PEMBERITAHUAN PERTANYAAN BAGI JAWAB LISAN DEWAN RAKYAT
PERTANYAAN : LISAN
DARIPADA : DR MICHAEL JEYAKUMAR DEVARAJ
(SUNGAI SIPUT)
TARIKH : 9 JULAI 2008 (RABU)
SOALAN :
Dr. Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj (Sungai Siput) meminta PERDANA MENTERI menyatakan maklumat terkini terhadap beberapa ramai keluarga di Malaysia memperolehi pendapatan bulanan yang di bawah RM1,000 sebulan, antara RM1,001 ke RM2,000 sebulan, antara RM2,001 ke RM3,000 sebulan dan seterusnya hingga RM 20,000 sebulan.
JAWAPAN :
Tuan Yang Di-Pertua.
Seperti mana yang Ahli-Ahli Yang Berhormat sedia maklum, Penyiasatan Pendapatan Isi Rumah / Kemudahan Asas yang terkini telah dijalankan pada tahun 2007 oleh Jabatan Perangkaan Malaysia. Penyiasatan ini meliputi kawasan Bandar dan luar Bandar di seluruh Negara. Dapatan daripada penyiasatan ini menunjukkan 8.6% isi rumah berpendapatan di bawah RM 1,000 sebulan, 29.4% isi rumah berpendapatan RM 1,000 – RM 2,000, 19.8% isi rumah berpendapatan RM 2,001 – RM 3,000 sebulan, 12.9% isi rumah berpendapatan RM 3,001 – RM 4,000 sebulan, 8.6% isi rumah berpendapatan RM 4,001 – RM 5,000, 15.8% isi rumah berpendapatan RM 5,001 – RM 10,000 sebulan dan 4.9% isi rumah berpendapatan RM 10,001 dan ke atas.
Untuk makluman, jumlah isi rumah Malaysia pada tahun 2007 dianggarkan 5.8 juta.
This is an imaginary monthly budget for a family with 1 home and 1 car
Car loan & petrol & maintenance 1,000.00
Housing loan 1,000.00
Telephone (fixed line and mobile) 300.00
Astro 150.00
Electricity 50.00
Water 20.00
Food RM30 per day 900.00
Other daily tools – clothing, detergent, soap, shampoo 300.00
Entertainment – books, magazines, movies, DVD 500.00
Savings for retirement 300.00
Insurance – life and medical 500.00
Contingency set aside (car damaged, medication, dental) 300.00
Monthly set aside for vacation (RM1,800 whole year, cuti-cuti Malaysia only ) 150.00
Grand total 5,470.00
* minimal retirement savings
*only 1 car
* excluding newspapers
*excluding internet subscription
* excluding school going children’s expenses
* excluding children’s education allowance
* excluding monthly allowance to parents
* excluding income tax
* Malaysians do not have a right to go overseas for vacation
Bascially only the top 2 bracket, about 20% fits the above budget, which reflect monthly expenditure of a quiet urban life in KL.
Base on the above, We cannot claim that a substantial portion of Malaysian qualifies to live a comfortable urban life.
This actually point to a time bomb. In 10 or 20 years time, we will see a significant group of tax payers retire without adequate retirement funds. This would be a social catastrophy and I wonder if this is the way our present administration repay faithful tax payers.
ok, cut a bit from the RM500 entertainment….the monthly requirement is still RM5,000
For the past few months, living espenses have really gone up, so much so that families now can ill-afford to go for weekend shopping with some even cutting down on some of their essential needs. Personally I now spend less on hawker food, go shopping only when there is extra income from working OT and dare not think of spending a few days on holiday away from home. Luckily workplace is within walking distance. For those who have housing and car loans to repay, life can be pretty tough.
Many Malaysians have been pampered by the relatively good life and have never thought that hard times would hit us one day. Our country is blessed with large area of fertile land but the government for certain reasons has never wanted to be self-sufficiency in food. No contingency plan, no this, no that. Government only acts when problem or problems surface…..
With 19.8% of the 5.8 million Malaysian households earning a combined income of between RM2,001 & RM3,000, it will still be an uphill task for the 11.6 million households in this category & those earning lower to have a decent quality of life!!!
Indeed Malaysia has a long way to go towards true economic justice!!!
Apart from governmental effort, rich Malaysians need to dig deeply into their pockets money they have earned but are unable to spend in their lifetimes.
Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft has retired from his company & works full time for the Bill & Belinda Gates Foundation fighting against tuberculosis.
Ted Turner, the founder of Cable News Network, travels arounds the world fighting poverty.
Gates & Turner can inspire the super rich in Malaysia to resign from their companies & complement the government’s effort to bridge the gap between the ‘haves’ & the ‘have nots’.
No rich people can take any money to the graves!!! So it is wise for these rich people to do the poor & hardcore poor justice so that they can live better lives!!!
May God help this country to have greater social & economic justice.
Amen.
no only that. the quality available to Malaysian consumer is also lower grade
specific examples
1) M & M chocolates and Tim Tum biscuits sold in Malaysia are manufactured in Indonesia whereas in Singapore, the same junk food is manufactured in Australia.
2) ladies would tell you that clothes purchased in Singapore are much nicer in design and materials
3) the paper napkin in Malaysia is a piece of filmsy paper whereas in Singapre, the damn thing looks like a piece of cloth!
The property developers keep building houses and shoplots for sale at ever escalating prices. With a big portion of the population have such low spending power, we are left with abandone projects and banks are left with non-performing loans and retirees and dedicated savers are hit with low interest returns from the bank
Look at bleeding Singapore. They attract talent from all over the world. Businessmen I spoke to remarked that whenever they approach government officials about their business proposals, the only thing the officials are interested in are bumi-quotas.
Heck, we must kick start our economy. Make the pie bigger then all can benefit. What’s 30& of 1,000 compared to 10% of 1,000,000?
Some Malaysians, especially the Chinese, spend at least 5 to 10% or more of their hard-earned money on gambling – both legal and illegal. Those addicted to gambling mostly come from the 32% of family who earn from RM2001 to RM4000 group of people.
Unfortunately gambling is a social ill that will never go away, or the country’s economy would grow by at least an additional one percentage point. In Penang there is no place like the Genting Highlands casino to go and gamble but there is a vessel that takes people to international waters where passengers can openly gamble on board without having to worry about the police going after them.
Our corrupt police is also a reason why gambling is rampant and can’t be curbed to the minimum.