HUNDREDS of thousands of rural poor folk in interior Sarawak will suffer more hardship if fuel-subsidy cuts are enforced by Putrajaya, Berawan-Tring minority ethnic community elder Willie Kajan said.
He said a huge number of rural folk had missed out on the central data hub PADU after the state government abruptly halted the registration exercise early last month.
"The federal and state authorities must resolve the PADU dilemma first. The registration was suddenly stopped in Sarawak by the Premier.
"Tens of thousands of rural Sarawakians are not in the PADU record. They will miss out on fuel subsidies if Putrajaya was to use PADU data to channel subsidies," the social activist from Baram district in interior northern Sarawak told The Vibes today.
Kajan appealed to the Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli not to enforce fuel subsidy cuts just yet.
"Sort out the PADU registration in rural Sarawak first. There are entire populated settlements where the PADU registration has not reached.
"We, the rural folks, are suffering more and more hardships due to rising costs of food already.
"We cannot shoulder any more extra financial burdens on vehicle fuel and fuel for our power-generators.
"Out of the 6,000 plus longhouses in rural Sarawak, easily more than half of them still depend on diesel-generators to produce electricity," he said.
Talks circulating now in chat groups and social media circles is that RON95 may go up to as high as RM3.38 per litre and diesel RM3.45 per litre by end of this year.
Rafizi had said that Putrajaya will go ahead with implementing fuel subsidy rationalisation following the PADU central data system registration exercise.
There are about a million rural folks living in remote districts in Sarawak, and most of them who still have no access to mobile telecommunication coverage, had missed out on the government's Padu registration exercise.
The Federal Government had implemented the PADU system to enable it to channel subsidies for essential items to those who are from the lower income brackets.
This is to avoid government subsidies from being exploited by those with high incomes, such as the case now.– The Vibes, April 21, 2024.
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