IN KUALA LUMPUR
"WHAT’S in it for me?" many ordinary Malaysians were asking yesterday, as they scoured the mini-budget for goodies that would directly benefit them.
As the economy flails, many Malaysians fear losing their jobs or facing wage cuts and being unable to make ends meet. They didn't take much comfort from the RM60 billion stimulus package tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.
The package offered assistance for retrenched workers and the unemployed, and goodies in the form of scholarships, rebate for car purchases, and tax incentives for house buyers.
But there were no measures to put money directly in the hands of the ordinary Malaysian who may still have jobs but an unsteady income.
Their apprehension came through in a wide range of interviews carried in the local media yesterday.
Mrs Anjalai Devi, 36, was quoted by NST as saying that she was worried about the unstable income of her family. She and her husband have a combined income of RM2,000 a month, but it is not steady. He is a contract worker while she is a tuition teacher.
She hoped that he would be able to be retrained, but the mini-budget only has provision for retrenched workers and unemployed graduates.
Mr Joseph Timmiah, 41, a cleaner, and his wife, also a cleaner, earn a combined income of RM1,400 a month. They live in a council flat for free.
He is happy that the government is offering a RM5,000 rebate for old cars as he has a very old Proton that breaks down often, but prefers help to buy a house.
Mrs Saemah Mohammad, 67, who earns about RM70 a month selling food and kuih in Johor Baru, told the Star that she hopes the government will help her. She has to support three of her five grown-up children, two of whom are disabled and one ill.
Mrs Vonica Khoo, 44, a housewife who lives in a middle-class neighbourhood in Petaling Jaya, was quoted by the NST as saying that it does not offer a helping hand for the middle class.
"It somehow does not address the needs of the entire cross-section of the Malaysian society, which is not only made up of the poor and low-income and those who have lost their jobs, but also the middle-income group which is one of the main drivers of the economy," she said.
But Mrs Khoo, who has two teenage children, hopes that the assistance for the retrenched will help keep society stable and the crime rate down.
The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations secretary-general Muhammad Shaani Abdullah sums it up by saying that the government has offered some breathing space. But the people still didn’t have enough to spend.
"At the end of the day, the people will still find it hard to make ends meet," he said.