(Adam: Look papa, prices going up again!)It is beginning to look like an unstoppable juggernaut that is going to crush the life out of everybody. The Star yesterday reported that Perak is going to affect a 15% increase in water rates. Of course, there's the mandatory 'it will not affect the lower income group' disclaimer attached to the announcement. And that usually translates to "if you ration your water consumption to 2 cups a day you'll be fine". And if it's Perak this time we can bet it won't be long before everybody also kena one.
Water rates going up means everything else follows, right? Even more so than petrol and electricity rate hikes. Think about it. Your teh tarik is going to cost more even if you drink it sitting under a coconut tree and tokking kok with your friends by the light of the moon. Those Ipoh flers won't be able to enjoy their Ipoh chicken with taugay at old prices even if the shop owner switched off all the lights and fans and used a wood fire to cook his chicken and beansprouts (which need a lot of water to grow). And don't even think of asking, "Boss, glass of cold water, boss" from the coffee shop/mamak stall owner and expect to get it free or at a nominal 10 or 20 sen.
If this water rates increase spreads to other states (I say 'IF' and not 'WHEN" to make you feel a little better for a little while la) beer drinkers will cry also. Main ingredient in beer? Water. Oh yes, teetotallers please learn to drink warm cola's at your favorite burger joints. Ice? You got to be kidding.
And then ah...if pay more for water and the H2O you get is clean and drinkable, it would be easier to bear. But pay more for tap water and then still have to buy filters and bottle water for drinking. Eh brudder, that's a bit too much la.
And that's another thing that we Malaysians have stomach-ed much too easily. Those flers have been very sneaky la. Just think about it. How long ago was it that we have potable water from our taps? When did they start getting you into the practice of buying and using expensive water filters in your home?
Did they make any noise about us having to pay for and NOT get clean water?
No, right? Why?
But they sure made a lot of noise about a musical documentary about some old geezer named Chin. They sure spent a lot of time debating scenic bridges. They even suggested the 'noble' offer to satisfy the sexual needs of single and divorced women.
On another note, the DPM's call for us to change our lifestyle recently didn't really worry me too much. Until yesterday.
I was at the supermarket buying milk for my kids. As I walked out of the store I noticed these 2 flers who'd set up a stall selling durians. You know the ones. They open the durians and pack the seeds for you in shrink wrap and polystyrene trays. I am no fan of the King of Fruits but out of curiousity I went over and checked it out. I pointed at a pack containing just 3 seeds of a durian. "How much, boss?"
RM10.00!!!
I admit that I have not bought a durian for years but I don't ever remember durians costing that kind of money. Okay so they also take the fun out of opening the thorny baargers and pack it for you. But RM10 for 3 seeds???!!! Not so long ago I remember my friend Donald's durian stall in SS2 Petaling Jaya offering ALL you can eat for RM10! A friend told me that if I wanted those packed durians I should wait until the supermarket's closing time. They will sell them cheap then cos they can't keep them overnight. Is that true? Another friend told me that changing lifestyles doesn't mean everybody changes down. That durian seller sure must be changing his lifestyle upwards selling at those prices. Hahahaha... I'm not laughing.
So you think I am being naive and unrealistic? No. I mean I am not so naive as to believe that prices will always stay the same. Sure prices of goods and services will go up. It's an inevitable fact of life. But we continue to get the same shit but pay higher and higher prices. Mana boleh beb?
28 comments:
The morons. Knew that was gonna happen but didn't expect it to be that fast.
Niamah, really, these people.
tak boleh beb.. memang tak boleh ni! Any ideas how we are going to show our ke-tulan-ness to those flers? We are at no position to bargain here. Look forward to tips on how to save water soon in the paper such as
- don't wash your car, wait for the rain then drive out your car, let the rainwater clean it :D
- take shower no more than 2 times a day
i can see it coming!!!
Mr PT.
U for got to mention that the water rates in Perak will still be the cheapest in the region!! (excluding some other country like Indonesia or something)
If water to expensive, try the river or something.. Change your lifestyle mah!!!
SSDD in Bolehland. Same shit different day lah (pinched shamelessly from Stephen King!)
Baarger, now durians have reached First World pricing, man. Almost US$1 per seed.
Maybe can ask the durian seller to "close one eye" and give discount ?
It will get to the public no matter how much they assure it would not affect the majority of the low-income group. Since the 'stone' came into power, he has brought us nothing but hikes, hikes and more hikes. Makes you wonder how he sleeps at night. I've never come across someone who's so 'selamba' in dealing with real issues and troubles of the nation. Just smile and make light of everything. It's bad that he's surrounded by morons but avoiding sentiments of the mass is worst. During the price hike, he uses force and deals harshly with our amateur protestors, now the PDRM is revolting, he will be running out of imps and ogres to do his dirty work.
