FUEL PRICE INCREASE DEBATE.

I received this article (posted below) via email today.I'm not sure who did the research or statistics but it looks pretty amusing.I for one am not someone who is heavily inclined towards topics related to politics but have taken an interest as of late due to all the sudden changes that has occured in my beautiful Malaysia.

Please take note that what you are about to read is NOT from me.I am merely posting it because , accurate or not , I find it rather amusing and would want to share it with others.
YOU DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSION!

WHAT IS NEVER MENTIONED IN Mainstream Media like NST/TheStar/Utusan/BH are these facts.... Malaysian PerCapita Income USD 5000 VS Singaporean PerCapita Income USD 25000.

Further The Star made a comparison of prices in Thailand , Singapore and Indonesia . For Thailand it is quoted at RM3.90/liter, however are they aware that in Thailand new cars are cheaper than Malaysia by RM10,000? They pay only one life time for their driving license? No renewal fee after that? Also that goes for road tax as well? And do TheStar also aware that you can drive all the way from Hadtyai to Bangkok on a six lane highway without paying any Tolls ??!!

Whereas here in Malaysia you have to pay yearly renewal for road tax , driving license and TOLLS, TOLLS, TOLLS!!! For Singapore how can you quote RM 5.20 ? Please quote in Singapore Dollars because they are earning in Sing Dollars. You might as well say Europeans are paying RM10/liter. RM5.20/liter = Sing $ 2.20/liter, still cheaper than Malaysia in view of fact that Singapore is not a crude oil exporter. Are you saying that you fill up petrol in Singapore by paying Ringgit?

In economy, dollar to dollar must be compared as apple to apple. Not comparing like durian in M'sia is much cheaper than durian in Japan !! Of course-lah, Japan is not durian producer!!! Comparing Malaysian durian with Thailand durian make more sense!!For Indonesia we might say is cheaper there at RM2.07/liter but compare that to their level of income!

Now, let us compare the price with OIL PRODUCING countries:
UAE – RM1.19/litre
Eygpt – RM1.03/litre
Bahrain – RM0.87/litre
Qatar – RM0.68/litre
Kuwait – RM0.67/litre
Saudi Arabia – RM0.38/litre
Iran – RM0.35/litre
Nigeria – RM0.32/litre
Turkmenistan – RM0.25/litre
Venezuela – RM0.16/litre
MALAYSIA – RM2.70/litre RM 2.70!!!

Individual perspective: As of last month a Toyota Vios would 'cause a damage' of about RM 89,000.In the international market, a Toyota Vios is about USD 19,000USD 19,000 = RM 62,700 (using the indicative rates of USD 1 = RM 3.30)That makes Malaysian Vios owners pay an extra RM 26,300. This RM 26,300 should be cost of operations, profit and tax because the transportation costs have been factored in to the USD 19,000.

RM 26,300/ RM625 petrol rebate per year translates to a Vios being used for 42.08 years. I do understand that the RM 625 is a rebate given by the government, but it also means that one has to use the Vios for 42.08 years just to make back the amount paid in taxes for the usage of a foreign car. Would anyone use any kind of car for that long? Now with these numbers in front of us, does the subsidy sound like a subsidy or does it sound like a penalty? This just seems to be a heavy increment in our daily cost of living as we are not only charged with high car taxes but also with a drastic increase in fuel price. With all the numbers listed out, I urge all Malaysians to join me in analyzing the situation further.

Car taxation is government profit, fuel sales is Petronas' (GLC) profit which also translates into government profit. The government may ridicule us Malaysians by saying look at the world market and fuel price world wide. Please, we are Malaysians, we fought of the British, had a international port in the early centuries (Malacca), home to a racially mixed nation and WE ARE NOT STUPID!!!

