The drastic increase in the price of essential good and fuel will affect many stratas of society – from the struggling single mother to the family with seven school going kids. Trying to make ends meet will be even harder. Families in the lower income bracket, disabled people with limited income opportunities, pensioners drawing monthly pension of a few hundred ringgits only and senior citizens depending on interests from their lifetime savings kept in fixed deposit are the few categories of people who will hard hit by the inflationary situation that we are all facing.
What will happen to these people should their essential monthly expenditure exceed their income? Missing a meal may not matter much to those who can afford it as they can eat a little more during the next meal. For people who are living from hand-to-mouth they need every ounce of energy they can get from their meager rations so that they can continue working. It is a vicious cycle for them. What will happen if their income is only sufficient for three weeks of a month only? What is being done for these people?
Well petrol is 1.15pounds in UK , $2.40 in Singapore and 155yen in Japan. Sooo, its still cheaper in Malaysia. And with cheap petrol comes the unfettered use of the car for even the most mundane chores.Unfortunately,the government in promoting its fledgling car industry and car ownership,has not capitalized on the need to have an efficient public transport network and decentralizing where people work and play.Sometimes I can’t help but be amazed by the amount of fuel wasted by thousands of cars stuck in morning and evening crawls.
More so on a global scale, governments of the world have not woken up to the reality that cars are not the way to go but efficient mass people carriers running on renewable resources.
We have worked ourselves into a corner by being held ransom to a vehicle that goes around burning fossil fuel moving its own weight which is 12 times heavier than the human occupant it was designed to carry.
It is a bitter pill to swallow but it has to be administered as petrol prices have stagnated in this country for too long while the rest of the world has progressively gone thru’ round after round of pain. This may sound cruel but I applaud the government on their bold move but in another breath lay some of the ills on the lack of forward planning.
Actually in retrospect,if you look at the average salary vis a vis the cost increase of petrol and projected cost increases in other essentials, then price comparisons with other countries with higher incomes is not really fair. In the end it is the guy at the bottom of the pecking order who gets it hardest.
I’ve seen my investments shrink in value with time and purchasing power diminish as the currency heads southwards and prices head northwards.What i have planned for has with time shown to be woefully inadequate.
Years ending with 8 have never been good years and this year continues that tradition.
Peter:
You are right. Ultimately, the men in the street are going to be hit hardest. This is something new here in Malaysia. We have to reassess our priorities but it is going to be a painful process no matter how you see it. You are into feng shui?
Hi Peter,
Remember BN’s manifesto during the General Election 2008 ?
“Election Manifesto For The 12th General Election
February 4th, 2008 – Monday
The general election is just around the corner. So blares the mainstream media day in day out for the past few weeks. That is also what Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi likes us to think. I read in The Star today where he said no any one race will be left behind in the nation’s mainstream development. In another report, he said that “the national development agenda is to bring extensive improvement to the living standards of the people.” ”
This was from http://www.petertan.com/blog/2008/02/04/election-manifesto-for-the-12th-general-election/
Its only been 3 months down the road, and look what the government has done, raising fuel prices… I wonder if they actually read out text during those campaigning speeches or are they heartfelt messages….
Peter:
If politicians can be trusted pig can fly. When voting, all that we can do is choose the lesser evil. Ultimately, we will be screwed one way or another.