Sharing a few stories…
The hawker: Cash strapped, TV, handphone
I have a friend that always complained on how tough life is, and how difficult it is to make ends meet. He is a hawker, his wife the helper, and has three kids.
Some hawkers are rich, but he is not… I am not really sure why. A couple of years ago, his eldest son finished Form Five, came out to work, got his first pay… and the first thing they did was spending most (if not all) of the salary to buy a new TV.
My friend is still crying on how tough life is… but he got a new company now, with his dear son complaining just about the same thing.
Last I checked, the son use a handphone that is five times more expensive than mine.
Good girl buys Prada
I have a friend, who saved on everything she could, so that she could spend on the latest (and expensive) fashion merchandises… Prada, Gucci, LV, whatever.
She often eats instant noodles for dinner, always complaining money not enough, and probably has three credit cards which she’s indebted with. A sweet and lovely girl though.
The student: PTPTN, laptop, iPod
A distant cousin, second year in college now. Complaining that PTPTN loan not enough, hating his parents for giving him little pocket money.
Have a laptop, an iPod, and never bothered to find a part time job while crying out that he doesn’t have enough money to party with his friends at night.
The smokers
A mamak chat with a few friends after a fuel price hike last year. They smoked a lot, and complained about the price hike. Asked if they would consider quitting (or reducing) smoking… all said no, one said… “tak rokok tak macam jantan lah.”
I wonder if they would have second thoughts after the recent petrol hike. I don’t smoke btw.
The rich and famous
A beautiful friend, cursing the government for the fuel hike… she drives an Audi, and her body smells like Whisky, probably because of some late night drinking.
I told her… “so, drink a bit little lor.” She answered… “#$!@%$, why do I have to change my lifestyle because of the stupid gaman? Pak Lah is $@%! @$% #%! @$%!$@%”
My concern
An ex-colleague, work in a factory, basic pay less than RM1000 (probably a few extra hundreds with OT). Only 26 or 27 of age, has four kids. His wife not working, has to take care of the kids.
He rides a motorbike. I saw him hiding a few packed chocolates in his pocket during a company dinner years ago, wanted to bring back to his kids. A humble guy, probably a good father.
Life is about options
Some people don’t have much options, but for lots of the Malaysians… life is a matter of preferences, and the choices are in your own hands.
i want to $@%! @$% #%! @$%!$@% too.
Maybe those are just some bad examples. Next time just ask them to stop whining & be thankful. But many poor people are really hit hard by the price increase
Interesting true stories. They are straight to the point though. Those stories often happens around me. Myself is using more money even I’m tightening my budget. All because of my girlfriend. Although she’s not spending very much but everytime we went out, my expenses will be doubled excluding petrol. Now the petrol hike, so everything will be increasing the price. What can I do? Stop looking for my gf? I’m a student now and I already work as part time for god sake….
YJ,
Well written. Grim reminder to myself.
-Red
Exactly the way I think of those people also. Change the useless lifestyle, healthy lifestyle is a bit boring I have to be honest, but it doesn’t harm right?!
yes malaysian need to change their life style FOR themselves to enable ones to save more money and to have a healthy life, but NOT for a corrupt, unfair, bongkak & etcs government.
I’m not bragging but I used to earn 5 figure salary and it was never enough. A year ago due to a change in direction, my company had to let go many staff, myself included. I thought I could not survive but I actually learned to live happily on Rm2,000 a month and still have balance at end of month. If I knew then what I know now, I would have saved a few hundred thousand K in d bank. So many regrets.
Those friends that I mentioned are a bit extreme in some sense. Most of us actually don’t even need to switch our lifestyle entirely… just reducing some of the frequencies would do.
Off course there would be people that are badly hit regardless… but frankly, the fuel hike is not hitting hard on the poorest at the moment. The most affected group is actually the middle-income-group and those that are just below average. In near future it has to depend on whether the government could control the increment of other basic expenses, which I hope they could… or else the inflation will be a total disaster for many.
hyperX… as said, just a bit less would do. One or two less cinema per month, or dining out, whatever. Besides, there are other means of hanging out with gf that require less spending… be creative :)
Ben… people are pretty good in adapting to the environment ain’t so? If you could climb to the level you did before, there’s nothing that can stop you from repeating those successes again. Always be prepared and you will have your chances in future… and hopefully you can still remember your regrets when you get the second chance.
to all Binatang Nasional scums,
malaysians did not owe u anything. u scums owe us a lot. and still, u scums can think of “why not u malaysians save more..”??
I can’t really say for certain (and I’m perhaps making assumptions) but some malays simply have limited choices. You didn’t say if your friends were malays, chinese malays, indian malays. I have come contacts who are chinese and indian malays who are concerned about the growing disparity between the ‘races’ as there’s an emphasis from the government to support malays rather than other races.
Mae… I didn’t mention my friends’ ethnicity because I believe inflations would affect every Malaysians regardless of races and religions, and that all Malaysians have to change (and can change) our lifestyle to adjust to the situation.
Yes, there are groups of people that won’t have much options, and I hope the government will look after their needs closely… but for lots of the others, it’s really a matter of choices.
Misusing PTPTN money is over the limit already…PTPTN should be more considerate about giving loans to those who really derserves it and not just to everyone…
kamara1323… PTPTN basically lend their money to all applicants these days ain’t so? I don’t think they have the resource to check the background of the applicants… what I really want to see from them is to collect back the debts from the defaulters so that the future generation can still benefit from the loan. The debt collection effort is something that they have to improve seriously.
i don’t drink, i don’t smoke and i don’t buy expensive bags, but my financial is still bad, how to change my lifestyle when i am having no life?
Anon#14… the fact that you are replying a comment during midnight probably means that you have internet access at home, and you are already luckier than almost half of the Malaysians financial wise.
How about cutting your internet expenses at the first place? Unsubscribe to TM and you would save RM40-80 per month. Have a look at your car, handphone, and think about what you have for dinner… do you seriously think that you are not wasting money on unnecessary places, and that you have no better options to change your lifestyle?
What the government did is adding to our burden, quite true… but lots of the time we are the ones who put ourselves into tight financial situation at the first place. And we will have to count on ourselves to make the change.