Zulhaidah bt Suboh

Over 50 fishing vessels here were grounded, some as long as two weeks, as diesel supply was held up because of the long holidays.

Fisheries Development Authority (LKIM) here was bombarded by complaints from operators and owners of bigger vessels (class C and C2) here that could not make it out to sea.

Exploring all channels
Apart from complaining to the fisheries authority, some members of Miri Fishermen Association also complained to the Public Service and Complaint Bureau of Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP).

Bureau chairman Councillor Koh Ek Chong yesterday met Fisheries Development Authority, representative from Miri Fishermen Association and vessel owners and operators to sort out the problem.

Region 3 LKIM officer Jamaludin Osman denied the fuel shortage.

“There is no shortage of diesel supplied to the association authorised to sell diesel to fishermen and members in Miri. There is enough supply for everyone,” he said.

The association’s deputy manager Jack Merdan explained: “The apparent shortage was mainly the result of the long public holidays. We are not allowed to sell it during public holidays and after office hours as it is a controlled and subsidised commodity.

Long vetting process
“We ordered 160,000 litres on June 4, which was supposed to be delivered by June 7. As there are many parties involved such as Customs and Petronas and because of the long festive holidays, they cannot process the order immediately which causes the shortage,” said Jack to the Borneo Post.

Apart from that Petronas has insufficient number of tankers to do the delivery. As of noon yesterday, the first shipment of diesel arrived at the association’s distribution centre in LKIM’s compound.

During the meeting yesterday, a long term resolution was proposed. This includes cutting red tape and allowing the diesel to be stocked up and distributed at an agreed schedule.

Malaysia Mirror

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has attributed the scrapping of the proposed tiered fuel subsidy to unfavourable public response and the complexity of using the MyKad as a payment instrument.

However, industry sources claimed that the latter is due to the fact that the current MyKad solution lacks the structure needed for smooth implementation of the programme.

Under the proposed programme, the transaction process involving the MyKad was meant to mirror that of a credit card’s. A customer would swipe his MyKad at the outdoor pump, key in the cash amount and automatically receive a subsidy.

But FMT learnt that Malayan Banking Berhad, the company that was awarded the fuel subsidy programme, doesn’t have a solution that supports the use of the MyKad at outdoor pumps.

So 70% of customers who purchase petrol in cash would be subjected to a lengthy process in order to receive their subsidy.

The cashier would have to insert a customer’s MyKad into a terminal and an optical scanner will read the customer’s thumb print.

The information will be sent to Maybank’s database to be verified and the customer will then key in the subsidised amount at the outdoor pump.

Petrol dealers and oil companies expressed concern that this process will lead to overcrowding in petrol stations and give rise to irate customers.

The government reviewed the complexity of the process and acknowledged it as yet another reason to scrap the programme.

Free Malaysia Today