Thursday 26 December 2013

Do you really get impoverished by the price hikes?

At the office now.

Nothing much to do. Most of my colleagues are still on Christmas holiday. They will only be coming back after the New Year Day.

Surfed the blogs and saw Syed Akhbar Ali being angry again here Kalau Bukan Salah UMNO Habis Salah Upin Ipin Ke?

Relax la Tuan Syed, holiday season no need to be angry angry la. Try not be too offended by the stupidity of the likes of Ahmad Maslan. Kalau nak marah every time Ahmad Maslan bukak mulut, letih la Tuan Syed. Dah memang dia tu macam tu, nak buat macam mana. Memang dah salah ibu mengandung punya kes.

Anyway, blaming Umno for everything including causing everyone to be impoverished, especially the Malays was not actually a very nice thing too. As if Umno is all so evil. Sounds very DAPish la.

Whatever it is, I don't think that many Malays or those of other races have suddenly became poor because of what seem to be not so wise decisions by the government which caused the price hikes of several items and services.

Yesterday, on Christmas Day, I went shopping again, this time at the Curve.

Well, I was not really shopping but more like escorting some ladies and their kids to do their shopping.

The road was jammed with shoppers, so, I dropped them off in front of the Ikea and then went to a nearby car wash. The wash and polish costs RM250. Later when I picked up the car I found that they had not done a very good job. I'm not going to send my car there anymore.

Walked over to the Curve and found the place to be packed just like it was when I went to shop at Mid Valley the other day.

This time the crowd is about 40 per cent Malays, 40 per cent Chinese, 20 per cent Indians dan lain-lain.

Yes, there are more Malays this time. Gaji sudah masuk agaknya.

I saw the Aidijumah's tudung shop at the Curve being swarmed by the ladies yesterday. Here is the picture at the shop which I took myself.


So, they are not exactly impoverished, I think.

Anyway, I really don't get it when it comes to Malay ladies and their tudung.

Well, I know that it is a rather simplistic way to gauge the prosperity level of the community but then, I am a simple person and to me if there are many people shopping at a premium shopping mall like that, it's an indication that things are not really too bad.

If you want to really get facts and figures, then go to the relevant ministries' websites and check if the number of people living in poverty has increased following the recent price hikes that everyone are bitching about.

While you are at it, do also check if the number of households with Astro services had decreased of late, including at the squatter areas.

Yup, you should also check with the telcos if the number of Malaysians using smart phones had decreased because many could not afford to pay their bills anymore.

You know of anyone who had stopped using smartphone because he/she can't pay the data package?

I mean, yes, the price hikes were really bitches, but to say that it impoverished the people is a bit too extreme la.

And to blame it solely on Umno is also not exactly very wise, I think, as there are many factors to be considered, okay.

Well, if you must, I rather blame it all on Ahmad Maslan.

Why the hell Najib made him deputy finance minister is beyond me, actually.

Whatever it is, lets not get extreme and too negative. I think we should wait for more developments which may improve Malaysia next year.

Najib had in his speech at the MCA's AGM recently said the government is making adjustments so that the rakyat will not be too burdened by the rising costs of living. Hopefully there will indeed be good things coming after this.

If there are none, then by all means, go ahead and vote for Anwar Ibrahim to be made PM in the next general election. Hopefully he will not try to sell off the country to the IMF like what happened when he was finance minister in the late 90s.

And I think Mat Sabu will make a good replacement for Ahmad Maslan as deputy finance minister in Anwar's Cabinet.

54 comments:

  1. "Witty and insightful".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. could u imagine 20millions malays boycotting 5million chinese shops n products...

      definitely these cinabeng ll bancrupt tutup kedai they ll go back to china automatically

      BCL.. BUYS CHINESE LAST

      Delete
    2. stupid anon 20:10, otak tarak. sudah bancrupt mana-lah ada duit tambang balik china ? Can you imagine 20 millions Malays tsunami to wipe out UMNO from the country in next GE ?

