Najib's Good Sweet Talk on GST won't work, MALAYSIANS WILL REVOLT!

“If you think mister that eating out is cheap, you better think again. Even if you eat at a stall or “mamak” shop, it is now very expensive, not like before. Simple food also is so expensive how to eat out so often?” lamented an elderly Chinese housewife to me.

This comment was quietly sought by me in my rounds to find out and get a clear and accurate picture of how the rakyat was faring in the country now. By going to the ground incognito, it was possible for me to get people’s views on the rising cost of living.

This elderly woman was among a number of people who spoke to me of their plight and worries in coping with inflation and the subsequent rising cost of living. They were common, ordinary folk living in the Klang Valley.

“Just a few years ago when I went to the pasar pagi, I needed only RM 50 to buy vegetables and fish to last me and my family for a few days. Now I find I have to stretch my budget to RM 100 for a few days’ groceries. It’s become difficult for me,” said an Indian taxi driver

“I think the government should not bring in the Good & Services tax, we are already suffering under a heavy burden. How to cope? It looks to me as if it is only the foreigners who have money and are having a good life in Malaysia,” complained Mokthar, a data entry clerk.

The good life

Are Malaysians having a good life? Are they happy with their Quality-of-Life?

By going to the ground, and if Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders will just send their scouts to conduct casual conversations with the people like me, they will find that the going is heavy for most of them who have to live from hand-to-mouth on a monthly basis.

BN’s cash handouts are a paltry sum. “It is most welcomed, the money that the government gives to us. But it is really very little and doesn’t go far nowadays. What perhaps should be done is to look into the wages and salaries of employees in the private sector,” said Teoh, a retiree.

Teoh added: “The government takes care of the increases in the cost of living for civil servants, but my children complain that in private sector jobs people have to work long and hard for pittance. The Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) should do something about this injustice. Reward workers fairly.”

While the MEF does have a large say about private sector workers, it is really the government who should go about to set the record straight. The BN government has failed to look and address the problem of the rising cost of living and neglected Malaysians.

Additional burdens

The BN government has been on an overt drive and campaign to get Malaysians to accept the Goods & Services Tax which is scheduled to come on-stream next year. But the people spoken to seem to think it’s a very bad idea to additionally burden them.

While only about 1.2 million Malaysians are in the tax-paying bracket, out of a population of 30 million, the Malaysian government complains that this is insufficient to raise funds to cover for the nation’s expenses and to develop the country further.

But if the government were to arrest the rot of corruption in their own backyard, it will be possible for Malaysians to be free of the Goods & Services Tax. Not only that, education from nursery to tertiary can be free, healthcare and housing affordable and prices of goods and services under control.

With the present continuous hike in prices and the gradual withdrawal of government subsidies, there has been an accelerated pace in the rise in prices of goods and services especially for the items that are essential and needed on a daily basis.

By imposing a Goods & Services Tax, this will add to the increases in prices. It is also expected that middlemen will be the real profiteers as they take advantage and have the opportunity to exploit the gap between manufacturers and producers and the retail industry.

Strong dislike

BN or known better as “barang naik” (prices increase) is now earning a strong dislike from the people. While the “golongan berada” (the haves) in this country continue to sit pretty and enjoy life, they pass on their burden to the poor, the low income group and the working class.

There is now in this country a widening gap between the haves and the have not’s. This all along has been the fault of the BN government for establishing through the specious grounds of affirmative action the governing elite in this country.

It is high time for the elite in this country that has been established to be dismantled as they are guilty of oppressing and denying opportunities to be made available to everyone. For a long time, the elite have squeezed dry the efforts of the have not’s and lived off them like parasites.

This malaise must be quickly addressed by the opposition coalition of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to act as a check-and-balance to ensure that the country is not hijacked by BN and the people not held for ransom. Pakatan has to learn to square off and inform the rakyat of their due rights as citizens.

Checks-and-balances must be in place otherwise the prices of goods and services inevitably will get higher and higher what more with the imposition of the Goods & Services Tax next year and at the same time incomes stagnating.

This unfairness has to be rectified. Malaysians of all walks of life must come together to say “No More” to the tyranny, bullying and oppression of the elite in this country who have failed to ensure in the first place that the wealth of the nation is equitably distributed.

Their failure to do so, the BN elite, is causing untold hardship, misery and suffering on the ordinary Malaysian. While VIPs move on to become VVIPs, the bulk of Malaysian’s earned a miserable living and is in limbo.

When will this unfairness and injustice stop?

It will only stop when Malaysians come together and stand united in the fight against corruption which has bred the elite class in this country. It will only stop when each and every Malaysian answer the wake-up call to fight for fair play, justice and meritocracy.

Anything less than that will eventually spell the death of this nation. - Malaysia Chronicle

Christopher Fernandez