If u get clean water, everything ok mah.. u pay more for the same crap... the SAME... sigh.. .
I think the PM is going get more sleepless nights..
the ppl in "power" keep asking us to change our lifestyle to keep up with times.
but to my horror yesterday, our DPM instead of asking ppl who can't speak/read Mandrain to change their lifestyle i.e. go learn the language, he instead said it is discriminatory to have such requirements in the job ads.
i for one can't speak/read Mandrain but i don't think it is discriminatory...but merely that u just got to go change your lifestyle or maybe this motto is applicable only to petrol, electricity and water hikes.
well, not to go against u but i try to justify things...
from 1976 onwards, the country is booming in rocket speed. try to recall, how many houses, in the year of 1976 have television? at least in kuala selangor, none. Then when Dc M took over, it booms so fast.. what is the problem of a booming economy? INFLATION!!
as far as i concern, inflation came to it's worst since 1991, and continued until today. A house in Bangsar, which costed RM80 000 in 1980, now has the market value of RM1.5 million. what a change.
One point to mention is that, we are booming, in a "relatively relaxing way". That means we do not need to endure the terrible stress that singaporeans have to face, but we still developed faster than thailand, philipines, indonesia, burma, any other south east asia country.
Well, thanks to Dr M, that we are distincted from all other South East asia nations.
However, there are cost to pay, for these development. and one of the prominent cost would be inflation.
Try to compare our electicity price with the UK, Australia, US, or Hong Kong. is damn cheap.
Petrol? in HOng Kong, One litre of petrol is about RM12.00 .. for us? only RM1.92..
Are you all aware that the labour governemnt in UK had raised the electricity bill 24% last year? and their bill is far more expensive than ours.. we only pay little, in fact!
WE would like to ENJOY all the benefits of a developing country, like cars, house, air cond, having television, nice supermarket, nice road.. BUT we do not want to endure the COST of developing nation, particularly inflation.
OK. make it simple.
there are two choice available here.
1.) You live the lifestyle of an indonesian in Sumatra, and you only pay half of the current price for everything. (bear in mind, no tv, no air cond, only got mud road, less efficient electricity, most of the time no water supply.. bla bla bla)
OR
2.) You get everything of a developed country in malaysia, but paying at the current price of every goods.
I believe that there is no such thing as you pay RM1.62 for petrol forever and you still can develop.
the Malaysian government has been pampering us too much.
THEY might not able to use proper "WORDS" to express all the reasons to justify their action (that eventually leads to unsatisfaction), but what they do, is all anticipated, especially by those who have economical knowledge.
Talking about the scenic bridge, YES. this is a MISTAKE of the government. I believe EVERYONE does mistake. JUST that our government do not have the courage to apologize. SO they give lousy reasons to justify it. They made it clear that it is a mistake. and it has to be stopped. they took the best step to rectify the mistake . Ya. you can always argue that why would they do it if they know that it would be a waste. BUT i have a notion that malaysian government would not have the intention of throwing few millions dollars to the sea just to create a mistake. There must be a lot of inevitable reasons behind, that are obsucred from our knowledge.
all the best
zee kin
zee kin : KNNCCB !!!!! I WILL CURSE YOU THIS : May God punish you to stay in KL, give you a mid-low class daddy and income of RM2000. Passing through 2 TOLs per day. Paying installemnt for your car and housing loan. Let see how you will be grateful. WTF you talking about "grateful" to the government? You think government are GOD is it?
With respect I can't agreed with Zeekin's view.
It is exactly that kind of view and mentality that voted the BN back to government again and again until BN think they are the government.
Zeekin's view is so simplistic and naive. My guess is: Zeekin has a rich dad and has a lot of money to spend. He likes travelling around. Paying tols is nothing as "that the cost of development".
Hey! Zeekin. I stayed in UK for 6 years and I only remembered paying tol ONCE in those 6 years. Tell me is that possible here in Malaysia? Try to avoid tol for 6 years in Malaysia. If you could do that, ring me up and I will kiss your ass myself.
I don't think you know what you are talking about. You have been brainwashed for too long. By the media, the education system...
I don't blame you... You are just another victim of this country.
zee kin you must be heck of an optimistic person...try to be more realistic will ya? ever notice how your average malaysian live?
Hold on a second. let's give zee kin his due. He is right about some points and wrong on others.
