SHOW ME THE MONEY!

" Show me the money!" Tom Cruise said in one of his movies. I am afraid nowadays people are having problems to show their money due to the value of their savings shrinking by the day.

The cost of living is sky rocketing in the metropolitan areas and slowly increasing in the suburbs and rural areas. The prices of essential items are on the rise thanks to the petrol price increase lately. Yesterday petrol price reduction to Rm 2.30 per liter did no translate to an instant reduction in the food items. So the people are complaining and blaming the unscrupulous suppliers for not reducing their prices. Eventually all costs will be handed over to the consumers, that is the nature of the business chain.

When i was growing up in the 70s and 80s, things were much simpler. I was given a 20sen allowance to go to primary school. With that i used 10sen for bus fare to and fro, 5 sen for a glass of orange juice and 5 sen for a piece of cake during recess. During secondary school, my allowance was raised to 50sen and eventually a ringgit by 1979. Bus fare shot to 40 sen to and fro by the end i finished school and went to university in the States. Roti canai back then was only 20sen and a stick of satay was only 15sen the most. A brand new car Mitsubishi Galant was only Rm9000 during the mid 70s! Back then if your brothers or sisters were getting salary around RM1000 plus, it was considered high. Our electricity bill never exceeded Rm20! A liter of petrol was less than 50sen! and best of all it only cost us Rm1.65 to watch a movie sitting in a first class section!

Fast forward to today where we claim to have to have much improved and becoming a developed nation by 2020. A liter of petrol costs Rm2.30 yesterday, a bag of 5kg local rice cost RM18++, a piece of roti canai costs almost a ringgit, a movie ticket cost Rm11.00, an entry car like Kanchil cost around Rm30,000, and a bottle of mineral water is more expensive than a liter of petrol back then! How much things have changed and the value of money has shrunk! An engineer or architect with an average salary of Rm6000 will struggle to pay for car loan, house loan and keeping a kid or two! He also has to struggle with tolls, increase in car maintenance, tax, increase in medical bills etc. Yesterday i was shocked when a clinic charged close to Rm100 for flu medicine for both of my kids! The cost of everything around us jumped by leaps and bounds but yet the salary increase is very slow at a snail pace. A lot of people have to do two jobs to survive. With the recession around the corner, God knows the hardship these people are going to face. Of course, the rich are getting richer by the day and have no inkling of this or would not care less. The irony is that a lot of them used to be poor! The politicians only stick their necks out only there is something to gain. They are more concerned about taking care of their corporate friends' interests. Mr PM asked us to change our lifestyles and save a lot, question is what is there to save?

Tun Mahathir was right, protect the buying power of consumers by making the value of money high, and keeping the cost down. If need be, repeg the ringgit at certain level. The economy is now export oriented, that is why the government does not want to repeg the ringgit because by keeping the ringgit value low there will be more export to foreign countries bringing in cash flow to the country. But with ringgit value low the import stuffs will be expensive for the local consumers thus reducing the paying power and value of money. A right balance need to be found fast by the government to keep the economy healthy and the people happy.

Otherwise, we cant show you the money as none is left to show!

A BIT OF EVERYTHING, A WHOLE OF NOTHING

I came across a saying today in the internet that goes " it is better to have a bit of everything than to have a whole of nothing!".

I find the saying very interesting and powerful.

I see today in Malaysia, there are groups of people who want to be whiter than white in name of absolute democracy and freedom. They are asking for abolition of all sorts of laws perceived as draconian like ISA. They claimed to represent the majority of the population when in fact there are just a minority who have their own agendas.

Everyday they pick on issues to make the government look bad and go on whitch hunt in the blaming game. They claimed they are being oppressed and have no qualm complaining to foreign governments for assistance, so the elected government can be pressured to give in to their demands. Small issues are fanned everyday to become big issues which can cause cracks in this multi-ethnic and multi-religion society. All in the name of justice, transparency and democracy.

But i wonder, if Malaysia is so bad, why still stay and along the way make a fortune for themselves and families? Why people from other countries are trying their best to come here and settle down legally or illegally? Why not these people go to the United States or UK or Australia, the cradle of democracy? Is it because they wont survive there as newcomers because these countries practice double standards, discrimination, tough immigration laws and also not perfect in their administration?

