Recently two pieces of news caught my attention. The first was the Prime Minister’s mantra to alleviate the burdens of the people due to the rising cost of living. His favourite programmes such as the 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M), 1Malaysia People’s Shop, 1Malaysia Housing Project, and 1Malaysia People’s Clinics were mentioned. The second was on how a student with RM30,000 worth of 1Malaysia Book Vouchers was purportedly cheated by three conmen.
How the government is so stubbornly pursuing policies and programmes that have proven to be senseless is simply beyond me. What started as a temporary form of relief has become a permanent feature of our economic management. Are we creating a nation of aid addicts?
As I understand, aid and other social safety nets are meant to tide us over temporary economic dislocations. However these programmes are ongoing, year in and year out, unless of course these have now become permanent fixtures of our economy.
Band-Aids can’t heal deep wounds. We cannot pretend our deep-seated economic woes will go away by continuously providing the people with “opium”. As time goes by, the amount of opium needed will swell simply because we have left the fundamental problems plaguing us, unresolved.
We have thousands of university and college graduates ill-equipped for employment simply because our economic structure has not changed fast enough to cater to this group.
The country’s “production function” is stuck in the mud because we have allowed the indiscriminate and unfettered entry of foreign workers in exchange for short-term convenience and expediency.
We have people working full-time, some even holding down two jobs, but somehow they cannot earn enough to sustain themselves and their families. What kind of wage and compensation system do we have? Is this not the cause why handing out BR1M to thousands has become a permanent programme?
Our cost of living continues to outstrip our income. Have we been honest to find out the reasons behind the high cost of living especially since the 13th general election? Is it a temporary shortage, supply distortions, gross inefficiencies, over-taxation, profiteering or money supply issues that are at the core of the country’s problems?
Have we found out why our ringgit has tanked, other than low commodity prices? Since we are an oil producer, we have used slumping oil prices as the reason behind our weak ringgit. What if we were not an oil producer to begin with – would our ringgit be RM10 to one US dollar today?
I sincerely believe we cannot solve fundamental macroeconomic problems by resorting to throwing money at the people. It is fiscally unsustainable. It creates distortions, causes corruption (as the news report on book vouchers proved), and diverts our focus from the real issues at hand.
As I see it, the country’s economic management is on autopilot. The government is simply taxing more so more Band-Aids can be handed out. Maybe I was not paying attention, so could somebody enlighten me if I missed anything that the government has undertaken to do in the last couple of years that can be considered even remotely significant and meaningful?
TK Chua is an FMT reader.
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