KOTA BARU: Pas welcomed the government's decision on the diesel subsidy rationalisation move.
However, the party's secretary-general, Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan, said the party would like to express its concern regarding its implementation, especially the negative impact on people's lives.
Apart from that, he said there are concerns regarding the government's ability to ensure that the main goals outlined are achieved within a reasonable period.
"In this context, Pas hopes that the target groups such as manufacturers, transport services, farmers, low-income people, and others will be fully covered under the exemption measures through an easily accessible registration process.
"This includes the proactive role of the agencies involved in ensuring that they are detected and assisted accordingly.
"Red tape or bureaucratic inefficiency, for example, should not be an obstacle in this," he said in a statement.
The Kota Baru member of parliament said the second concern is the government's ability to deal with the serious leakage issue, especially from diesel smuggling activities to the neighboring country.
"The smuggling activities are estimated to be about three million liters per day.
"Border security agencies such as the Customs Department and others play a major role in curbing this. They need to be fully mobilised to strengthen the best subsidy targeting mechanism," he added.
Takiyuddin said Pas also hoped the government would increase domestic monitoring and enforcement to prevent certain quarters from taking advantage of raising prices.
"Pas believes that the effectiveness of this diesel subsidy targeting measure needs to be closely monitored by the government, and all necessary measures should be taken immediately," he said.
Yesterday, Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan announced diesel subsidies for certain groups in Peninsular Malaysia would be discontinued starting at 12am today.
This, he said, will set the price of diesel at RM3.35 per litre according to the automated pricing mechanism, up from the current price of about RM2.15 per litre.
He said that this follows the unsubsidised market price based on the average for May 2024, according to the automatic pricing mechanism formula.
To cushion the impact of the new diesel price, the government has introduced the Budi Madani individual and Budi Madani Agri-commodity cash aid programs, where around 30,000 recipients will receive RM200 in their respective accounts from midnight on June 10.
Besides that, the government has also introduced fleet cards under the Subsidised Diesel Regulation System (SKDS) for public transport companies and those transporting goods. This is to enable cash refund claims of diesel to be made with the Finance Ministry in accordance with the application procedure to be announced later.