Change your lifestyles as fuel price hike affects prices of other goods and services: Snowdan

KUCHING: People in the rural areas were yesterday advised to be thrifty as petrol and diesel were now more expensive.Balai Ringin assemblyman Snowdan Lawan in giving the advice reminded them to be smart consumers.

SNOWDAN: ‘Be smart consumers.’

“Being thrifty involves changing your lifestyle, which isn’t easy, but must be done. And because fuel affects the prices of other goods and services, you may have to cut down on certain things,” Snowdan said when met at his Gawai Dayak open house here.

“For example, since distance between places in rural areas is often far, travel only when necessary.”

The assemblyman also urged the rural communities not to panic, adding that the federal government had already come up with four swift measures that would ease the burden on consumers, and the measures were expected to be unveiled soon.

“Our government is not only subsidising fuel but also food such as rice and flour.

“Therefore, we can’t only focus on increasing the subsidy for fuel because the government realised that subsidising food is also of importance. We can’t deny that food is also part and parcel of our life,” he said.

When asked to comment on the recent protest carried out by the opposition, Snowdan said they were merely trying to get political mileage.

He said: “No government in the world is perfect but the Barisan Nasional (BN) government has been around for more than 40 years and has done a commendable job in bringing development and prosperity to the country from the First Malaysia Plan till the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

“The fuel price hike is a global matter, thus it is as a matter of fact beyond our expectation.

“There is no way for any government in the world to prevent the rise in the price of fuel,” Snowdan explained.

At the open house, the assemblyman feted a total of 20 residents from the Sarawak Society of the Blind (SSB) Kuching branch.