20% INCREASE IN COST OF LIVING
Two nights ago, while sitting on my bed on the floor, eating a mandarin orange (yes, left overs from Chinese New Year), and watching the late news....and voila, the news presenter calmly announced that the price of petrol was raised by 30 sen! I looked at the clock, it was 12.03 am! Darn! Darn! Darn! Not even enough time to hop into the car and zoom out to the nearest petrol station and fill up my near empty tank!
I felt as if I have been punched below the belt. I felt like a little angina pectoris coming. I could almost see me and my family begging for food on the streets of Kuala Lumpur. I could see myself wearing a pair of shades, morosely strumming a guitar on the pedestrian overhead bridge in Puduraya selling tissue papers to passerbys. I could see my lawn being repossessed (if you don't understand, see the movie "Fun with Dick and Jane").
It felt good when the PM announced at the end of last year that there will not be any petrol price increase and no rise in toll rates. Chinese New Year was good because I thought there would be extra money to spend.
Now I feel hypoxic (lack of oxygen, for those who are less medically inclined). 30 sen from RM 1.60 something per litre of petrol translates to a 20% increase. Now, as evidenced in the media, everyone is clamouring to increase the price of their products as well, whether justified or otherwise. So, I can expect an increase in the prices of practically everything over the next few months. Unfortunately, my salary remains the same.
The first thing one of the cardiologist said to me after the price hike was "so, how is your Godzilla?". "Godzilla" here of course refers to my relatively new 1.6 L Hyundai Matrix which drinks petrol as any ancient dinosaur would. It's to be expected isn't it? I can't expect a 1.6 L car to perform by drinking what a Kancil consume right?
What irks me most was to hear our DPM in an interview televised on TV that the price hike had to be done and it is in fact "good for the rakyat"!!!! Huh? Did I miss something there? It's like saying, "hey, look, I am going to force you guys into starvation and take away your shelter; but hey brother, you know what, I am doing it for your own good. It's really good for you. Trust me on this. As surely as there is snowball in hell, it's good for you! Really, really-la, believe me!!". Heck, he didn't even sound like he was convinced himself! Hogwash!
It just makes me sick and totally nauseated (I need maxolon....an antiemetic). I shudder to think about the future of this nation. We'd rather spend money sending some one on a all expenses paid holiday to space and try to drap a huge flag on another nation's national monument (thank God the latter has been scrapped!) than to look after the welfare of the common people.
Next time, before I cast my vote, I will remember all this and think a lot deeper......
Two nights ago, while sitting on my bed on the floor, eating a mandarin orange (yes, left overs from Chinese New Year), and watching the late news....and voila, the news presenter calmly announced that the price of petrol was raised by 30 sen! I looked at the clock, it was 12.03 am! Darn! Darn! Darn! Not even enough time to hop into the car and zoom out to the nearest petrol station and fill up my near empty tank!
I felt as if I have been punched below the belt. I felt like a little angina pectoris coming. I could almost see me and my family begging for food on the streets of Kuala Lumpur. I could see myself wearing a pair of shades, morosely strumming a guitar on the pedestrian overhead bridge in Puduraya selling tissue papers to passerbys. I could see my lawn being repossessed (if you don't understand, see the movie "Fun with Dick and Jane").
It felt good when the PM announced at the end of last year that there will not be any petrol price increase and no rise in toll rates. Chinese New Year was good because I thought there would be extra money to spend.
Now I feel hypoxic (lack of oxygen, for those who are less medically inclined). 30 sen from RM 1.60 something per litre of petrol translates to a 20% increase. Now, as evidenced in the media, everyone is clamouring to increase the price of their products as well, whether justified or otherwise. So, I can expect an increase in the prices of practically everything over the next few months. Unfortunately, my salary remains the same.
The first thing one of the cardiologist said to me after the price hike was "so, how is your Godzilla?". "Godzilla" here of course refers to my relatively new 1.6 L Hyundai Matrix which drinks petrol as any ancient dinosaur would. It's to be expected isn't it? I can't expect a 1.6 L car to perform by drinking what a Kancil consume right?
What irks me most was to hear our DPM in an interview televised on TV that the price hike had to be done and it is in fact "good for the rakyat"!!!! Huh? Did I miss something there? It's like saying, "hey, look, I am going to force you guys into starvation and take away your shelter; but hey brother, you know what, I am doing it for your own good. It's really good for you. Trust me on this. As surely as there is snowball in hell, it's good for you! Really, really-la, believe me!!". Heck, he didn't even sound like he was convinced himself! Hogwash!
It just makes me sick and totally nauseated (I need maxolon....an antiemetic). I shudder to think about the future of this nation. We'd rather spend money sending some one on a all expenses paid holiday to space and try to drap a huge flag on another nation's national monument (thank God the latter has been scrapped!) than to look after the welfare of the common people.
Next time, before I cast my vote, I will remember all this and think a lot deeper......
posted by Jimbo @ 3/02/2006 04:10:00 PM
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