Rakyat and Rising Cost of Living

By: Selena Tay

Our currency the Malaysian Ringgit is falling against the British Pound, the US Dollar and the Chinese Renminbi since December last year. This will make our imports more expensive and food products from Britain, USA and China will definitely cost more.

So will stationery from China although our government has stopped the stationery sellers from increasing the prices of these items.

In short, the question to be asked is: Why is the Ringgit going down in value when the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) is robust? Which can be controlled and which is not under our control?

As usual someone in the government will come out to say that “our fundamentals are strong…blah, blah, blah” but to the average layman, this is all gobbledygook when the money in his pocket is disappearing fast.

This shows that it is not easy for the nation’s economists to gauge our country’s economic health. One group of economists will say that everything is fine while another group will say that all is doom and gloom although the latter group comes from the opposition side.

One thing for sure is that the Visit Malaysia Year 2014 will help to boost the nation’s economy which at this point in time cannot be said to be thriving due to the fall in the value of the Ringgit.

Certainly we should all do our bit to be friendly and helpful to tourists by assisting those who ask us for information especially the backpackers who come here without tour guides.

In addition to the above, the move to stop fast-food restaurants from hiring foreign workers is certainly a good and timely move but at the same time the government must also take steps to curb the intake of foreign workers. How are we not to give them jobs if there are too many of them?

Moreover, those who will be laid off by the fast-food restaurants will be jobless. What will happen to them? Will they pose a danger to our own citizens? The intake of foreign workers on a continuous basis is alarming if there are not enough jobs for them.

Clearly the BN government does things without proper planning and foresight. They use the fire-fighting method when there is difficulty instead of pre-empting the problem or the difficulty before it happens.

To put it bluntly: the government has failed and the people’s wellbeing is now in jeopardy.

The government has no more game-plan and is floundering in the deep blue sea.

Putting people first?

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is out of his depth. His management skills have sunk to the bottom of the ocean while the rakyat are battling to stay afloat amidst the rising cost of living.

Najib has to come up with a brilliant idea to save this nation. And he should use the annual Audit Report as a costsaver’s guide in order to stop wastages and leakages.

Never in all of Malaysian history since Independence has there been such an acute problem of price hikes.

It is time for the government to be aware that in this new century, voters are not that stupid. People who have voted for BN in GE13 have realised that the government’s promises prior to the hustings are just hot air. Now these voters have woken up albeit too late.

It will be difficult for the voters to be swayed by sensitive issues come the next general election. For when one’s pocket has less money, where is there the time to pay attention to sensitive issues?

Even now the hot topic on the streets is nothing but prices of this and that and how much such and such has gone up.

These days the average Joe is struggling to survive. People are already complaining that the government has hoodwinked them.

It is high time the government realised this and take steps to reduce the prices of goods and services. The GST (Goods & Services Tax) should start at 4% instead of 6% while the assessment rate percentage for KL folks should be 3% for residence and 8% for commercial property due to the massive hike in the valuation rate for the properties. (The current rates of 4% for residence and 10% for commercial property are still too high.)

Najib should prioritise the people’s interest first. Or has he forgotten his own slogan of ‘People First’?

It is now the right time for Najib and the government to wake up before the Year of the Horse comes galloping in on Jan 31 and the prices gallop away at top speed.

Hunger on the Risw

STRUGGLING homeowners and women fleeing violent relationships are among the rising numbers of Victorians unable to feed themselves and their families, charities say.

Cost of living pressures are hitting so hard that 60 per cent of people now accessing one Melbourne food relief service own their own home or rent.

The figure dispels conceptions that only the homeless are hungry as welfare agencies battle to meet demand across a broader cross-section of the community.

And they are expecting demand to increase following the Federal Budget.

FareShare, which provides meals from unwanted supermarket food, says despite doubling kitchen production last year, 70 per cent of agencies needed more meals.

