YAB DS Najib Tun Razak: Oil Will Rise

Today, in an article featured on the Business Standard, Malaysian Prime Minister YAB Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak was quoted as saying that global oil prices would rise this year, though not to the spectacular heights of 2007. (Ref: Business Standard, 13th July 2009. Global oil prices are expected to rise: Malaysia PM)



Business Standard, on its website, claims the following:

Business Standard is the country's most respected business daily, being the first choice of serious business readers. It is published in colour from 12 centres in India - Mumbai (formerly Bombay), New Delhi, Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), Bangalore, Chennai (formerly Madras), Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Pune, Kochi and Bhubaneswar. The newspaper believes in free, fair and independent journalism and strives to inculcate these values in its editorial staff. The journalism practised by Business Standard lays equal stress on quality, credibility and accuracy. Business Standard has the country's best economic journalists and columnists working for it. It is edited by T.N. Ninan, perhaps India’s best-known business journalist.

It is great that an Indian business daily would take note of our Prime Minister's speech. I myself was surprised because I had tuned in to http://news.google.com and searched for "Malaysia", when the link to the above story popped up.



But perhaps what is deserving of greater news is that the speech itself, and the 14th Annual Oil & Gas Conference, took place on 8th June 2009. One can check out our PM's personal weblog at www.1malaysia.com.my, which contains the speech in full.



Well, what do you make of that? Perhaps time travelling has become a thing of reality. Actually, our PM's latest blog entry is about his first 100 days, and beyond.



And for those who do not know it, YAB Dato Seri "marked" his first 100 days in office by announcing 11 "goodies". (Ref: The Star Online, 12th July 2009. Najib marks 100 days with people-friendly measures) Of the eleven, I find two most intriguing:

• a 20% toll discount for frequent users who pay toll 80 times a month or more via the Smart Tag or Touch ’n Go, effective Sept 1


• reducing the cost to obtain a B2 motorcycle licence (under 250cc), including riding lessons, to RM211 effective Sept 1. It currently costs around RM500 to RM700 to attend lessons and the test

The implications for the first point, will be that frequent road users will benefit while those who use it less, will not benefit. But then, in a world where basic facilities are becoming more and more commoditized, it is only natural to cultivate customer loyalty.

The implications for the second point, may be that there will be an increase of Mat Rempits on the road! This may pose a hazard to society at large, as before this the high cost of obtaining a licence was a natural obstacle for younger citizens. Now, with the discount, motorcycling will grow like never before. But then, younger citizens grow up to become voting adults, and these would translate into votes.

Perhaps our PM is a far-sighted person, who already has his sights on the next general election. That would seem to be the logical conclusion. His oft-quoted words, "Judge me by what I do", have a ring of determination and sincerity to them. And the force of his words -- perhaps emanating from that determination -- is clearly shown by his other speech coming "back to the future" like a "blast from the past".

Let's watch out for the rise in the price of oil!

On Petrol Sniffing

Short Update

It's been some time since I posted an update on this blog. In that time (roughly one month), crude oil has dropped slightly. Today's OPEC price basket shows that the daily basket price of crude oil is USD61.11. This was from a high of USD69.56 on 30/5/2009. It may be noted that July 2009 is the one year anniversary of the spike in the oil price around the world. In July 2008, the basket price of crude oil was USD131.22 per barrel.

Newspapers are still getting excited about RON95 making its debut in September 2009. (Please refer to Know Your RON by Hong Boon How, published by the Star on 5th July 2009.) Petronas began offering RON95 at the Kepong area, making the petrol station the third in this nation to offer RON95. Petronas states that by the time RON95 is launched in September, more people would have switched to RON95 -- judging from the strong response of the public. (I may be mistaken, but I thought that RON95 was meant to phase out RON92 entirely.) (Pls ref: RON95 pumps up popularity among motorists dated 2nd July 2009, published by the Star)

Petrol Sniffing

On to the topic of the day -- petrol sniffing. "Petrol sniffing" is a form of substance abuse. I wish to quote from chapter 1, volume 2 of the Bush Book published by the Northern Territories Government of Australia.

