Its about a month now since the last petrol and diesel monstrous price hike. The man in the streets lifestyles already changed but I am not so sure about those in the corridors of power or those power maker wannabes.
Last few weeks has been a economically and socially challenged indeed. I will leave politically challenged aside to those politicians with their stage shows or sandiwara.
I was shopping around for new household items and the usual statements from the shops sales people or shop towkays or '"seetaopor" (wife of the boss) is," You better buy or order now or the price of these items will increased next month." Some even showed me circulars from their suppliers on the impending price increase from 1 July onwards. So being the usual "kiasu" or should it be "kialiau", deposits were paid to put caveat on the "old price" for those desired items.
On the other hand, the petrol price increased had also socially challenged those who seek out donors for their fund raising projects. It is getting tougher nowadays to ask for donations for our community projects. My children's school PTA which was raising funds to pay the balance owed to the contractor that built the school hall and auditorium were hard pressed to sell tickets for the 600 seats musical show at the new auditorium. The show was presented by the acclaimed Dama Orchestra featuring lead singer Tan Soo Suan. Understanding the current financial climate, I just couldn't hard sell the tickets to my friends.
Another fund raising project which I was involved also faced the similar trend, the donors are just not taking out their wallets as easier as last time. The increasing cost of living already affected the generosity of Malaysians in supporting community and welfare projects. I can't deny this may also due to people already contributed to the disaster funds linked to the Szechuan earthquake in China and the Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar.
With the petroleum price per barrel still increasing, greater challenge is still awaiting all the men in the streets. At the end of the day, no one will bothers who sodomized who; or who will be the PM; whether a politician wife watched a girl blown away by C-4; who will be the president of which party; who is snooping at who; whether a pu'er tea is better than whisky; to wear or not to wear the songkok and et cetera et cetera.
The question lingering in many heads nowadays is, how can we manage the rising cost of living?
No comments:
Post a Comment