if you’re reading this post with your personal computer, most likely its sucking 450w of power. So if you would have your PC on for 1 hour it cost you RM 0.0981. Now if you leave your computer on through out the night for downloads, then in 30days, your PC ALONE sucks up RM70.632 of worth of electricity. Bare in mind thats with RM0.218 per 1kwj not yet the 18% increment. So go give your 18% a welcome hug.
That’s not all, business operators will face a wooping 26% increment in their electricity bill. They however give those small business like sundry shops, marts and restaurant using less than 200kw of power to “enjoy” the 18% increment as residential households do.
Now whats involved in other sectors and industries?
Taxi drivers can let out a relief breath as their natural gas will not face any increment at all.
Cooking gas is also spared from the price hike, but however the delivery charges of your cooking gas will be affected in line with the petrol increment.
Plastic industry, which is related to the petroleum industry will face similar fate. Increment of operating cost will soon translate into increment of their products.
Palm oil industry will now face windfall tax that was previously abolished. Crude Palm Oil (CPO) producers in Peninsular Malaysia will have to pay 15% for every tonne of CPO exceeding RM2,000, while those in Sabah & Sarawak will face 7.5%.
Mexicans protesting against high food prices
Food industry, most likely the ones that will be the worst hit. From the planting, fertilization, harvesting, processing, packaging and delivering will all feel the impact of high price of oil as they are all interrelated.
Soya farmers are switching over to corn as the demand for corn is higher. Corn has been increasingly being used to produced cooking oil which has a higher demand than supply. So corn price goes up, in the same time, soya facing a incremental shortage, have they fair share of price increase.
And there are many more which i could not list out.
Starting to feel worried?
Please don’t.
The worst has yet to come. The petrol price - currently with a RM0.30 subsidy is just the step 1 of the complete removal of government subsidy on petrol and diesel, that also wont be the worst scenario just yet.
Now, lets put our worries and focus back to the petrol and oil issue. As i assure you, you have a more worrying matter ahead.
I happened to read through autoindustrie’s blog, and what i read surprised me greatly.
He wrote something on Peak Oil, something that not all government is willing to accept.
I’m very sure most of you like me haven’t really heard or understand what is Peak Oil is all about. Let me quote from autoindustrie:
Back in the United States in 1956, a certain geoscientist by the name of Marion King Hubbert was working for Royal Dutch Shell introduced the Hubbert Peak Theory. Of course, in an age of cheap oil where teenagers emptying their loose change in their pockets could poll together enough money to fill up a tank of worth of petrol, nobody took him seriously and the mainstream geo-scientific community labelled him as some sort of a renegade researcher. Almost 4 decades later, in the oil wars of Iraq and the Middle East, crude oil prices were hitting new record highs almost every quarter, and thanks to the power of the Internet, more people began to sit up and listen about Peak Oil.
In short, the popular peak oil reference website www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net gives an analogy of peak oil as;
In practical and considerably oversimplified terms, this means that if 2005 was the year of global Peak Oil, worldwide oil production in the year 2030 will be the same as it was in 1980. However, the world’s population in 2030 will be both much larger (approximately twice) and much more industrialized (oil-dependent) than it was in 1980. Consequently, worldwide demand for oil will outpace worldwide production of oil by a significant margin. As a result, the price will skyrocket, oil dependant economies will crumble, and resource wars will explode.
The issue is not one of “running out” so much as it is not having enough to keep our economy running. In this regard, the ramifications of Peak Oil for our civilization are similar to the ramifications of dehydration for the human body. The human body is 70 percent water. The body of a 200 pound man thus holds 140 pounds of water. Because water is so crucial to everything the human body does, the man doesn’t need to lose all 140 pounds of water weight before collapsing due to dehydration. A loss of as little as 10-15 pounds of water may be enough to kill him.
In a similar sense, an oil based economy such as ours doesn’t need to deplete its entire reserve of oil before it begins to collapse. A shortfall between demand and supply as little as 10 to 15 percent is enough to wholly shatter an oil-dependent economy and reduce its citizenry to poverty.
In my own words, we are already at the peak of oil production, and now we are heading for a downward slope.
The era of cheap available resources especially petroleum has ended. Prices of oil will most likely go up and never down, and when oil goes up, EVERYTHING goes up.
So civilizations will have to fight for oil and other resources in future. Oil wars will commence.
The attack on Iraq might ring some bells.
With the cheap resources, oil, food, electricity which most financial and investment institutions put their money with, lay grounds for the economy’s rapid growth that rapidly drives mankind civilizations to development.
And with all that gone, the growth and economy follows in.
And so the fall of a civilization.
Head over to autoindustrie’s blog, where he paints a better picture with Peak Oil.
I certainly hope that i have illustrated a clearer picture of whats happening around you. It’s not only the cost of petrol you should be worried about.
Having clarity, it’s the ability of being aware of whats going on and understand whats going on.
Now having said that, it’s not the end of the world yet, have a smile, get back to work and save fast.
After all, our PM did mentioned that the petrol subsidy restructure will boost the country’s economy, and with a projected 1% increment of inflation caused by this announcement, will put our country’s inflation rate at 5%-6%. And still our Bank Negara is projecting a 5% growth in GDP from the previously projected 5%-6%.
So why worry, we are at the Boleh land.
Next i will try to come out with ways to overcome this small hurdle we are facing.
Happymah!~
Pictures taken from autoindustrie and pmo.gov.my.
Jumpstart: You cannot acquire experience by making experiments. You cannot create experience. You must undergo it.
What’s Your Problem?
I got bloody bitten by a cat just now.
And it’s no big fierce cat, it’s just a small little stray kitten. With VERY sharp teeth.
Now i got 2 big holes on my hand, exactly like a snake bite.
My name is bao ching cat
It all happened just because that I wanted to “removed” the cat from my house for good. No worries, when i meant remove i mean to take it and dump it another place so it wont come back.
The cats, first started with the mother sneaking in to our kitchen and digging in our rubbish bin day in and night out.
Then the situation went from bad to worst when she gave birth to 3 kittens early in the year.
And ever since then, the family of four keep us busy with our brooms cleaning up after their feast.
And so, just when i came back home from pasar malam, my housemate was in the midst of cleaning up the mess again, I went and check one of the corners of the living room and found three of the farn-tastic four hiding underneath the cushion.
Immediately i launch “operasi kick-the-cats-out-for-good”.
cat god
Apparently, the was one small kitten that managed to sneak out before i came home. And now, there hiding was the mother and 2 little kittens.
I managed to catch hold of the first kitten behind its neck, then suddenly it started to get panicked and i kind of lost grip on it.
It was then that it turn it’s small little head and took a bite of my hand. Soon enough, blood was kind of gently flowing out like how tooth paste came out from the tube.
At the end of the day, after a much tedious hide and seek, i managed to catch the 2 kittens and with the mother cat managed to escape through the kitchen window. And i, had to go to the clinic for 2nd injection for animal inflicted injuries.
There goes RM35.
Damit!~
Evolution!!!
After that, me and my gf drop them of at a near my shop lots that have lots of malay and mamak stalls. And when we came back, we saw the mama cat was around searching for it’s 2 kittens.
One of the kittens that i relocated actually looks kind of cute.
Too bad it has to end this way.