      Delete
    3. 22.22 moron malay behaving like anjing baruah cina a kurap type

      din u read that i had prepared 100 tongkang free of charge to ship out them back to china

      umno is bad in some policies but i rather vote umno then pas bahlol who kopiah willing to be anjing baruah cina

      as anwar ermm gone case a homosexual person is not fit to be a pm

      ABC..ASALKAN BUKAN CINA

      BCL..BUY CHINESE LAST

      HSC..HAPUSKAN SEKOLAH CINA

      DAP..DOGS AND PIGS

      Delete
    4. UMNO....Umno Means Nothing Okay

      Delete
    5. Annie is NOT insightful. Her analysis of the situation is just plain shallow and childish. The effects of the price increases (excepting sugar and petrol which is slowly creeping up) will be felt by all next year when the toll and electricity increases come into play. Everything then will escalate and it will get worse when the GST takes effect. Obviously people are still shopping currently because of the sales, where stuff is discounted. Wait until the first quarter of next year and see the data then. Syed is right. Annie is wrong. Also wait until the EPF starts dolling out your money in installments of RM800/- per month in future because they may not have enough money to enable contributors to make full withdrawal when they reach 55 or 60.

      Delete
    6. Ha ha ha , I just started reading your blog. Rather interesting about what you write and twist the facts to some extent-I agree, How you deem Chinese as tipu lah, suka complain lah, mungkir janji lah. I don't want to argue with you on this because you know Chinese characters from your mom and yes, you are right. However, there is something that you are
      not right about, things that are of no importance -Chinese are not interested to complain lah! Especially when it comes to what politicians shout about. I am just another Chinese guy whom maybe in your neighbourhood, tak suka sibuk atau buat buat sibuk macam you lah. Kalau dia orang nak beli ker , nak belanja lebih ker, duit sendiri ker, duit suami ker atau duit asalnya dari madu suami ker, tak per lah. Asal kan dia bahagia atau kononnya rasa bahagia kerana pakai tudung nak tutup aurat , bergaya sikit lah. Tapi yang ini penting. You just came into the office after holiday break, During your working hours-you are writing blog, condemning others. You mentioned nothing much to do in the office. I believe you are missing your mom's gene here! At work you don't do personal matters especially yang tak berfaedah sangat lah. You focus on your work-related chores and of course you wrote this at year end. Have you checked what had you achieved in 2013 ? What had you planned in place to be better in 2014? Whacking Chinese? Condemning LGE?DAP?PAS? I hope you do with more facts and in-depth thinking before making embarrassment to your Chinese gene .Very common right, masa kerja tak bersemangat, mengutuk, mengada-ngatakan yang tak wujud, menyalahkan orang. Ada cermin tak kat office tu? Renung renungkan sendiri dalam cermin tu. Pakai tudung tak dik?

      Delete
    7. Buy Chinese Last. Boleh dipertimbangkan ker? Have you imagine what else could be left on the shopping racks if you lift hasil buatan cina? Saya tak anti Malay and anti UMNO, but I bimbang untuk you lah, nanti shopping cart you tinggal kerepek ubi, nasi lemak , goring pisang dan kueh bahulu jer-camane? Saya tak ingat sangat lah , aper jenama dan barangan buatan Melayu yang termasyur sangat. Can you help me?
      To be truthful I suka makan kueh bahulu kat Giant, Tesco tapi yang betul betul tengah buat kueh bahulu tu, orang Bangla. Kalau nak pakai condom tu pun, buatan syarikat Cina, nak pegang mayat pun pakai sarung tangan buatan Top Glove, syarikat kawan saya, Kenal tak? Tak per pulak kalo ko tak beli pun 20,000 juta . Kita pasarkan kat negara luar. sekurang kurangnya dapat tukaran wang asing dan bayar tax, pastu beleh bina masjid untuk kegunaan ......

      Delete
    8. @anon 00:35,

      Why are you so racist? What makes you think it's ok for you to say or make such remarks about another race. This is just really bad upbringing.
      To the author of this article OMG you need to stop writing. People like you are the reason Malays get a bad name. Stop embarrassing you race.

      Delete
  2. Kalau betul jasa UMNO, kalau salah, salah mesti bukan UMNO punya.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dont judged what the ladies are doing at the shop.

