| The classical Chinese character for “listen” is a composite of three other characters namely, “ears, eyes and the heart.” Hence, following the recent petrol and diesel price hike, Malaysians are asking one pertinent question.
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Did the BN-led government really “listen” to the harsh realities facing ordinary Malaysians? Other questions naturally follow. Is this BN government truly people-centred and caring? Do Malaysians have a prime minister with a human face? Or is it more concerned with “winning” the next general election?
Needless to say, the decision on the price hike is an unpopular one. Hence, it is better to decide sooner than later when it is close to the next general election.
So far, the public perception is understandably negative, judging by the reactions of the “petrol tsunami” which hit the nation this week.
“Bear the pain, short-term. In the long term, it’s good for the nation,” a typical imagined reaction from any top professional decision-maker.
It is easy for the highly paid - PhD economists, self-claimed “think tank” experts and ivory-towered academicians who in typical fashionable “high-flown” rhetorical arguments taking the side of the government’s decision on the price hike.
Harsh realities
But these can be “thinking tanks with out-hearts.” The harsh and cruel socio-economic realities of the sudden hike will further impoverish the low and middle income Malaysian families and lower their standard of living.
The economic realities can be hard-hitting and are indeed real - the 'pain' is beyond intellectual and partisan arguments.
Dogged by emotional grief and haunting anxieties on economic survival and austerity, for more than 50 per cent of the Malaysian population, supporting a family within a household income between less than RM2,500 to RM4,000 becomes much more a difficult task, likely an agonising one.
Rebate policies and words of consolation cannot compensate the emotional anguish that has 'forced' the standard of living to be lowered. The likely impact and consequences of this petrol-diesel price hike on social and political developments have yet to be felt.
Overnight, millions of Malaysian households are “tsunami-ed” into the 'new' poor middle class. In real life, a household income of RM3,900 (husband RM2,500 and his spouse, RM1,400) has been impoverished by a single policy with very serious consequences on their standard of living.
A typical example best illustrating a family’s hardship, may belong to Ah Chong, Ahmad or Ramasamy, irrespective of race, gender or religion.
A family of two adults, two kids (still schooling) and grandparents (retirees) with a combined take home-pay, household income of RM 3,900 (in real life). After settling a monthly loan repayments of RM 1,000 (on a single-storey terrace house) and RM900 (hire purchase on a car, Kancil), the family is left with a balance of RM 2,000 monthly household income.
From that monthly balance (RM2,000), there are various “fixed” bills to be settled: electricity, water and telephone for a sum of RM100 (with no air-conditioner in the house); followed by school-bus and tuition fees for the two kids (RM150); grocery and marketing (RM 600) and Astro entertainment for the grandparents (RM80).
After deduction, the balance comes to RM720 at the end of the month, providing there will be no other emergencies or contingency happenings, like a family member falling ill and that the car does not break down. Also, there are no relatives’ wedding or funeral, New Year celebration. Eating out, and local or overseas vacations are out of the question.
Topping all these, what about income tax, “pintu cukai”, savings for tertiary education (for the children) and retirement plans, and other costs on the 'unexpected' emergency?
 The hardship and harsh realities faced by the family with a household income of RM3,900 can still be considered “fortunate” when compared to other household families with lesser income. What lifestyle does the government want them to change? They are already living with the barest of 'luxury' and entertainment possible under those circumstances compared to cabinet ministers and “super-scale civil servants”.
Did the government “listen” only with their “eyes and ears” (without the heart) to cronies, bankers, economists, “think-tank” rhetoricians?
“The needs of individual Malaysians are remarkably diverse. The needs of a “padi farmer differ from those of an economic planner, as do those of an “imam”, a housewife, a businessman, a teacher or student, an urban planner, a consumer activist or a prime minister. Some needs are common to all Malaysians; other needs are uncommon,” says a publication on preliminary inquiry into Malaysia 2001, published by Syed Kechil Foundation in 1978.
“While some needs can be satisfied by the individuals themselves; other needs can be satisfied by the individual ‘only’ with assistance from society,”
It is the latter that proves disappointing. Particularly when politicians and government planners consistently demonstrated an almost pathologically obsession with the greed for more “national wealth” that they lost their wisdom and the heart for the well-being of the rakyat.
Most glaring, the broken promises to improve public transportation system on the petrol price subsidies “saved” previously and the prevailing allegations on “financial leakages” for self-gain and corruption in the delivery system. The deteriorating standard of living, the complete lack of transparency on privatisation projects and cost-push inflation currently taking place, to cite a few disgusting examples on bad governance.
The BN government is singing the “old tune,” calling on Malaysians to “change their lifestyle”.
Is it fair and just when the majority of Malaysians are already living “from hand to mouth” while federal and local government officials are themselves behaving on the contrary, consistently paying “lip-service,” and justifying their extravagant spending at the expense of the ordinary taxpayers?
Ineffective official enforcement against obscene price increases on consumer goods and food prices are costing much goodwill to be lost among Malaysians toward the government. In the recent past, the National Audit report spoke loudly and clearly that corruption and irregularities existed in the delivery system and civil service.
After more than 50 years, the Barisan Nasional government has failed to improve its governance and administration, a shame shared by many Malaysians. Basic services left wanting
Public confidence towards the current government regime in managing economic chaos is razor-blade thin.
The forecast on the mitigation of expectations among Malaysians conducted in 1978, has this to say, “More than ever before, the expectations of all Malaysians - about the houses they will one day own, the cars they will one day drive, the jobs they will one day hold, and the money they will one day earn - are exceeding high.”
These expectations originated in a major way, they are the product of politicians who talked about eradicating poverty and restructuring society; the prosperity that has brought so much and promises to bring much more.
“Hence, the key question whether will there be enough investment, growth, jobs, farm land, services and low-priced consumer goods to enable Malaysians adequately to realise their expectation over the next quarter century and beyond,” an article in 1978 of the Syed Kechik Foundation queried.
 After 50 years, the “answers” are telling on the BN government’s performance. Today, even the quality of basic services are left wanting. Look at the escalating costs on household piped water, electricity, waste removal, transport and communication, health care, education, public safety and environmental concerns.
Many do not agree that the BN government has a high moral ground in telling the rakyat to embark on an austerity ground. High ranking BN government officials must lead by example but some seemed to have lost the conventional wisdom that the scarse natural resources belonging to a nation should not be squandered.
Savings for the nation’s future generations and grandchildren? Is this another lip-service from the “ears, eyes and mouth” but not from the heart?
The majority will rather agree that “changing the government” is much easier than changing their lifestyle. I am sure the families of “Ah Chong, Ahmad and Ramasamy” will fully agree that Malaysians deserve a more caring, wise and innovative government. |
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