Malaysia urged to readjust subsidized diesel prices

A group of fishermen from Selangor and Perak in Malaysia has called on the government to readjust the subsidized diesel fuel price back to 1 ringgit (US$0.28) per liter. Kee Oi Sing, president of the fishermen’s association representing 24 fishing villages in the two states, said that although the market price of diesel fuel had gone down, the fishermen still had to bear losses with the rising costs. “Since June, the diesel price had been adjusted downwards a few times. Now the market price is 1.80 ringgit (US$0.51) but unfortunately, our subsidized price is still unchanged at 1.43 ringgit (US$0.40) per liter since June,” he said. (December 3, 2008)