There are no governments on this planet Earth who are perfect, democratic or socialist countries lumped together. As long human are called human, there will be imperfections in making laws, governing and so on. There will be bias depending from which eyes you are looking from. However, imperfections can be improved and fixed with proper discussion, negotiations and trials and errors.

Creating havoc and chaos to get one's wishes may not be the best way in this land. We have come a long way and become more civilised since the last millenium. Street demonstration and crashing somebody festive celebration with demands are not the way to go in Malaysia. It just creates more hate and hate is not a good thing. Negotiations and tactful discussions will bring the best results. Malaysia also got her independence without firing a single bullet. She is a young country of 51years only, surely one cannot expect it to be perfect in every way compares to the more developed countries in the West. Even these countries are not perfect, so be patient.

It is better to have a bit of everything than having a whole of nothing. Malaysia will be nothing if it crumbles under never ending chaos and internal conflicts. We do not want that do we?

DATUKSHIP A.K.A LORDSHIP

I came back to KL from the Hari Raya trip up north a week ago after a week away. I was recharged a bit after a hectic two weeks of moving house and raya celebration. The traffic was not so bad on the highway as most folks had come back to KL a lot earlier.

I find KL is still the same since i left. Malaysia is still the same with a lot of thorny issues cropped up here and there. Latest hot topic is the award of the Datukship (Lordship) title fom the Chief Minister of Malacca to an Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan from India.

Do not get me wrong, i have no personal issue with Mr Khan as i have watched a few of his movies which includes Kuch Kuch Ho Ta Hei and Akbar The Great. I personally think he is one of the best Indian actors in India along with Amitah Bachan and the Kapoors. The issue which is making it hot is why him?

The Datukship or Lordship title is bestowed by the Sultans, Chief Ministers and Federal Territories MP onto outstanding individuals for their achievements and contributions that benefit this country. Occassionally, non-citizens will be awarded also like Datuk Jean Todd from the Ferrari team. In this case, it could be for the intangible contribution like buying an island in the state of Terengganu for his second home which inturn tie the Ferrari name with Malaysia, therefore indirectly promoting Malaysia's name overseas. The act of awarding the Lordship by the United Kingdom government to outstanding individuals is quite similar although not so rampant.

So, it is the power that be's prerogative to give the award after considering certain criteria whether the individual deserve the award or not. The controversy is not on its right to give the award but the person the award is given to. What has Mr Shah Rukh Khan has done to deserve the award? The papers said because he chose one site in the state of Malacca to shoot his latest film therefore indirectly promoting the state's name. Hmmm...we better wait to watch the movie whether the state's name was even mentioned, otherwise it will be a joke on the Chief Minister. But by the same criteria, there are a lot of local actors and movie makers who used Malacca as their movie backdrops, why are they not given the same title? Why are we very quick to award foreigners the prestigious title and failed to treat the locals with the same respect? And to add salt to the injury, Mr Khan never showed up to receive the award which speaks volume of what he thinks of the award. This is not the Oscar award in Hollywood where you could ask your manager to receive on your behalf, this a Datukship award! How would the Queen of England feel if i did not show up for OBE award personally on that day?

I think, the power that be has to be more strict on the selection criteria to award the Datukship title to anybody to safeguard its prestige. The locals who have contributed so much for the nation should be given priority. Those fallen heroes of WWII and during the Communist Insurgency and Confrontation with Indonesia should be awarded and given lifetime allowance to their families for their contributions. There are still unsung heroes among our brave soldiers who are still alive deserve the title more than Mr Khan does. The veterans of the local film industries deserve the title more than somebody who lives in another continent 3000km away. Hell!...i myself also deserve the title for paying thousands of ringgit every year to the taxman for the last 20 years so Malaysia can have development budget to work with and prosper! So how come i am not getting one?

In the 1980s to 2000, i think there was an explosion of Datukship awards to almost any Tom, Dick and Harry in Malaysia which reached a stage like this joke implies " if you throw a stone along the Chowkit Road crowd, most likely it will fall on somebody with a title Datuk!". There were even some cases where some Datuks were found to have criminal background, and the title had to be retracted by the Sultan. There were also cases reported in the papers that a Datukship title can be bought with the right connection which tarnishes its image.

I hope the power that be, be more carefull and give more thoughts before simply awarding any member of the society or foreigners the Datukship title so it will not become an issue. Malaysia i think has the highest ratio of individuals with Datukship title per million of her citizens! Malaysia boleh spirit? or a good entry into Books of Records?