I think it doesn't take a genius to know that inflation is a fact of life. Sure things will go up in price. What we are saying that while prices go up our quality of life and our salaries remain stagnant or regress. And that is unacceptable. Sure you pay much more for electricity in the UK. But they get much better service. And one Sterling Pound buys much than one Ringgit. Sure petrol is RM12 a liter in Hong Kong. But their public transport system is much better so they have an option. We don't.
Maybe I am being simplistic but here is an example along the lines of your argument. My friend in middle America works as a factory supervisor. He owns a stand alone house with a garage bigger than most Malaysian terrace houses. He owns 2 cars, a superbike and a 20 ft. boat. He has a pension plan which will see him through his twilight years comfortably. But he pays US$3 for a gallon of petrol and I am sure lots more for electricity than we do. So how?
Sure zee kin if I could make the clock go back a couple of decades I will not want to see Malaysia 'develope' in the way it has. Okay, I guess all I'm saying is that mismanagement of the 'company' is the cause of all the woes. Get it?
I want to say la, we have the most stupid leaders in the world lah. these people on top are like those kids mat rempit riding wheelies in the middle of jalan tunku abdul rahman at nite.
they think just because they stay in power for so long, no accident to them, no komplen, they think they got the right to do whatever they want la... like one day they cannot kantoi la.
look at that pornovcd-balak tokey MP from Jasin, he lies like mad but still thinks he is doing nothing wrong. what is scary some more is that alot of those MPs interview says there is nothing wrong! aiyo, we got the whole house of crooks over there!
Pejam one eye pejam dua mata ok aarrr?
i have only one answer that also double as my greetings to all these BN MPs la = poooookiiiiii!!!!!!
Can I echo your greeting to them, ah, Mohd Noor?
Pooooooooooooooooookkkiiiiiiii!!!!!
hahah Md. Noor..relaks brudder....
one comment I want to make is that price of everything go up,salary only never go up...susahla macam itu.
Salary don't go up...ok, that's a problem but I can deal with it - resign la, get another job that pays better. but all these
1-eye closed shit that's poured on us everyday is simply too fox-ing much to stomach la.
"BUT i have a notion that malaysian government would not have the intention of throwing few millions dollars to the sea just to create a mistake. There must be a lot of inevitable reasons behind, that are obsucred from our knowledge."
yeah, LOTS of inevitable reasons behind that are obsucred from our knowlegde because WE are so dumb to understand heh? :) I will agree with you that our government would not have the intention tothrowing few millions dollars to the sea just to create a mistake but how if this things keep happening? Again and again? Not just regarding the scenic bridge, there are lots to mention.
Inflation? I don't mind paying more in order to get better services..But like Patrick said, "while prices go up our quality of life and our salaries remain stagnant or regress. And that is unacceptable". We are not have no choice but to accept the price hikes. No alternative. At least in other countries like Singapore, UK their public tranport system is better, which they can rely on.
Oh yea, please don't repeat those 'Hongkies paying 12 dollar, we just RM1.92' shits. Hongkong average income is much higher than Malaysia, offset that and they get better service. A junior civil engineer in Hongkong earning about 5-6k, in Malaysia you just get 2k. You may as well say converting RM1.92 to US dollar and Singaporean $1.62 to US dollar, wah!! Our oil is farking cheap!! C'mon la, how much they earn and how much we earn? Junior engineer in Singapore earning average $2.4k, Malaysia? RM 1.8k-2k. Just do the math, $20 Singapore dollar after paying for 10 litres petrol ($16.20) maybe still can tapao mee goreng and rinks but RM 20 after paying for 10 litres petrol (RM19.20) you can only eat roti canai. Sorry for the long post. I hate liars..
Fark! You beat me to it, Bongkersz. Hehe. That's exactly what I had wanted to say! Ok, this being the case, I'll just echo again Mohd Noor's greeting to 'em good-for-nothing-but-we-still-got-to-pay their-salary-with-our hard-earned-money (income tax) moronic idiots:
poooooooooooooookiiiiiiiii!!
Dear all
sorry for the provocative comments. Well, don't get me wrong. I suffer too, but just that in a optimistic way. I was merely trying to comfort (obviously i failed to), rather than making our life seems more miserable that it is.
Well, i come from a average family. i pay tolls. i complaints.
But, when i see how the indonesian lives, how the burmese live, how the indian in india lives, i feel sad. They live in a country, far more worse than us, try to imagine a mother has to chop off the son's hand, just to make him look more pathetic so that he can earn a living through bagging.
We are blessed. Malaysians are different from westerners. Our thinking is different. we are not as hardworking as honkies, singaporeans, or japanese, because we are not really "pressured": to react to become so hardworking. Although we still have a lot of problems, but generally, i believe that that would be the best we can have. Durkheim mentioned that things in society are functional because they have to be like that.