CEO Marcus Godhino said some parents were skipping meals to ensure their children are fed.

“There’s a real anxiety among the charities we cook for especially after the Federal budget,’’ said FareShare CEO Marcus Godinho.

“They’ve already experienced a big increase in the number of people turning to them for help. “What many have seen is more of the working poor, families turning to charities who would not have in years gone by, trying to stretch their budgets to three meals a day.’’

Foodbank Victoria is also battling to provide enough supplies to families who need it.

Each month 125,000 Victorians depend on the service, including an increasing number of women victims of family violence.

The not-for-profit has launched an appeal to raise enough to feed 4000 families for a week this winter.

“Just $25 can feed a family of four for a week,” said chief executive David McNamara.

In 2012-13 Foodbank Victoria distributed 9.9 million meals, but that was still not enough to meet demand with an estimated 11,000 Victorians seeking food relief every month but not getting it.

Foodbank relied on public donations, Mr McNamara said.

“Every dollar that is donated allows Foodbank Victoria to distribute $7 worth of food to families in need.”

Women’s Domestic Violence Crisis Service chief executive Annette Gillespie said women in safe housing often depend on Foodbank to survive.

“Women leaving violent relationships often have to leave in a hurry without any clothing, food or essential items,” she said

FareShare is calling for donations of rice, fresh and frozen vegetables, pasta, canned and dried legumes, cream, coconut milk, dried herbs and spices.

Coping with rising cost of living

Some 66% of Malaysian households earn less than RM5,000 a month. How do these families cope? Four families earning between RM3,000 and RM5,000 share their smart spending tips.

SK Taman Megah clerk Roshanizar Ali, 41, and her Customs officer husband have five children aged between four and 12 years old and they take home a joint income of RM3,000.

They live in the Kelana Jaya Customs Department quarters and this has helped them save some money on housing rental. However, there is an allowance deduction on this, so it’s not free.

“My average household expenditure for groceries including non-perishables as well as fresh produce is about RM600.

“Out of this, I spend between RM300 and RM350 for dry goods and non-perishables such as sugar, flour, detergent and rice.

“As for fresh produce, my expenditure is RM150 for two weeks’ worth of food, bringing it to about RM300 per month,” said Roshanizar.

She said the first thing they do when they get their salaries is to keep aside between RM100 and RM300 per month for emergencies like illness in the family, or even tobalik kampung.

“Then I will pay off the car loan, any bank loans, the household utility bills, fuel, tuition fees for the children, babysitter fees and other bills like mobile phone bills.

“After doing the rounds at all the supermarkets and hypermarkets in the area, I have found that the cheapest place for me to buy dry goods and non-perishables is Speed Mart,” she said.

“At home, I prepare breakfast and lunch for my family in the mornings. I’m at work by 7.15am each morning and by the time I return home it’s about 6.15pm.

“My children also go to SK Taman Megah so they travel with me. My husband only returns about 8pm after his job as a customs officer in a factory.

“Before he returns I will cook dinner – I will usually cook rice in the mornings to save on time. For dinner, I will cook a vegetable dish and either a fish or chicken dish.

“I will never cook chicken and fish together. We only go out to eat about once a month, we can’t afford to do it more often than that.

“I do feel the pinch from the increase in the cost of fuel prices as I drive a car. But in order to save, my husband rides a motorcycle,” said Roshanizar.

Roshanizar’s budgeting tips are:

• Use your salary to pay for the necessities first such as loans and bills

• Share information of good buys with friends

• If you find things on offer, buy enough to last your family for the following month

• For Hari Raya clothes, don’t wait until it’s actually Raya time to buy. This way, you spread out your spending over the year.

Retiree SL Ho, 60, lives with his retired wife and are dependent on their 26-year-old daughter in Wangsa Maju with a household take home salary of RM3,000.

To save, he said they eat sandwiches every day and they have invested in a bread maker because they found that the prices of bread kept going up but the quality was not improving.