    1. Their money and the husband money are theirs.
    2. They like to cuci mata. They may not buy the tudung. They were there just to be seen in the crowd.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. En Esa, they are really buying the tudung. This type of tudung is currently the hottest. I'm not bluffing. As for the money being theirs, well, looks like they still have money and yet to be really impoverished by Umno.

      Delete
    2. Well juma's tudung is at the lower end of pricing scale. You should see the ridiculous pricing of Fareeda brand (and the equally ridiculous people wearing the much more ridiculous design of the tudungs)

      Delete
    3. Kakak saya melawak bahawa dia tak nak bermenantukan orang yang pakai tudung Fareeda sebab itu menunjukkan seolah-olah orang itu tak ada "taste". Design tudung Fareeda terlalu "over", sampaikan ada design yang nampak macam design baju badut (clown).

      Delete
    4. haha..your sister is v smart!

      Delete
    5. semua beli dengan kad kredit.... itu sebab Annie kata semua orang punya pocket ada wang, harga barangan naik oleh UMNO pon tak apa lah, UMNO is the best !

      Delete
    6. Annie ni memang mangkok, tengok saje makcik2 shopping dan beli kat the Curve sudah buat conclusion rakyat ada wang, price hike no problem....ni dia Annie Mangkok, patutlah tak lulus UiTM, sampai professor kangkung pon tidak boleh terima analysis Annie !!

      Delete
    7. Anon 26 Dec 2013 19:50
      You are the black magic women/men. Just by looking at them, You tahu dia orang belanja pakai kad kredit!. Yang kelakarnya, tahu kah anda kalau pakai kad kredit kena bayar balik. Adakah itu pun anda tidak tahu?

      Anon 26 Dec, 2013 22:26,
      I really hate people who call other people 'mangkok' or any other degrading names! As far as I am concern this type of people are more 'mangkok' than Annie.
      If you are so cleaver why give your comment 'bertaraf longkang' Give facts and figures to support your opinion men, instead of insulting people!

      Delete
    8. anon 08:16, you ni pon bodoh macam mangkok, kad kredit membenarkan pengguna beli dulu bayar kemudian. Tapi bila nak bayar tak tahu lah, yg tak bayar tu jadi hutang, bulan2 bayar kena interest. Kalau dah sampai interest pon tak mampu bayar, jadilah bankrap. Adakah itu pun anda tidak tahu ?

      Delete
    9. anon 08:16,
      You also another mangkok. First, please get Annie mangkok 'supporters' stop calling people dogs and pigs and give constructive comments.

      Delete
  4. People r working 2 even 3 jobs to survive. Yup. if only u know where to look. U wont find them in shpping mall. They can only spend 2 hours at hom let alone shopping.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. err,..before the price hikes nobody worked 2 or 3 jobs to survive ka? You mean they go home and sleep for just two hours? Are you sure? Enough ka sleeping just for two hours? If true then Umno is indeed very evil.

      Delete
    2. Hahaha....good one Annie.

      Delete
    3. what so good one akaz ? Annie kentut you also say good ar !

      Delete
    4. Annie, tolonglah sikit, kasi jawab betul-betul. Perangai pon macam orang giler. Ya lah , price hike is good for the Rakyat, annie tetap sokong price hike kan ?

      Delete
    5. Oleh kerana Annie tak percaya ada yg tido di rumah 2 jam, kita boleh jumpa di Kluang dan saya akan tunjukkan siapa. Salah seorangnya bekas askar yang terpaksa menyara 4 orang anak. Bolehlah dia bagi penampo kasi Annie sedar diri sikit.

      Memang sebelum ini pun sudah ramai yang terpaksa membuat 2 3 kerja. Tidak pelik kerana sebelum ini pun orang yang sama memerintah dan mentadbir negara. Tapi janganlah menyulitkan lagi keadaan.

      Saya tidak kata kerajaan baru lebih baik. Tapi kemungkinan itu ada kerana jelas sekali kerajaan sekarang tidak memahami kepayahan rakyat apatah lagi hendak menaikkan taraf hidup mereka yang sedia susah ini.