BELIEVE this,
there are only two way to change it.
1.) When people STARVE, they will fight for food. that creates riot, political unstability, all that horrendous things that you can hardly imagine of. THat is through revolution, or reformation.
2.) just comply with it because that would be the best.
Well, i would not want to see our country become anything like Thailand. OK. you might not like the government,
BUT
please be aware that you have the right not to vote. in the RUKUN NEGARA, we are told to upheld democracy. And to practice this, you can choose not to vote for them. however, you can see a manifest outcome of having a strong opposition in Thailand. boycott => economics unstability, market collapse, live become worse.
DO not try to imagine the lifestyle of the white, or japs, hongkies, because our attitudes are so different. We are so "tak apa" , then just accept the fact that we are "tak apa" and comply with all the outcome of being "tak apa". what for complaining the government?
To make life easier, i think we should
i.) Speak for ourselve, and strive for changes.
OR
ii.)Keep quiet and think optimistically.
If you don't speak and strike for changes , but still complaint this and complaint these, you make your own life become more miserable.
Patrick, i regard you as a revered feature because you are rational, and dare to speak, and strike for change.
however, due to social constrain, i, like the others, would choose to keep quiet. the only differents is i try to minimise my complaint, but to justify it optimistically so that i feel better.
Sorry for all the offended friends above.
By the way, cursing other is very bad. i merely express my opinion to share with you all. But what you did was cursing, and attacking me personally because of my opinion. that action is nothing better than the government.
regards
zee kin
Absof**kinglutely zee kin. Come on everybody let zee kin say what's on his mind. Dont' agree? Tell the fler. But don't be abusive ok? Thank you ah.
When the 'Stone' was given the mandate for accountability and transperancy by the people who believe in him 2 years ago, he tauted it cold be done confidently. To those who still believe he can do it, i beg you to wake-up as of the last 2 years, he has shown us nothing but accumulate wealth for himself with his S-I-L.
When our leaders did all these 'mistakes'(crooked bridges, squatgate, botakgate, close-one-eye, etc) they DO NOT have to bear the consequences. That's a big difference. If one of us were to do that, we have to be held accountable and justify it in court or get thrown into jails. We only hope our leaders would 'try' to be real leaders for once.
Remember if an Army General make mistakes, his soldiers dies. If the 'Stone' keep making 'mistakes'(by remaining silent and non-chalant), guess who will die?
"The enemy of the best is often the good"
We have always been asked to be grateful. We have always been told that our rates are the cheapest in quantum basis. Whenever we complaint the big guys will just stomp us all over with their anger and threaten no more development.
Yeah sure, being grateful is good. But it will get us nowhere close to Vision 2020. If we are serious to be a developed nation by 2020, this good attitude unfortunately, gotta go. We must be discontent with everything. Only then we can improve further.
Rates are cheapest by quantum. We all know that. We also know that if in relative to income, we are definitely not the cheapest. And so does the MPs. But they're taking us idiots. They forgot now have the internet and a different world of communication. Also there are many who have been overseas and we know what we saw. Ain't like the 50s/60s times.
All the over (fake) emotional and taichi tactics disgusts me. No wonder many dislikes politicians. Supposingly they are here to serve us - democracy is about a government of the people, by the people, for the people (or something like that). But that is not what is happening.
Aiks what happenned to another topic?
Agree with you there there zee kin on voting wisely. yeah, we can talk all the talk, complains non-stop but when the election time come when we have the power to make a change, there we go again 'tak apa lah, give them another chance'. I think we too scared of the uncertainties, we want changes, but we scare of too many things. we think too much of 'why if' that's why in the end we still vote for the lousy group, giving them power to twist our hands. Most of us will think 'What if the gov now dont get 2/3 majority? 'What if there's no more development if they lose?' And that very question that's pulling our votes and the people in power know that, so they always play with our emotions. So back to square one. How sad ah?
"however, due to social constrain, i, like the others, would choose to keep quiet"
why we should keep quiet? why? social contrain? more of afraid to speak out. We need more people to dare to speak out, like Patrick. We can't hope for changes by keeping quiet. Maybe we can then be more optimistic, just accept the things as it is yeah?
p/s : zee kin, didn't mean to provoke/curse/abuse you. hope you get that :) we are ust expressing ourselves.
Problem with generalisations and stereotyping.
that's synonym with asian. (ah, I'm generalising here :D)
Geez... I am too starved to think anymore. For the past 2 years since this tembelang fler took over, I have heard more temberang in my life from him and his goons MPs and Ministers than I have had in my entire life.
So? Vote wisely. Malaysians should not be resigned to be raped and molested repeatedly... or are we that submissive?
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