Fueling Outrage

It's the sensation that's been gripping the world. We hang on to our seats every night, gazing at the news, hoping - praying, that the change isn't too great. It affects us all. It affects the economy. It affects every bit of our lives. Will it go up? Will it go down? Not likely, but is there even the slightest chance that it will at least stay the way it has been for the past week?

I am, of course, refering to the fuel prices of today. And it is, yes people, an outrage. The only word I can actually come up with for prices like these.
In Malaysia, the fuel has increased drastically by 70sen. 78 sen, as I am told by a source who was actually there at the time to read the newspapers. I am only a spectator, suffering very much the same fate in a different country. Malaysia's petrol prices normally stay quite low- when the price increases do happen, they normally happen every month or so, and usually only in about 1-2sen increases. Unfortunately, the government can no longer afford to keep the price so low, and as a result, a backlash has occured. I can already forsee the end of many governments at the end of their terms, and all because of these fuel prices.

In Australia, the price isn't as low as it is in Malaysia. The government doesn't really try to keep things to the absolute minimum, as in a country like this where Australia can't naturally produce it's own fuel, it would be economical (and political) suicide to keep it so low and then have it spring up on us like a rebellious kangaroo. I think both the government and the opposition can agree on this much. What does happen though, is that prices fluctuate everyday, depending on the index figures at the end of the day. This then gets posted up on the internet, proclaimed over the nightly news and printed in every newspaper possibly found to inform as many people as possible. My mom keeps one ferocious eye on all of these [while using the other on us unruly ones], and as soon as she loses faith in the price ever going down and finally decides to go and refuel the car- the next day it goes down. XD I find this a little funny the way it happens week after week, but these savings of about 20 cents a litre every week really can accumulate. Especially for someone whose life savings all happen to unfortunately be in RM.

Personally, I believe that there's just not enough fuel and too many people. In a world like this, we're becoming too dependent on cars. Nobody walks anymore. And who can blame us? We are [naturally] a lazy civilisation. We try to find a gazillion other ways of doing things. It's both a curse and a blessing. The world is more efficient, and it's more expensive. It's becoming smaller- an 'easier' place to live in, and infinitely more crowded and dirty.

You know, I haven't really been thinking about driving too much. In fact, if I had started earlier, and not been lazy during the holidays, I could have been half-way through finishing my practice hours for my L plates. But after this- do I really still want to go driving? People are buying smaller engined cars, or are just not driving at all. [well, in Australia anyway, in Malaysia, I can hardly blame anyone for wanting to drive] Still, this is something to be thinking about. It'll affect us - and the generations to come - for a long, long time.

Mishy <3