IN OUR society, housewives or homemakers are the people most sensitive to the market prices of daily necessities, because they have to deal with inflation every day.
I meet these housewives regularly at my local supermarket and wet market. Occasionally, I see them venting their anger at rising prices on the local tradesmen.
But I know the problem of inflation has a much wider dimension than the retail prices charged at the market stalls.
We are told by economists that inflation is the result of too much money chasing too few goods.
Without understanding the mechanics of economics, most of us have just come to accept inflation as a fact of life.
Things that we need daily are always going up in price, and that is the bottom line of life in Malaysia.
We are aware that some commodities in Malaysia such as sugar, cooking oil and fuel are controlled items, and are therefore not subject to the usual variations of prices in the marketplace.
Even so, the selling prices of these essential items still keep going up by the day.
We are told that these controlled items have to be subsidised heavily by the government.
Malaysians have become addicted to government subsidies of these controlled items.
Any popularly elected government would hesitate to remove price controls.
In the process of subsidisation, the government has to pay billions for these price controls and the government now has the unenviable task of considering the option of letting the free market rule.
Any decision in these matters will be one of far-reaching consequence to the lives of the people.
And so, we Malaysians must urge caution and prudence before any decision is reached.
For average wage earners, they face the eternal problem of balancing their books at the end of every month.
For millions of Malaysian consumers who depend entirely on their limited monthly pay cheque, they have few other resources except their fixed income.
While salaries seldom rise, and expenses spiral upwards every month, keeping up a comfortable, or even decent, standard of living in the face of rising prices is not easy.
Pity the poor guy who has to suddenly grapple with the burden of paying medical expenses, such as an emergency operation or an unexpected illness.
It is true that the average citizen can still rely on government medical facilities which are mostly cheap or free.
But waiting in a public hospital requires a great deal of patience, as most of our hospitals are undermanned and overcrowded.
Fortunately, we have a pretty good system of private healthcare facilities for those who can afford to pay for them.
I know of a few Malay married ladies, with more than a few children to feed. Although they work, they find it hard to survive on their small take-home pay every month.
With many growing children, how these mothers can stay afloat, and withstand the tide of rising prices, is beyond me.
Malaysia is blessed with abundant natural resources, such as petroleum, timber and minerals.
By right, we should not have to witness our citizens grappling with inflation and fighting for mere survival.
We are a land of plenty. So it is painful to watch millions of Malaysians struggling to make ends meet.
The point of our country’s economy is not merely the production of wealth, but it must be the equitable distribution of wealth, and the opening of economic opportunities for all Malaysians.
Thank God, the oxygen in the air we breathe is still free of charge!
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