The Aftermath.

The following day (after the price hike), I was pretty disappointed with the fact that there were still that many number of cars on the road as I was silently hoping that it would have caused a large percentage of car owners to look for alternative transportations, which in turn, reduce the volume of vehicles on the road. But sad enough, that was not the case.

Surprisingly, I still see quite a number of cars refuelling at multiple petrol kiosks along the way to work, during the morning hour rush. Must be those dampened by the long queues and heavy congestion the night before.

Everyone was talking about it, from radio DJs to the cleaners, colleagues to managers, clients to random individuals or groups in the coffeeshop, hawkers and so on. About 90% of them were not happy and disagreed with the move 10%, another 9% totally furious. Oppositions voiced their disappointment, the government said they had no other alternatives. The rebate is a total joke but then again, better than nothing.

Random food stalls increased the price of the goods, on average, by 50 cents and so, begins the move on passing down the increasing costs of production to the consumers. And in time, so will everything else, grocery shopping will never be the same. Bus fares as well as charges for transportation by lorries are expected to rise.

Small peaceful gatherings around KL, Ipoh and Penang to voice dissatisfaction over the price hike, no unwanted incidents. The drive home was still congested as usual and same as myself, I was still able to see many cars with single occupants. Wait till we refuel for the first time after the hike, it might just change our mind and attitude. Somehow, car pooling just doesn't work for me but I guess I'll only talk about this sometime later.

A huge commotion is going on this time around due to the severity of the hike which stood at at more than 40% increase, right after the government announcing there'll be no increase until August and not long after the hike in food prices. Perhaps it's also attributed to the government's promise of no increase in fuel prices during the election campaigns, I do not know. The only question is, how long will this big Hoo Haa actually last, maybe a month or two before the rakyat

The only question that I have is how long will this big Hoo Haa actually last, a month or two? Then will it fall back to the rakyat getting back to their own business accepting the increase just like every other time? Or the hype over the hike being overwhelmed by news that has more impact? I guess only time will tell.