Vijay47: PM Najib Razak, for a long time now I have believed that you are losing any connect with reality, or to put it more simply, you are losing your marbles.

Suddenly it appears that you cannot do enough to emulate Saudi Arabia – to continue with BRIM which your benefactors, the Saudis, are contemplating to introduce, scoffing at a petrol price increase of 20 sen when they had just raised theirs by 50 percent.

So, in your shaky mind now, the Saudi form of government is the kind most suited for Malaysia, which include disallowing all non-Muslim religions.

The show-stopper is your “Saudi Arabia has introduced GST, therefore it is reasonable to have GST.” Yes, Najib, people will pay thousands just to read this kind of logic.

For your next act, I’m sure we will soon see the banning of men and women being seen together, women driving motor vehicles, and the celebration that should bring tears of joy to PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, public stoning.

Anonymous #19098644: Najib is completely out of touch with the rakyat. Not so long ago RON95 was RM1.60, today it is RM2.30.

That means that the price has gone up by 70 sen per litre, or a 45 percent hike. While it didn’t happen overnight, it happened within the last few months.

Who among us has had a 45 percent increase in salary? Most of us have no increment, or at best 5 percent and less.

If you eat at the hawker centre you will know that prices have increased, cooking oil jumped from RM13.50 per bottle to RM21.50 per bottle. Sugar, flour, etc, have all gone up.

What is this out-of-touch politician talking about? I bet you he can’t even tell you the price of a loaf of bread.

Anonymous S303: Saudi Arabia, a rich oil exporting country with no diversified national revenue, has its per litre retail price for RON95 at 0.9 riyals (RM1.07).

So, why can’t we have the same price or lower, given that income tax is collected here and our nation’s income is so diversified?

Ghostwhowalks: The oil price in Saudi Arabia, after the 50 percent hike, is only half of what we are paying now in Malaysia, and MO1 (Malaysian Official 1) had the audacity to further insult our intelligence.

Fairplayer: Yes, Najib’s maths is hopeless. So what if 50 percent increase means paying RM1.07 per litre? I don’t mind paying the Saudi price. Get it, Najib?

Unspin: Saudi Arabia and Malaysia are nations that are “cursed with oil”. When times are good, they spent like there is no tomorrow.

Mr MO1, how about holding ourselves to a higher standard by comparing us with countries that manage to thrive even though they are net oil importers?

Democrat: Seriously, do us a favour. Why compare us with the rich Saudis? Najib, this is like comparing apples and oranges.

Shunyata: Clearly the PM’s advisers would have told him that all the recent talk about the country having been sold to China would not go down well with anyone, more so with Malay Muslims.

And so a new link has been rapidly established, this time with a Muslim nation, all for the purpose of regaining confidence as well as being able to make unreasonable comparisons between the two economies (of course, it goes without saying that there would be sub-purposes behind the scenes.)

Little does he know, just as Chinese Malaysians do not trust mainland Chinese, so too for most Malays when it comes to the Arabs.

Clever Voter: The Saudi government is implementing an austerity drive, including a hike in their petroleum prices. The reason is simple.

Since the price of oil dropped by half from US$100 per barrel, the Saudi kingdom, where 90 percent of its budget is from petroleum resources, has chalked up close to US$100 billion in deficit to fund its expenditure.

On the other hand, Najib’s government is luckier, where aside from collecting taxes from everyone (income tax and GST, etc), they receive less than RM16 billion from Petronas, which made up about 30 percent of the national budget.

This government has lost billions of ringgits through mismanagement, wastage and corrupt practices. The opportunity costs of such ventures are huge.

Indeed, citizens deserve better and if only the money is better spent and managed on services that improve everyone’s living standards. We could also afford lower income tax and probably zero GST.

James_3392: Mind you Najib, Saudis don’t pay road toll and no income tax. If we abolish GST, even if petrol price go up another one ringgit, few would complain.

Shunyata: Brace yourselves for another spike, Malaysians. Our PM has already pre-empted us that it would be unreasonable of him not to continue to up petrol prices, and yay, our new benchmark is Saudi Arabia.

RM2.6 Billion Turkey Haram: Najib, a good leader does not justify one’s action by quoting the worst example.

It just like telling us that you failed the test scoring 30 percent and then boasting of how good you are comparing with the Arabs who scored 20 percent. A failure is a failure.

Ipohcrite: Once again, our PM has shown how far he is out of touch with the daily grind and hardship of the man in the street. Once the price of petrol goes up, the prices of almost all food items go up in tandem.

And to compare the plight of folks in Malaysia to those in Saudi Arabia regarding petrol price increases, please spare us the brilliant math.

Saudi Arabia is a rich country whereas Malaysia needs a “donation” from them for the PM’s personal coffers, remember?

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakinicommunity and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.

These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.