      Saya hanya boleh membantu sekadar kemampuan saya. Dan saya lihat ada di kalangan yang berada mempunyai kesedaran untuk membantu. Alhamdulillah.

      Delete
    6. Tido dua jam waktu malam, empat jam waktu siang semasa kerja.

      I've never met anyone who can survive on two-hours sleep a day continuously.

      Delete
  5. In the advent of uncertainty and actuality, we are unconsciously been trapped in the situation between the devil and deep blue sea or that be in catch 22 situation.  

    The key note of man is adaptation and improvisation is the natural element to man survival. We need the mind like Annie's to rationalize the different and be cool in our prospectives.

    ReplyDelete
  6. With the slew of price hikes, the guys who'll get hit the most are are the folks who live and work in city areas. Others not that much. Of course all of us will be affected, but it won't be as hard hit as them. Most of the are wage earners as well. Their wage will still be same despite the rising costs. These group of people are the ones who frequently plying the toll roads, shopping in franchise chains, chain smokers, send their young at childcare supports (since both are working) and living in costly places, They are the ones who have to fork out at every move and turn with their meagre salary. These are the people that need help the most. If the government want to help, then they should focus on these people .
    So the rest, jangan poyo sangat boleh?. Jangan lebih sudu dari kuah. Especially the politicians.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I don't believe all these government hooha about increase in price to save government from bankruptcy. Whispers in the contracting business circle indicate that ministers were asking 20% cut from projects. With industry norm margin 30%, how to survive. Is rakyat paying for these 20% cut?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Whispers...
      Coffee talk...
      Rumours....
      But no one come forward to confirm it. As usual its alaways heard from someone who heard it from someone else. A very clever campaign. Effective. Free. Impossible to counter.

      Delete
    2. UMNO Rabbit, who dare to come forward ? nanti mati katak macam Teoh Beng Hock !!!

      Delete
    3. teoh beng hock cina penyamun memang patut mati katak pun he deserved it so does lim pig sial the cina sial

      Delete
    4. No one looking for long term involvement in the industry will want to come forward and complain. They just talk about it and look for other jobs. Nothing to do with whether they dare or not. It's just the Malaysian way of doing business.

      Delete
  8. Stupid Annie, ya lah everybody is happy with the price hike and everybody got money in their pocket thanks to UMNO.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Annie,

    I am not surprised that you do see many Malays out shopping in nice shopping centers.

    According to the Department of Statistics, ( http://www.statistics.gov.my/portal/images/stories/files/LatestReleases/household/HIS_2012_Eng.pdf ), on an average month, the average Chinese makes about RM6300, the average Indian makes about RM5200 and the average Malay makes about RM4400.

    Now, in my kampung, I do not see any evidence of this. To be honest, I suspect those figures are rigged to give the impression that the Malays are hard done by.

    Around my kampung, most of the Chinese I see make about RM1000 to RM2000, most Indians make about RM500 to RM1500 and most Malays make about RM1000 to RM2000.

    In my opinion, the Indians are actually the most disadvantaged around my kampung.

    I would also like to know who has the balance of my share because I live on less than RM2000 per month.

    I don't know if other readers of your blog see a similar picture to what I see around my kampung. Maybe they could share their views as it could be interesting to know.

    Now, here is another twist.

    Where the Chinese and the Indians tend to have only one or two breadwinners per family, the typical Malay family around my kampung often has at least two and as many as five breadwinners per family.

    The economic power of the Malay family is actually quite strong.

    One Malay guy whom I had always thought was quite poor surprised me. I visited his house one day and he had three fairly new cars and four nice motor bikes parked outside :)

    Now, I was not jealous or anything like that - I was actually quite relieved and happy he was not destitute. I was just surprised.

    I asked him why he had some many vehicles. It turned out he had 5 grown up children living with him, and those vehicles belonged to them.

    He told me that they were at work and they used other less nice motorbikes to get to work :) Heheheheh, who said Melayu bukan pandai? :)

    As the head of the household, he lived modestly himself but he was able to convince his children to pool their money together to buy nice things for themselves.

    The Chinese and the Malays in Malaysia should take a long hard look at themselves and start thinking of other Malaysians who are really disadvantaged, ie the Indians.

