By Karim Raslan, for The Straits Times
JUNE 11 — Last week's surprise oil price increases forced Malaysians to confront the stark realities of global economics - spiralling fuel and food costs, the plummeting US dollar and supply constraints.
While Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi is to be commended for his gutsy and principled move - Malaysia cannot sustain subsidies indefinitely - the pain on the ground is real.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's proposal to reduce oil prices flies in the face of conventional economic thinking. Does he know something governments elsewhere - including India and Indonesia's - do not?
Still, the initiative also comes at a bad time for the ruling Barisan Nasional. Given its limited credibility - the BN was dubbed "Barang Naik" (goods costing more) by the Opposition during the elections - it would be difficult for it to explain the increases.
Mahmud (not his real name) is a typical working-class Malay. He lives in a rented, single-storey terrace house in a Klang suburb. It is a quiet neighbourhood with a primary school and a row of commonplace shops nearby. With houses in the area topping RM150,000 (S$63,000), he knows he will be renting for many years.
Nearly 40 and married with two young girls, Mahmud has worked as a dye-setter in one of Klang's many factories for more than a decade.
"I am not ambitious," he said. "I did get a job offer from National Panasonic years back, but my employer persuaded me to stay. Maybe I lost out?"
He is not articulate. He mumbles and shrugs his shoulders often. Most of his answers are monosyllabic. But when we talk about the price increases and corruption, he becomes voluble.
As if to justify his lack of drive, he talks about the only member of his family with a degree, a younger brother: "He has a government job in Putrajaya and tells me stories about how the politicians behave - their arrogance and rudeness. It is terrible."
And his scepticism extends to the new Opposition-led Selangor state government: "I will give them two years to deliver, but I would not be surprised if they turn out the same as the last bunch.
"My parents were coconut palm farmers. I stopped schooling after Form Five and did odd jobs in the kampung for two years. Then I got a job as a machine operator here. Although my pay was RM550 a month, it was not too difficult as I was a bachelor living with a relative. I even managed to save RM300 to buy a second-hand Suzuki motorcycle.
"Even before the rise in oil prices, life was pretty tough for my family. My salary is only RM1,200 a month. I pay RM500 for rent and RM300 for my Proton Wira. Thankfully, I have settled the TV instalments. Usually, RM300 is enough for everything else – food, cigarettes and the occasional meal at the stalls.
"After the price hikes, we are really going to be under pressure. Everything goes up. I am going to have to do a lot more overtime. I am used to hard work. But I worry about getting ill or if something happens
to my children. I am not a government servant and do not get all those special allowances or subsidised health care.
"The price rises are not fair. Yes, it is happening across the world, but our leaders must look after us first. We are an oil-exporting nation, so why can't we use our own? The government should be doing more to look after the poor - people like me and my wife."
Mahmud and others like him have lost confidence in the government. He wants leaders who suffer alongside him. So he feels more comfortable with men such as Parti Islam SeMalaysia leader Nik Aziz - men who have remained true to their constituents by refusing to allow their positions to change their simple lifestyles.
Yet Mahmud was troubled by what he perceived to be the failure of Malays to unite around one party and one strong leader. For him, Malay unity still mattered. He was not, as middle-class urbanites now chant, "beyond" race. He feared being sidelined and forgotten.
By the time I left his house, I understood and even sympathised with much of what he had said, even if we disagreed.
While I relished the differences within the Malay community, he found the alternative voices jarring, especially now with the economy in tatters.
He looked back on Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's leadership wistfully, though acknowledging the corruption complaints.
What I saw as democracy at work, he saw as incipient chaos. — ST
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