6 June, 2008
Because I was earning only half the money you are earning today, I could only buy a RM9,800 imported Mitsubishi Galant 1600 and a RM18,000 single-storey bungalow overlooking the South China Sea way out in the boondocks.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
In 1968, salaries were only half what they are today. So that is an improvement of sorts. Today, policemen are earning double what they earned 40 years ago (which means corruption in the police force has practically been eliminated). So goes the same for labourers and university graduates. Everyone, today, is earning double what we earned 40 years ago.
Okay, maybe 40 years ago petrol was only about RM0.20 per litre compared to almost RM3.00 today -- and maybe more than RM4.00 by August. But life can’t revolve just around the price of petrol. There are many other things we must also take into consideration in coming to the conclusion whether, today, life is better, or worse, compared to 40 years ago.
In 1968, you had to fork out RM3,000 to buy a lower-end car such as a Volkswagen. A ‘sporty’ car would set you back RM5,000. And if you wanted to drive around in style, then be prepared to suffer a damage of RM18,000 for a Mercedes Benz. And if you had no money but still needed a simple means of transportation, then for a few hundred Ringgit you could zip around on a silly Honda Cub.
Though RM18,000 for the Mercedes Benz sounds very cheap, actually it was quite a lot of money to pay for a car considering that, for that same amount of money, you could buy a house -- or two houses if you are prepared to live in a middle-class neighbourhood like Subang Jaya or Petaling Jaya. And if you lived in a ‘third class’ town like Seremban, Ipoh, Kuantan, Muar, etc., then your house could cost as much as your RM3,000 Volkswagen.
So, RM3,000 for a lower-end car or RM5,000 for something better or RM18,000 for a luxury limousine was not cheap back in 1968. That was the price of a house. We used to call them ‘house on wheels’, and for good reason as well. Can you see how unfortunate we were 40 years ago? Plus, 40 years ago, we were earning only half the salaries you are earning today.
It was a few years later before I could afford to buy my first car, an imported Mitsubishi Galant 1600, which cost me RM9,800 (a lot of money to pay for a car in 1972). This was followed, two years later, by my first house, which cost me RM18,000.
Yes, it was a cheap house, a single-storey bungalow overlooking the South China Sea in Kuala Terengganu. But then 40 years ago our salaries were only half what they are today. So we did not really have that much money to spend. Today, you will be earning double what I was earning 40 years ago. So, today, you have twice the amount of money I had 40 years ago.
Because I was earning only half the money you are earning today, I could only buy a RM9,800 imported Mitsubishi Galant 1600 and a RM18,000 single-storey bungalow overlooking the South China Sea way out in the boondocks (tempat jin bertendang, as the Malays would say). I could not afford a house in Kuala Lumpur.
Can you see how poor we were, then, compared to you, today, who are earning double the salary we were earning 40 years ago? Today, you do not need to buy a cheap RM9,800 imported Mitsubishi Galant 1600. Because, today, you are earning double the salary we were earning 40 years ago, you can buy a RM100,000 car, and there are so many makes and models to choose from on top of that. Today, you do not need to buy a cheap single-storey bungalow overlooking the South China Sea in Kuala Terengganu, so far from civilisation. Because, today, you are earning double the salary we were earning 40 years ago, you can afford to buy a RM380,000 terrace house in Selangor, far from the salty sea air that will rust all the metal in your house, plus rust away your car on top of that.
Can you see how fortunate you are today compared to those of us 40 years ago who could earn only half the salary you are earning today?
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