    It is simply embarrassing to me when I hear the Chinese and Malays bleating about how tough things.

    When are we going to stop this senseless racial bullshit and starting thinking of ourselves just as human beings who are Malaysians?

    Gladiator

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree with you. The statistic is inconclusive by its figures. It does not represent the reality of income versus affordability.

      The revelation is, families are taking shape to what a family ought to be. The unite of nuclear families has naturally shown progress. Their collective effect to dispute the accommodative raising cost is not worth for bickering. 

      Families are beginning to consolidate their incomes and resources collectively among the family members to meet the gradual raising cost of living. Appropriate saving and spending are realize for action taken as an order of the day.

      In our family, we are becoming much concern of wastage. Unnecessary things become more watchful. We quit spending unnecessarily thus increase our collective saving. 

      On one hand,  managing our fix incomes and spending are still manageable. We believe our economy is manageable and sustainable upon the situation of the economic uncertainty. We hope the economic transformation program a being responsive and bring speedy recovery to lesser the pinch sooner.

      On the other hand, the faux of the raising cost has its blessing. This phenomena is going to bring back the family together, more caring for each other is much being felt. The meaning of family has been realized especially in the urban area, at least to my family. We are coming back together which is a gift and no for trade off.

      Delete
    2. ar ? price hike can bring family together ?

      Delete
  10. Annie,

    Yang Melayu Kaya Ghairah Membeli belah di shopping mall adalah Anak Anak yang ibu bapa sudah kebas duit UMNO Laa.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anon 19:45 is an RBA - always kutuk UMNO but not DAP. The cost of properties is sky rocketing in PR controlled States like Penang and Selangor but no critics from RBAs as they are employed by their DAPig masters. Just like their pig masters kit sial and his son the iguana, they kutuk UMNO whenever they have a chance. Read kit sial 's X'Mas message.

      Many Malays are now in the middle income group, thanks to the NEP. The chinkies cannot question the NEP because we can also question their rights to be the citizens of Malaysia. Lucutkan kerayatan Malaysia then we will forgo our NEP.

      Delete
    2. anon 20:53 a typical stupid UMNO macai, can't take the heat like Najib.
      Only UMNO macai is constantly asking chinese to balik china and lucut kerakyatan, can you guys come with better argument or not ?

      Delete
    3. When the chinkies come up with stupid comments, we have to balas with stupid comments or else their chinkie pig brains would not understand.

      So anon 22:19,

      Bila lu mahu balik Cina? I can pay your trip via tongkang as that was how your pendatang ancestors came to Tanah Melayu.

      Delete
    4. a moron chinese comment shall be replied in harsh manner thats the only language pendatang sepet paham

      ini cina memang babi if u talk or comment nicely they still gonna attack malay so malay wake up FIST WTH AN IRON FIST..hit these pendatang sepet hard they are minority barking as if they are majority

      btw... if above guy had prepared 100 tongkang i also had prepared 500 tongkang to tongkang back all these dirty pendatang sepet

      Delete
    5. Writing under influence .. daun ketum maybe?

      Delete
    6. This reply is for the 100 tongkang guy! Bila kita tegur bodohkau tersinggung, tapi tak ker ko bodoh? Dunia berteknologi moden hari ini pun kau nak antar orang Cina " balik " Negara Cina dengan Tongkoang? Kalau benarbenar nekad nak antar biarlah pakai kapal besar ker , kapal terbang baru one way ticket terus sampai. You sediakan Tongkang supaya nanti sampai jer kat Kuala Nerang dia patah balik sebab tiupan angina laut Cina selatan. Sebenarnya ko saying sangat kat kita kan supaya tak payah beri alasan orang Cina dihayutkan balik ke Negara tercinta nin kan untuk membantu ko membangunkan Negara ini untuk kepenntingan 20,000,000 Malay friends kan? For the other person yang nak sediakan 500 tongkang for Malays to balik Indonesia pulak-I want to lecture you lah! If you think Malay tak pandai- ko pun apa lebihnya? Tak sampai 5km dari perkarangan selat Melaka, pasukan Maritim Malaysia sudah bawak balik ke Port Klang lah! Sama sama kat tanahair ni, nak halau halau sesame sendiri, tak ker kamu Nampak tak sekarang tanahair kita ini dah penuh dengan warga ketiga? Myanmar , Arab , Vietnam? Bangla? Nepal? Indon(tak payah pertikai lagi dah), Silap hari bulan kita yang kena halau kalau kita tak bersatu! Masa tu baru nak menyesal, tak lah nak harapkan our Politicians, diaorang dah jauh pergi ke London ker, New York ker sebab ada bed Birkin kat sana, ada Condo mewah RM110 juta , Wake up wake up!

