Waiting for Tomorrow - ( Monday - 23 June 2008)

What will happen tomorrow? Are we going to have another explosives headlines for the Parliament sitting when it will resume as usual?

The two BN MPs from SAPP have indicated on the move to move a motion of no confidence against the Prime Minister, but it is likely that it will not be allowed given no 14-day notice is given to move the motion, the motion on the price increase may be turned into a no confidence against the Prime Minister.

Mr Lim Kit Siang however has wrote in his blog "the first item of parliamentary business after the 90-minute question time on Monday will be a motion by the Minister for Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad seeking support for the measures taken by the government over price increases of food, oil and commodities, including reduction of oil subsidies. This government motion on price increases in Parliament on Monday can be turned into a no-confidence motion if there are enough numbers in Parliament to defeat it.After the question-and-answer session, the Minister of Domestic Trade & Consumer Affairs, Shahrir Samad will table a motion on the issue of increases in the prices of oil and other goods as well as the measures to tackle it".

DAP advisor and Ipoh Timur MP, Lim Kit Siang wrote in his blog that the government’s motion can be turned into a vote of no confidence if enough number of MPs vote against the government’s motion.

I believe there is also a pressing fact that we are in a very critical economic situation. Well the expert can always brag about the inflation being low at around 5% but my pocket tells a totally different story. I am not sure whether these expert really understand inflation or they just like to produce a mambo jumbo economic jargon that really have not tally with my logic senses. I have talk with a lot of people and many give an indication of a price increase for everyday item has increase around 40%. The construction people also stated that the cost of building a house now is at least 35% higher than last year. The oil price alone is 40% higher than before. So how did some economic expert can come out with these extremely low inflation rate of 5%? Even 10% should be a very optimistically out of this world figure or maybe some figure just being plucked from the air.

Our economy is going down through a difficult path and at the rate we are going, I am afraid that we are losing more and more of our money through the depreciation in the purchasing power. If last year you can buy 100 items with a RM100 bill, I think this year, you can only buy around 70 items or maybe less. By the end of the year, there is potential that those 70 items can be further reduced to a mere 50 items. Well, at least that is the analogy that is easier to understand.

This morning I have a privilege to have a conference call with a friend in Perth. Well I have using the SKYPE service so conveniently and have been communicating via a video-conferencing with my sister in Cologne regularly. It is cheap, effective and very-very attractive. Via the video-conferencing, I can talk and watch at the same time, but of course sometime the video maybe slow a little bit. But what is interesting about my teleconferencing with my friend in Perth is that he is using his hand phone to answer my SKYPE call while driving around the market. This is really interesting since I have never heard skype that being link to the handphone before. The reception is very clear and it is like speaking through a normal handphone without the usual Internet distortion when using the normal PC conferencing.

Well, some of the interesting facts about his Australian life is that, the cost of living is just about the same in Kuala Lumpur, and maybe cheaper, when comparing using the AUD1.00 = RM1.00.

According to my friend, a dispatch rider in Australia can earn up to AUD800 per week, which can arrived at round AUD3000++ per month. Wow, can a Malaysian dispatch rider can earn RM3000 per month? AUD1.00 is equal to RM3.00, so if we convert to Malaysian dollar, the dispatch rider in Australia is earning around RM9,000 per month. No wonder one of the Malaysian GLC is proposing to increase the CEO's salary 100%, maybe their current salary s lower than a dispatch in Australia. Anyway, I believe, this type of comparison may not be accurately reflected on the real economic issues of a certain country. The economic of a certain country depends on its government to ensure that there is a dynamic development to stabilize and expand the economy. I am not a supporter of the high cost of living because from the way I see it, it is difficult to sustain a high cost of living, and if we look at the other countries, the cost of living is relatively modest comparable to the currency values.

The government also talk on the possibility of moonlighting by the government staff in order to get the extra income to support and to top up the basic salary due to the oil price hike. I wonder how does the government arrived with the idea to encourage the staff to do these type of activities? What will happen to the family institution then? Are we going to see a trend where the bread winners of the family have to work out 12 - 18 hours a day ? A father leaving the house at 6.00 a.m. and only come home at 12.00 midnight? Skipping his weekends so he can work part time to further support his families? Although I am a strong supporter of a hardworking community and I am a believer of hard working philosophy, I believe that we need to focus our effort to ensure that we are moving forward and it is important for us to focus on the family values.

Well, these few weeks after the price hike have seen more people in Malaysia debating on the rising spiralling cost of living. When the price hike to 40%, it will trigger a chain reaction and our cost of living will eventually arrived at 40% higher. At the current rate, I am very skeptical that our Malaysian economy can move forward in the positive direction. There are too much fear and bearish sentiment in the air at the moment and people are starting to having the negative effect as the result of the oil price increased. I am not surprised if the recent oil price increase has been the major factors to motivate SAPP to voice their motion of a no confidence vote. I believe more and more people are starting to get the pinch in their wallet and it will not be good for the economy.