Petrol is an organic substance derived from crude oil found underground. It contains a mixture of volatile, toxic hydrocarbons. Tetraethyl lead is commonly added to petrol during processing.

Petrol sniffing is a form of substance misuse. Petrol sniffers deliberately inhale the petrol fumes given off for the intoxicating effect. They hold a saturated cloth over their nose and mouth or sniff directly from a small container. Intoxication can be rapid, within one to five minutes. Depending on the method, the effects may last for minutes or several hours. Young people also sniff other substances such as glue, photocopier fluid, aerosols, paint thinner, cleaning and lighter fluids.

What are the effects of sniffing petrol? For the most part, they are harmful, and we are warned that sniffing petrol can cause "pneumonia, asphyxiation, burns, coma, seizures, malnutrition, permanent brain damage, injuries and sudden death". In women, it may cause deformation and/or death of the baby, even if the woman has stopped sniffing petrol once she has found out that she is pregnant.




Australian Position

In Australia, the Aboriginal people were first recorded sniffing petrol as early as 1951. The NT website states:

In Australia between 1981-1991, there were 60 Aboriginal males and 3 Aboriginal females whose deaths were associated with petrol sniffing. They ranged in age from 11 to 32. The causes of death included pneumonia, cardiac failure/arrest, aspiration and burns. Twenty of these deaths were people who either lived in the NT or who were treated in NT hospitals (Brady 1995c:4;6-7).

The government of Northern Territories of Australia, recognising this danger, has promulgated laws to prevent the abuse of the substance:

In the NT, under section 18 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1993, it is illegal to sell or supply petrol to anyone when it is known or should be known that the person will use it as a drug or supply it to someone else to use as a drug.

A project known as the Mt Theo project succeeded in reducing petrol sniffing amongst young Aboriginal people. Read about it here (Report: Stopping Petrol Sniffing in Remote Aboriginal Communities: Key Factors in the Success of the Mt Theo Program.)

Malaysian Situation

On the Malaysian side, it seems that sniffing petrol is not an offence. In a report Glue-sniffing is soon an offence by the Sabahan newspaper, Daily Express, it was stated:

Papar: There is no law as yet to stop people from sniffing glue, thinner or inhaling the fumes of petrol and even cow dung. However, exposure to such substances can endanger one's health, the National Anti-Drug Agency' assistant officer here, Mohd Azlan Sulaiman, said Tuesday. Only glue-sniffing is presently in the process of being classified as an offence under the law, he revealed.

It must be noted that as early as 2003, Malaysia's National Anti-Drug Agency had already recommended that petrol and glue sniffing should be made illegal. (Ref: Rehab for youths who sniff glue and petrol, dated 16th August 2003)

Solution: OPAL Fuel?

In Australia, one solution that has the support of the government is the increased use of OPAL fuel, especially in Aboriginal communities. OPAL fuel does not give a high to the sniffer if it is sniffed. From the Australian Dept. of Health & Ageing website:

• Opal is an unleaded petrol which exceeds all of the national standards for regular unleaded petrol and can be used in all applications requiring regular unleaded petrol, including two- and four-stroke engines, meaning it is safe for use in your outboards, passenger vehicles, petrol 4WDs and vans. Opal is also safe to put with your tank of regular unleaded when you fill up.




• Opal has already been in use over the past 12 months in selected communities throughout Australia.




• An independent toxicologist assessed how Opal compared to other types of fuel and determined that although all fuels are potentially toxic, Opal is the least toxic in terms of chronic exposure.




• Opal is better for the environment. Tailpipe emissions from a vehicle running on Opal were equal to or less than those from a vehicle running on regular unleaded.




• Opal delivers a performance for your car that is equivalent to regular unleaded. Fuel economy variation between a vehicle running on Opal versus regular unleaded is no more than 0.3 litres per 100km - well within the normal variation between petrol blends in the marketplace.

Perhaps it's time that Malaysia looked into the whole question of OPAL fuel?

Here are some promotional pictures, found at the picture sharing site, Flickr --- that should convey the idea to the reader.