      Delete
  11. Good one Annie! I am a fan of OutSyed The Box but I noticed that recently he is becoming a bit of a drama queen (well king in his case I suppose!).

    What I am most worried is not the higher cost of living .. but the increasing involvement of Government in religious matter and the arrogance of the minority Christians. To me a peaceful country is of utmost importance. In a peaceful country everybody can cari makan. If cost of living goes up we can adjust our spending accordingly or find a better paying job.

    But imagine if Malaysia have religious conflict - demo, burning of properties etc etc how can we survive? At that time even people with money will know how useless their money is. At that point in time only we will know the real high cost of living.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. tanah melayu ll never have peace selagi we dont send back the pendatang greedy sepet back to china

      Delete
  12. Sir Wenger Khairy26 December 2013 at 22:54

    Annie Blogger,

    Some data that sheds the necessary light on the situation of affordability and increase in prices.

    For that, please refer to the study by Standard Chartered bank on the Asian debt burden. The link is over here .

    The statistic to note is on page 9. Malaysia's household debt to GDP is highest at 177% of GDP, and the Debt Service Ratio at 18%. These are the highest amongst the panel of Asian countries that were studied.

    The effect of a price increase is akin to getting impoverished because the purchasing power of the currency is devalued when prices rise. This is simple economics.

    As to who needs to be blamed, then all arguments are pointless. There was a election and the majority society chose BN.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So, Malaysians are now impoverished people according to Standard Chartered Bank. No wonder so many of them are now starving and begging on the streets. The ones packing the malls shopping like crazy must actually be tourists. This is simple facts, right? Anyway, who owns Standard Chartered? Clever people.

      Delete
    2. Malaysians do spend above their means by buying non-essential-luxury items such as smart phones, electronic gadgets, flashy cars and luxury shoes and bags. Its the image portrayed by conglomerates on how a successful Malaysian should be. Who own most of the big companies? Who else, but the chinese, who used to hang around UMNO, who corruptly nurtured them from filthy subcontractors to billionaires. Now that they are successful, they ditched UMNO to be solidly behind DAP.

      Yes, the corrupt UMNO is the root cause of this crazy household debt.

      Delete
  13. Do any of the readers here know people working in the credit control depts of banks?

    If you do, you'll find that those late by 3 term loan (eg housing loan) monthly installment payments have increased significantly over the last 12 months.

    For people who go maximum when taking loan, an increase in unavoidable expenses eg petrol, toll, transport and electricity costs will eat into money meant for other uses.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Why are those tudung ladies so hung up on buying more tudungs? Isn't one kind enough? I am sure the DAPigs who are now experts in Islam can admonish those fashionista muslims ladies to the straight and narrow path of righteousness and humility.

    Instead of scrounging for head gear fabric, those malay women should have been in the book stores grabbing books like Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom, which can help teach their wayward Malay sons and daughters the ancient Chinese traditions that may guide the Malay youth to paths of academic and ultimate financial success!

    No life is worth living without prosperity. Pucker those lips and learn to suckle on the teat of the money grubbing Pig God that the Sino Ancients had worshipped for many generations, and which has now transformed itself into a bearded Jew that preaches unfettered capitalism and social division! Kneel before the crucifix of the dollar , euro and renminbi!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 4:32
      You don't understand sarcasm?

      Delete
  15. Read this Annie and then ask yourself if you are not being a tad naive.

    http://www.themalaymailonline.com/what-you-think/article/shopping-is-just-the-beginning-zahrin-abdul-rahman

    ReplyDelete