Guest: Dr Melati Nungsari (Associate Professor II of Economics), Asia School of Business

For decades, Malaysia’s fuel subsidy system has largely been broad based, with pump prices kept lower for everyone regardless of income level. It has become seen as an entitlement which even before the current crisis was a huge burden on the state. Girding its loins, Putrajaya has been signalling that painful changes for motorists are afoot. The government says it is finalising a proposal to review fuel subsidies for higher income groups, although the exact cutoff, whether T20, T15 or narrower, has yet to be decided. More crucially it isn’t clear that systems like PADU can support a more targeted approach. So will it even happen?