We know the international rates are above the USD 130/barrel. We understand the fact that the fuel prices are increasing worldwide and we also know that major scientist are still contradicting on why this phenomenon is happening. Some blame Bush and his plunders around the world and some blame climate change and there are others which say petroleum 'wells' are getting scarce. Again we go back to numbers to be more straight fwd 1 barrel = 159 liters x RM2.70/liter = RM 429 or USD 134

On 1 hand, we are paying the full cost of 1 barrel of crude oil with RM2.70 per liter but on the other hand the crude oil only produces 46% of fuel. Msia sells crude oil per barrel at USD130 buys back Fuel per barrel at USD134. And not forgetting, every barrel of fuel is produced with 2 barrels of crude oil. 1 barrel crude oil = produce 46% fuel (or half of crude oil), therefore2 barrel crude oil = approximately 1 barrel fuel

In other words, each time we sell 2 barrels of crude oil, equivalently we will buy back 1 barrel of fuel. Financially,Malaysia sell 2 barrel crude oil @ USD 130/barrel = USD 260 = RM 858then, Malaysia will buy back fuel @ USD 134/barrel = RM 442/barrel.

Thus, Malaysia earn net extra USD 126 = RM 416 for each 2 barrel of crude sold/exported vs imported 1 barrel of fuel !!!(USD 260-134 = USD 126 = RM416) So where this extra USD 126/barrel income is channeled to by Malaysian Govt?????????

Another analysis: 1 barrel crude oil = 159 liters. 46-47% of a barrel of crude oil = fuel that we use in our vehicles. 46% of 159 = 73.14 liters.@ RM 2.70/liter x 73.14 liter = RM197.48 of fuel per barrel of crude oil. This is only 46% of the barrel, mind you. Using RM 3.30 = USD 1, we get that a barrel of crude oil produces USD 59.84 worth of petrol fuel (46% of 1barrel).

USD 59.84 of USD 130/barrel turns out to be 46% of a barrel as well. Another 54% = bitumen, kerosene, and natural gases and so many more. And this makes a balance of USD 70.16 that has not been accounted for. So this is where I got curious. Where is the subsidy if we are paying 46% of the price of a barrel of crude oil when the production of petrol/barrel of crude oil is still only 46%?

In actual fact, we still pay for this as they are charged in the forms of fuel surcharge by airlines and road taxes for the building of road (because they use the tar/bitumen) and many more excuse charging us but let us just leave all that out of our calculations. As far as I know, only the politicians who live in Putra jaya and come for their Parliament meetings in Kuala Lumpur (approximately 60+ km) are the ones to gain as they claim their fuel and toll charges from the money of the RAKYAT's TAX. It is so disappointing to see this happen time and time again to the Malaysian public, where they are deceived by the propaganda held by the politicians and the controls they have over the press.

Which stupid idiot economist equates rebates for rich or poor with the cc of the vehicles? An average office clerk may own a second hand 1300cc proton Iswara costing $7,000 (rebate = $625) while the Datuk's children can own a fleet of 10 new cars of BMW, Audi and Volvo all less than 2000cc costing $2 millions and get a total rebate of $625 x 10 = $6,250! Wow what kind of economists we are keeping in Malaysia ...wonder which phD certificate that they bought from.

Misleading concept of Subsidy: The word "subsidy" has been brandished by the BN government as if it has so generously helped the rakyat and in doing so incurred losses. This simple example will help to explain the fallacy.

Example: Ahmad is a fisherman. He sells a fish to you at $10 which is below the market value of $15. Let's assume that he caught the fish from the abundance of the sea at little or no cost. Ahmad claims that since the market value of the fish is $15 and he sold you the fish for $10, he had subsidised you $5 and therefore made a loss of $5.

Question : Did Ahmad actually make a profit of $10 or loss of $5 which he claimed is the subsidy?

Answer: Ahmad makes a profit of $10 which is the difference of the selling price ($10) minus the cost price ($0 since the fish was caught from the abundance of the sea). There is no subsidy as claimed by Ahmad.

The BN government claims that it is a subsidy because the oil is kept and treated as somebody else's property (you know who). By right, the oil belongs to all citizens of the country and the government is a trustee for the citizens. So as in the above simple example, the BN government cannot claim that it has subsidised the citizen!

PROBUFFEDBODIES - MALAYSIA'S PREMIERE FITNESS AND BODYBUILDING FORUM.

