Ahah, lama tak jumpa!
Written on 9/09/2005 10:27:00 pm by sikapitan
The government announced yesterday that they would ease the burden of the Malaysian public by, among others, reducing road taxes and deferring plans to increase fuel prices. This is great news for the many average Malaysians who are cash-strapped as they deal with the rise in fuel prices. It seems awfully deja-vu when we talk about rising fuel prices. It seems like only yesterday I wrote on the effect of such increase to my daily habits.
Frankly speaking, so far I have not felt the pinch. And that’s the problem isn’t it? The gulf between the middle-class and the poor is vast. For us (it might be a bit pretentious to declare myself as middle-class but that pretty much hits the right spot), our lives doesn’t change. We still go to work on our own, pushing our little fuel-guzzlers like we always do, going out to clubs on weekends like we’re used to, taking trips to the local mamak stalls like it’s second nature. We keep on saying, “Damn…harga naik siot…” but we still make that trip to One Utama, we still drive to KLCC on weekends.
If that’s us, what about the policy-makers, the decision makers? They are at least more affluent than I am. So how do all these affect them? Certainly, they can still afford to fill up their BMW 530s, their Ferrari 360s, and their Bentley Continentals. In other words, the people who make the decisions don’t really feel what’s going on in the streets. The Nasi Lemak seller who relies on his old Proton Saga to set up a stall, the senior yet underpaid civil-servant struggling to support his four children, the cobbler whose only daughter dreams of being a doctor...and these are the lucky ones, if you believe me. Just watch Bersamamu on TV3 or those sappy documentaries on Majalah Tiga, and you’ll see how poor people can get. Imagine eating snails as your daily meals!
My point is this, at the end of the day, the policy makers need to take a long hard look at the whole situation and come up with a definitive plan to combat these problems. Easier said than done, but that is why we elect them don’t we? Or do we elect them based on the flags they’re carrying? Thoughts to ponder…
...
Posts
