T
his article was written by one of my colleagues.Income Inequality And Rising Prices.
by Ros Norita Abd Samad
“The rich become richer, the poor become poorer”. This is the situation which any countries wanting peace and stability should avoid. Malaysia is no exception. The fact that Malaysia has the highest Gini coefficient in Asia of 0.46 is very worrying. (The Gini coefficient measures income inequality, where 0 denotes total equality and 1 denotes total inequality).
The rising of food and fuel prices definitely would make matters worse. Last year, the global price of wheat and rice rose by 130% and 75% respectively. The fuel price rose from USD 78 a barrel in July 2006 to USD 138 in June 2008, a whopping increase of 77% in two years. As consumers, Malaysians previously need to pay RM 1.42 for a litre of petrol, now they have to pay RM 2.70 per litre. A kilogram of rice was RM 1.80 previously, now RM 2.80 per kilogram.
To the rich who spend 10%-30% of their disposable income on food and fuel, the increase would have little effect on their lifestyle. However, for the poor, they spend almost all of their money for food and transportation. Just imagine how difficult it is for a family of six living in Kuala Lumpur with a disposable income of RM1000. How to allocate the money for food, fuel, toll, rent and school fees? Forget about new dresses and new shoes. KFC and McDonalds is just a dream.
The voice of the poor must be heard. History has shown how riots, violence even wars happen when hunger, fear and distrust envelope the nation. In Somali, thousands of angry Somalis rioted on May 2008 over rising food prices and the collapse of the nation's currency. In Bangladesh, 10,000 workers rioted near Dhaka smashing cars and buses and vandalizing factories in anger at high food prices and low wages. Dozens of people, including at least 20 police officials, were injured in the violence. Street demonstration occurred in Cameroon, Mauritania, Cote d'Ivoire, Morocco, Philippines and Indonesia.
The onus is on government to ensure better wealth distribution. Poor implementation of good programs, combined with corruption and abuse of power have been the factors that prevent a just distribution. If all of these maladies are not tackled and fought with a vengeance, then a lot of our precious treasures; a beautiful country, a peace-loving nation and a fate of future generations will be at stake.
1 comment:
Assalamua'laikum, Dear Azuriy,
My opinion...Looks like most of us know that, only goverment is the ultimate authorized party that can change our country's current economic situation. As a common citizen, I actually don't really know whether there is really a subsidy in every supply of "keperluan rakyat" stuff. And as of now, I think our government is still not serious enough to handle all the identified factors that contribute to material price hike. Most Malaysian are struggling to fight and rectifying this situation (by so many ways of their own, mainly through politic). For a fact, we don't know when this situation become better and better. Instead of asking / looking for a higher pay, we need to immediately start (cannot wait anymore) or restructure / restrategize our "jihad economi" program. This need to be initiated within a small group of family first - especially among siblings for example. Wallahua'lam.
As an economist, you might know better than those non-economist like me. If you have good articles / materials for that, let share.
And the most important thing is, keep smiling..don't forget it. Right sis?!
I-lal-li-qa' was-sa-la-mah
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