Not too long ago , a couple of friends and I got together and started talking about fitness and bodybuilding related topics and we realised that there are a lot of forums out there touching these topics HOWEVER , there were so few forums locally and that many people do not know of it's existence.

So , a buddy of mine actually told me that i can start a forum anytime for FREE!!! Of course you'd have some limitations to the whole program BUT SO WHAT?!

The important thing is that we have our own forum where people can come and get information on fitness and bodybuilding related topics to buying supplements or gym equipments , or where to hire a personal trainer to which gyms provide good services or even highlights on events,when and where etc.

Next thing you know , PROBUFFEDBODIES was born!Although we are fairly new but there are lots of good topics and posts related to just about anything you need to know about exercising ,diet and nutrition plus MORE!!!

PROBUFFEDBODIES is predominantly in English , but because I believe that there are many who would wish to interact but are too shy due to their poor command of English , I have actually started threads in the forum in Bahasa Malaysia.

Hopefully OUR forum will one day be a leading cyber sanctuary for many Malaysians , who share the same interest , seeking answers.

Well folks...apa tunggu lagi , jom join forum kami ni!

THEY MUST BE DESPERATE!!!

You may be wondering who the desperate ones are , right?
Well , we will get to that very soon.Today i want to share with you an incident that took place this afternoon at my centre.Actually it is the same type of incident that took place several months back at my centre too.Actually not only at my centre but also several other centres around the Ulu Klang vicinity.

Here's what went down.A couple of sales personnel working for a door to door sales company walked into my gym and tried to sell or give me and my gym members a package offer to train at CALIFORNIA FITNESS CENTRE(CF). Yup , the same ones that are operating all over town now on such large scale.

Here was this short and chubby girl accompanied by skinny goofy looking boy trying to convince ME to go to CF????? I mean c'mon la...if you wanna impress me then send someone like one of the IFBB pro's and not something looking like those two clowns!

I'm not sure if CF knows that these sales personnel are actually approaching other gyms to do their sales work or not BUT it sure as hell pisses me off at what's happening!I bet they do tho!
Of course i gave the sales guys a good piece of my mind and told them to get the f*%k outta my gym!
It turns out that these sales team also did the same thing to several other gyms around this area.I found this out when i called the other gym operators to ask if they too experienced the same thing.Their answer was YES! From CALIFORNIA FITNESS, AND FITNESS FIRST too. They too gave the sales guys a piece of their mind.

So,now that these big players are going to such extent to reel in customers , can we do the same?Can we walk into any of their outlets and try to pull customers over to our gyms? To think that such mega chains would stoop so low and behave in a very unprofessional and unethical manner could only mean that they are probably facing a major crisis.

I mean c'mon...i do my fair share of marketing too but i definitely don't stoop this low by trying to pull clients from other gyms around here...and mind you ,within a 5km radius, I have 8....YES! 8 GYMS and we never have any problems.In fact we compliment each other even though we are all separate owners.

Take a look back in time for a second.We used to have the big boys operating such as Clark Hatch , Fitness International and The Sweat Club.Where are they today? OK maybe Clark Hatch is still around but they have downsized tremendously over the years.Fitness International and Sweat Club sold out.Then the new era of fitness centres dawned...the days of Fitness First , California Fitness followed by all the other big boys flooding our market.

Why am i telling you all this? Well , looking back at how the market trend flows , eventually they will all cave in! That's right! They will eventually go bust or downscale.AND it's waiting to happen...sooner than expected too.Just look at how desperate they are, their mode of marketing just to stay competitive.Are they afraid of the smaller gym operators? I would like to think so! Coz' WE HAVE BEEN AROUND way before they made their presence felt and WE PLAN ON STAYING on , even after they have all vanished.Yes , it may be about making a buck or two when you run a business , but us smaller gym operators run it because of PASSION! YES,PASSION, the love for this industry and helping people achieve their goals and dreams.

So , with the support we get from everyone , I'm certain we will be here for a long,long time to come.Besides , we don't charge axtras for coaching and consultations and do not have contracts etc to bind you down against your free will heheheheee! Support your local gyms!! YOU gain , WE gain..either way WE ALL WIN!

PEACE OUT!