17/04/2026
๐๐ป ๐ข๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐ฎ๐๐๐ถ๐ฎ, ๐๐ฎ๐๐ผโ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ Anwar Ibrahim
๐ข๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐จ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐๐ฒ๐น ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐๐ ๐๐บ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐ฎ๐๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ผ๐บ๐
Yang Amat Berhormat Dato' Seri,
Productive nations are built on honest conversations between their leaders and their people. It is in that spirit, with deep respect for the responsibilities your office carries, that I write to you today on a matter of pressing national economic concern.
The widening disparity between the subsidised price of RON 95 petrol and the market price of diesel in Peninsular Malaysia has reached a point where it can no longer be treated as a manageable inconvenience. It has become a structural pressure on the real economy, and it deserves the full weight of the governmentโs attention.
๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฝ ๐ง๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ ๐๐
๐ฎ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
The numbers speak plainly. Malaysian citizens under the BUDI95 programme pay RM1.99 per litre for RON 95 petrol. Diesel in Peninsular Malaysia, meanwhile, has been trading above RM5.50 per litre in recent weeks, reaching as high as RM6.72. Despite a modest pullback to approximately RM5.97 in recent days, prices remain persistently high. These varying prices, coexisting in the same economy, represent not merely a difference in fuel grades, but a widening fault line in how the cost of economic activity is being distributed across our society.
Diesel is not a discretionary fuel. It is the circulatory system of the Malaysian economy. It moves the goods on our shelves, powers the boats that feed our coastal communities, drives the machinery that harvests our crops, and fuels the construction that builds our national infrastructure. When diesel trades at more than three times the cost of RON 95, that differential does not remain at the pump. It travels through every supply chain, every freight invoice, and every delivery cost, arriving ultimately at the dining tables and shopping baskets of ordinary Malaysians.
The subsidy designed to protect the B40 household from the rising cost of living is, through the mechanism of elevated diesel prices, placing quiet but sustained upward pressure on the very goods that household depends upon. This is a contradiction that warrants urgent resolution.
๐๐ฐ๐ธ๐ป๐ผ๐๐น๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ด๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐
๐ถ๐๐๐, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ฆ๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ๐
I wish to be precise, because precision matters in matters of public policy. The government has put in place a framework of targeted diesel assistance. Registered fishermen enjoy a protected diesel price of RM1.65 per litre. Farmers, smallholders, and eligible individual diesel vehicle owners receive monthly cash assistance under the BUDI Madani programme, recently raised to RM400. Logistics operators with approved fleet cards access subsidised diesel at RM2.15 per litre under the SKDS 2.0 system. These measures reflect genuine intent, and they deserve acknowledgement.
However, intent and impact are not always the same. The eligibility criteria for these programmes, while logically constructed, leave meaningful gaps. Many smallholder farmers and fishermen operating outside formal registration systems do not qualify. The cash assistance, though recently increased, does not adequately offset the scale of cost increases faced by diesel-dependent operators running machinery, fleets, and boats day in and day out. And for small businesses in logistics, food services, and agriculture that fall outside the specific categories covered, there is no safety net at all.
There is a further consequence that deserves candid acknowledgement. A price gap of this magnitude, between subsidised rates for certain users and market prices exceeding RM5.50 per litre, does not merely create economic hardship. It creates powerful incentives for abuse and leakage that undermine the very framework the government has worked hard to build. This is not a reflection on the integrity of those the programme is designed to help. It is an inevitable consequence of sustaining an extreme price differential over a prolonged period. Closing that gap is not only an economic imperative. It is essential to protecting the integrity of the subsidy system itself.
The result is a system where the protection exists in principle, but the coverage remains incomplete in practice, and where the disparity itself has become a source of systemic vulnerability. The gap between policy intent and economic reality is where businesses are struggling, and in some cases, failing.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ช๐ฒ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ฒ๐ผ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ต๐
The disparity is not only between fuel types. It is also geographic. Diesel in Sabah, Sarawak, and Labuan remains at RM2.15 per litre, while businesses in Peninsular Malaysia face market prices nearly three times higher. This alone creates a structurally uneven national economy where the cost of doing business is determined as much by geography as by efficiency or effort.
What makes this particularly difficult to reconcile is that Peninsular Malaysia is, by every meaningful measure, the core economic engine of the nation. It is where the overwhelming majority of manufacturing output is generated, where the bulk of foreign and domestic investment is concentrated, where our industrial corridors operate, and where the density of commercial and logistics activity is highest. It is, in short, the geography upon which Malaysiaโs economic competitiveness most directly depends.
To subject Peninsular Malaysia, the very half of the country that anchors its economic output, to the highest diesel prices while the other region pays a fraction of that cost, is a policy outcome that is difficult to justify on economic grounds. The businesses and industries that drive our national growth, attract investment, and sustain employment are bearing a fuel cost burden that their counterparts elsewhere in Malaysia do not face. With the greatest respect, this arrangement is not merely inequitable. It works directly against the economic interests of the very region the country relies upon most. A coherent national energy pricing policy would reflect the economic geography of the nation it serves, not contradict it.
To be clear, I do not advocate for the removal of protections that East Malaysia communities depend upon. The historical, geographical, and social context of Sabah and Sarawak warrants its own careful consideration, and that is a matter for a separate and equally important conversation. What I call for is a national framework that addresses the disparity in a manner that is fair, coherent, and serves the economic interests of all Malaysians, regardless of where they live or do business.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป, ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐๐น๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ
I recognise that this problem does not have a costless solution. The governmentโs monthly fuel subsidy burden is now estimated at approximately RM7 billion for April 2026 alone, a figure that reflects the severity of the current global price environment. These are real fiscal constraints, and responsible governance requires that they be taken seriously.
But fiscal prudence must be considered alongside economic coherence. A pricing structure that shields one category of fuel while exposing another to full market forces, with only partial assistance bridging the gap, does not resolve the subsidy challenge. It displaces it. The cost is still borne, only by those least equipped to manage it: the small operator, the independent farmer, the community fisherman, the neighbourhood business that cannot pass costs upward.
๐ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ณ๐๐น ๐๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฐ๐
I do not write to prescribe a formula. The government commands the expertise, the data, and the institutional capacity to determine the right policy path. What I respectfully call for is a commitment, made clearly and publicly, to address the diesel and RON 95 price disparity as a matter of economic urgency, to close the gaps in the current assistance framework, and to provide Malaysian businesses and communities with the visibility they need to plan and endure.
Uncertainty, sustained at this scale, is itself an economic cost. Businesses cannot invest, hire, or expand when the fuel price that determines their operating costs can shift dramatically from one week to the next, with no clear trajectory in sight.
Malaysia has navigated difficult economic moments before, and it has done so most effectively when its leadership engaged the nation with candour and purpose. This is such a moment. The people and businesses of this country are resilient. What they need is not simply relief, but a credible framework that gives them confidence the path forward has been considered with care.
I write as a Malaysian who believes sincerely in this countryโs capacity to rise to the challenges it faces. I trust these concerns will be received in the constructive spirit in which they are offered.
Respectfully yours,
Dato' M. Murly
17 April 2026
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ด๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ถ๐ณ.
