There was a number everyone knew without looking. That certainty has dissolved, slowly, the way most certainties do.
10 November 2025
2 min read-- reading now
There was a number everyone knew without looking. Whatever was on the pump when you arrived, it was the same as last time, because the price hadn't changed. You could budget around it the way you could budget around water — it was a constant, and you planned from there.
That certainty has dissolved slowly, the way most certainties do, through small adjustments that are each individually framed as minor.
The petrol subsidy rationalisation arrived in stages. First the conversation about it — years of conversation, think-pieces and announcements and deferrals. Then the actual change, which when it came was simultaneously a relief (it is finally done) and a new condition to absorb (the number on the pump is no longer something you know before you arrive).
For households with cars, the calculation changed. The trip to the relative's house in Nilai that used to feel free now has a number attached to it. The decision about whether to drive to work or take the LRT — in cities where that option exists — acquired a genuine economic dimension it didn't fully have before. People who drove everywhere because driving was affordable began, for the first time, to treat driving as a choice with costs, rather than a default.
For households without cars, the adjustment was indirect. The goods that arrive via lorry, the vegetables at the market, the goods in the convenience store — these prices move with fuel costs, and they moved.
The people most affected are the ones for whom the distance between things is not a choice. People in Sabah and Sarawak, where the distances are real and where public transport infrastructure is not equivalent to the peninsula. People in smaller towns where the journey to work is not replaceable by a train. For these households, the rationalisation was not an economic correction absorbed across the whole economy. It was a direct and personal cost increase with no alternative.
The conversation about the subsidy was always conducted in aggregate terms. The total savings. The percentage of beneficiaries. The redistribution mechanism. Aggregates don't account for the person whose daily commute just became RM8 more expensive, and who does not have an LRT.
You check the price before you drive now. This is a small change in behaviour. What it represents is the disappearance of something that was once simply given.
Ada nombor yang semua orang tahu tanpa melihat. Walau apa pun yang tertera di pam apabila anda tiba, ia sama seperti kali terakhir, kerana harga tidak berubah. Anda boleh merancang belanjawan di sekelilingnya seperti air — ia adalah pemalar, dan anda merancang dari situ.
Kepastian itu telah larut perlahan-lahan, seperti kebanyakan kepastian, melalui pelarasan kecil yang masing-masing dibingkaikan sebagai sesuatu yang kecil.
Rasionalisasi subsidi petrol tiba secara berperingkat. Pertama perbualan tentangnya — bertahun-tahun perbualan, kertas pandangan dan pengumuman dan penangguhan. Kemudian perubahan sebenar, yang apabila ia datang adalah serentak satu kelegaan (ia akhirnya selesai) dan keadaan baru untuk diserap (nombor di pam bukan lagi sesuatu yang anda tahu sebelum tiba).
Bagi isi rumah yang mempunyai kereta, pengiraan berubah. Perjalanan ke rumah saudara-mara di Nilai yang dulu terasa percuma kini mempunyai nombor yang dilekatkan. Keputusan sama ada perlu memandu ke tempat kerja atau naik LRT — di bandar di mana pilihan itu wujud — mendapat dimensi ekonomi sebenar yang tidak sepenuhnya ada sebelum ini. Orang yang memandu ke mana-mana kerana memandu itu mampu milik mula, buat pertama kalinya, memperlakukan memandu sebagai pilihan dengan kos, bukan lalai.
Bagi isi rumah tanpa kereta, penyesuaian itu adalah tidak langsung. Barangan yang tiba melalui lori, sayur-sayuran di pasar, barang di kedai serbaneka — harga ini bergerak dengan kos bahan api, dan ia bergerak.
Orang yang paling terjejas adalah mereka yang jarak antara sesuatu bukan satu pilihan. Orang di Sabah dan Sarawak, di mana jaraknya nyata dan di mana infrastruktur pengangkutan awam tidak setara dengan semenanjung. Orang di bandar-bandar kecil di mana perjalanan ke tempat kerja tidak boleh digantikan dengan tren. Bagi isi rumah ini, rasionalisasi bukan pembetulan ekonomi yang diserap di seluruh ekonomi. Ia adalah peningkatan kos langsung dan peribadi tanpa alternatif.
Perbualan tentang subsidi selalu dijalankan dalam terma agregat. Jumlah penjimatan. Peratusan penerima manfaat. Mekanisme pengagihan semula. Agregat tidak mengambil kira orang yang perjalanan hariannya baru menjadi RM8 lebih mahal, dan yang tidak mempunyai LRT.
Anda menyemak harga sebelum memandu sekarang. Ini adalah perubahan kecil dalam tingkah laku. Apa yang ia mewakili adalah kehilangan sesuatu yang pernah hanya diberikan.