“So we decided to take matters into our own hands and make our own bread. The cost of baking the bread and the sandwich fillings come to less than RM10 each day for the four of us. When it comes to groceries, I buy it either from Tesco or Aeon Big. I tend to buy house brands or generic brands because they cost much less than recognised brand names, There’s quite a sizeable difference in price,” said Ho.

For example, he said this Chinese New Year, a piece of golden pomfret cost him half the price at Aeon Big compared to the wet market.

“I think the quality is up to par, given the big price difference.

“Another thing which I have found is the use of credit cards from banks which offer cash rebates.

“I have a credit card where the bank offers me a cash rebate for purchases I make on it. I also get cash vouchers from hypermarkets and this is also a form of savings for me,” he said.

“I go to the hypermarket about once a week and each time I spend between RM150 and RM200. On average, I spend about RM1,000 on food products and non-perishable household items for the month.

“We save money in other ways as well. I think very carefully about driving to other parts of KL, as petrol costs me RM0.25 per km in my car,” he said.

Causes of Rising in Living Cost

There is no need for a special cabinet committee to study the rising cost of living as the root causes of the problem have already been highlighted in the Auditor General's Report, a political analyst said.

Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs chief executive Wan Saiful Wan Jan (pic) said weaknesses in the government's handling of finances have already been made known in the report.

"Those are some of the root causes right there. Government wastage, extravagant spending and corruption are a few reasons why this is happening.

 "And it is all in the AG's report. So we don't need a special committee, which will only be an extra layer of bureaucracy, to tell us this," he said.

The scathing remarks from the political analyst comes following an announcement by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin that a special committee to tackle the cost of living would be set up, to handle the issue in an integrated manner.

Muhyiddin had said that one of the committee’s roles was to coordinate the policies and programmes of the various ministries and agencies involved in easing the burden of the people, and collaborate with the fiscal policy committee – chaired by the prime minister – in scrutinising the government's taxation policy and subsidy rationalisation.

"The outcome of the study would be announced to the public through the various media to facilitate the people in making comparisons and to understand the actual reality on the price increase," he was quoted as saying.

However, Wan Saiful said that he feared the committee would only come up with more "subsidies and cash handouts", such as the Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) as solutions to the rising cost of living.

"But that (subsidies and handouts) is also one of the sources. The government has finally realised that it does not have the money to continue with these things.

"We are now suffering as a result of bad decisions by the previous government," he added.

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed also said that there was no need for a cabinet committee to address living costs if ministers coordinated their work.

He said that ministers only had to work together to show they are sincere in helping the public, especially in the wake of skyrocketing prices of necessities.

"If there is coordination among ministers, there is no need for this cabinet committee on living costs chaired by the deputy prime minister himself," Nur Jazlan added.

DAP secretary-general and Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng also poured cold water on the setting up of the committee, saying that it would not change anything if it could not ensure that salaries are increased to help the people cope with rising prices.

He said Muhyiddin has used a lot of "fancy academic terms" without addressing the two main issues that concern 28 million ordinary Malaysians: whether Barisan Nasional (BN) is going to reduce prices or increase salaries.

"What is the use of the BN government spending money to create a special laboratory for two weeks beginning today to study measures to ease the burden of the people when they cannot even understand that price increases are not about the price of kangkung alone."

RAM Holdings Bhd group chief economist Yeah Kim Leng agreed, adding that while Muhyiddin's idea was good, it should look into the salaries of Malaysians.

"That is the key to ensure the people will be able to cope. You can't stop price increases.

"The pay should rise faster than inflation," he said.

Yeah called on Putrajaya to get its economic management philosophy right by not interfering with the prices of goods.

"Free market will ensure prices are competitive so the government should not interfere in the pricing system," he said.

"Eliminate monopolies that are keeping prices of goods high," he said, adding that the committee should also educate the public on how Malaysians can cope with the rising cost of living. – January 18, 2014.