Firstly, we would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all our Malaysians readers for their will to change a new government and to Pakatan Harapan for being victorious and also not to forget, special thanks to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the oldest head of state in the world for leading the coalition to victory and double thumbs up for being the 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia.
As the new dawn rises for Malaysians, what a roadtripper can look forward to with the new government – or at least things they promised in their manifesto to make life better for roadtrippers.
Removal of tolled-roads
First and foremost, the removal of toll roads in Malaysia will definitely bring down the cost of travelling, be it a short intra-state drive or a inter-state drive. The reduction of toll can easily help save up to RM 450 per trip if you are travelling from North to South or vice versa. Once the toll removal is done, I am sure we will see more Malaysians travelling for vacations locally and will be a boon for the local tourism.
Removal of Goods and Service Tax (GST)
The removal of the 6% GST and moving back the SST (which taxes at the source only) hopefully will help reduce in the spending of roadtrippers as we might see a drop in food prices as well as shopping goods. However I believe this is unlikely as we know for most businesses, once the price is up, it ain’t coming down, but we keep positive and hope to see some reduction in prices with the removal of the GST. However the used car association is expecting the removal of GST will reduce their car prices as well as an increase in sales.
Stabilizing of the Retail Fuel Prices
Tun Dr Mahathir in his recent speech has called for a look into the weekly price change mechanism and also to look into increase fuel subsidy for Malaysians. We do hope this means a reduction in the retail fuel prices which will benefit the rakyat as a whole, especially with the global oil prices sneaking up past US$ 75 per barrel mark recently.
Stabilization of the Malaysian Ringgit
One of the key things that the new government aim is to stabilize the Malaysian Ringgit which is good especially for those travelling abroad. The Malaysian Ringgit is expected to slide with the uncertainties of the new government but rest assured the team will be looking into stabilizing the currency in the near future and slowly increasing the value of the Malaysian Ringgit – a stronger Ringgit will definitely help you go further.
We do hope these policies come in place soon and roadtrippers across the nation and those that come from abroad can start to enjoy these benefits.
