Something I picked up

When I first read this, I thought, "Here goes! Another whining article written by a non-Melayu who thinks the grass is always greener on the other side!"

Was I surprise to find at the end that this article is actually written by another Melayu (and a doctor, no less!) instead! Can you beat it, even the Melayus are abandoning this "Tanah Melayu" because of the high cost of living!!!!

I can believe that all this high cost is because of the corruption and inefficiency brought about by a corrupt, wasteful and most inefficient BN government which eventually is passed all the way to fools like you and me! (Read the revelations about the UMNO controlled tolled
highways!)

Perhaps it's time for me to pack my bags and head for good old England too!!! Sadly that might not happen......can't stand the cold lah! So what I can do is vote for a change of government instead! Please join me!!!


The argument in this thread from day one is the cost of living in each country (especially UK and Europe) based on what you earn in the respective country and whether the standards are higher than in Malaysia .

I tried to point out that many Malaysians always convert and that is why they say the UK is expensive. In fact, the cost of living is much cheaper than in Malaysia .

In actual fact, Malaysians are being conned because for such a rich and resource rich country, the pay in Malaysia is way too low compared to the cost of living and inflation.

One good example is Singapore .

Singaporeans (average) earns around S$3000 to S$4000 and nearly everything is half the price of Malaysia . Eg clothes, computer parts, electronics etc. But the average Malaysian still earns M$2000 plus and goods are double the price of Singapore .

This is the same as the UK . If you earn around 2000 pounds, you can liken this to the person earning RM$2000 in Malaysia . I give you some examples below.. Maybe you can understand.


1) Good terrace house

It is more or less the same. If you want a house in KL, it would most probably be in Puchong and not Damansara Heights . So your house would be RM$200,000. In UK , you can get a decent new house in Zone 6 (still within the tube) for 200,000 pounds.

If non London , you can get a nice house also for less than 200,000 pounds outside London . The same also applies to buying a house in Seremban, Kajang etc. You can buy a nice house for RM200,000 below. So buying a house is the same for the local and the Malaysian.

Renting a place is the same too or maybe cheaper than in Malaysia (I am not sure of this). A 2-bedroom flat in London is about 750 pounds (Zone 2). 500 pounds outside Zone 6 but still able to commute to London . A 2-bedroom house in Nottingham is 450 to 500 pounds. A
3-bedroom house in Belfast is about 300 pounds.

2) A car

A good Wira is RM$55,000. Most Malaysians have to take 7-year loans and be in debt all the time. If you are earning RM$2000 a month, you take nearly 3 years saving the RM$2000 with not eating at all just to buy a Wira.

In UK , the average local earns about 2000 pounds. He saves 3 months, he can buy outright a good Ford Fiesta or a Vauxhall Corsa without being in debt.

If buying a second hand car, even better. A 1990 Mercedes 190E cost 500 pounds. My 1996 Mercedes E220 cost 2000 pounds. My friend just gave me his 1989 Honda Accord (Auto) for free because he said he could only get 30 pounds for it.
I used it for a few months and decided to give it of for free too. That alone speaks for itself.

Even if you are kuli or an office boy, you still can drive a Mercedes or a BM. Yes, kuli's and office boy's get paid quite well.

Average temp/office boy in London can earn about 7 to 10 pounds and hour. Overtime is 1.5 times or double. A brick-layer can earn 20 pounds an hour.

The same Indon who lays bricks in Malaysia earns RM$50 for the whole day.

Before I became a doctor, I used to be an office boy and I earned near 300 pounds a week working about 70 hours a week. My makan was 30 pounds a week. My rent was 70 pounds a week for a room but I still drove a BMW back then. I bought the 10-year old BMW 3 Series car for 200 pounds.

Amazing how an office boy can drive a safe and luxurious car.

3) Petrol

For a UK person earning 2000 pounds, 80 pence a litre/gallon is cheaper than RM$1.52 paid in Malaysia . If you don't convert, it is like paying 80 sen a litre in Malaysia

4) Shopping

20 pounds (which is 1% of 2000 pounds) can buy you 1 week's worth of groceries in Tesco. RM$100 (which is 10% of RM$2000) can also buy you 1 week's worth of groceries in Giant or Carrefour.

5) Utility Bills (This is what I pay in UK )

1. Virtually non-stop heating the whole day only 20 pounds a month. (Only 1% of the 2000 pounds earned)

2. Electricity, I use my electricity maximum only 20 pounds a month (Only 1% of the 2000 pounds earned)

3. My water bill also comes to about 20 pounds a month (Only 1% of the 2000 pounds earned)

4. My internet - I get 2Mbps for about 25 pounds (Bulldog DSL) (Also slightly above 1% of the 2000 pounds earned)

5. Astro Equivalent (NTL cable or Sky) - 30 pounds per month (Also slightly above 1% of the 2000 pounds earned)

In Malaysia , this is what I used to pay

1. Tenaga Bill comes to RM$200 to RM300 a month with 3 air-cons. This is more than 10% of the RM$2000 earned)

2. Water (Puas) comes to RM$40 (This is about 2% of the RM$2000 earned)

3. Astro RM$100 (if you take Chinese package) (This is about 5% of the RM$2000 you earn)

4. Internet Streamyx 512K RM 88 per month (This is about 5% of RM2000 you earn)

6) Books

A good book is about 10 to 15 pounds in the UK . This is less than 1% of the 2000 pounds you earn. In Malaysia , you have to spend RM$75 to RM$100 for a decent book in MPH or Kinokuniya in KLCC. This is about 5% of the RM$2000 ringgit you earn.

7) Education

I think it is about RM$20,000 per year to do a degree in Sunway Monash and about RM$12,000 per year to send your kid to UM, UKM, USM etc. I am not sure about this.
But in UK , it is only 3000 pounds a year to send your kid to a great university. That also, the white man still makes a lot of noise because the grants were taken away. Previously, it was virtually free for the English man to send his kid to university but now, since the grant was taken away, he has to spend 3000 pounds per year to send his kid to university and less money to get drunk in the pub.

Well, if you are earning RM$2000 ringgit, sending your kid to UM to study is quite difficult. If you are earning 2000 pounds per month, you can easily send you kid to university in the UK .

Even worse for the poor non bumi's not given a place in local university.

Even if they can afford, they won't get a place because of the quota system. Unfortunately, the Chinaman and the Indian who gets 5A's in STPM have to be sacrificed and not given a place to let the Malay fellow with 2E's and 3 Fail's to enter the Medical Faculty or Law
Faculty.

So the non-bumi's have to save RM100,000 per year to send their kid to the UK . In the UK , at least the white man still can go into university based on results and merit and only pay 3000 pounds per year.

8) Assessments to local councils

I may pay high council tax but at least my council assures my streets are clean and safe, got no holes (pot holes) on my roads, and they jump and attend to me whenever I call them.

When I stayed in Malaysia, I paid my assessment and quite rent but MPSJ I lived in Subang) told me to "podah" whenever I asked them to come and fill up the pot holes, cut the long lalang, put street lighting etc.
The councils, especially MPPJ and MPSJ, were more interested in eating nasi lemak and going for 10 teh tariks in a day during office hours and hardly did anything for their residents.

9) Income Tax

My national insurance and income tax also is not wasted. When I was unemployed in 1997, the government via social security paid for my 2-bedroom flat for one whole year and I was given about 100 pounds per week for me and my wife to live on. I am happy to know that one day if I lose my job, I can still claim social security and get my apartment paid and food to eat again for free. It is a good security to know.

The list goes on. Here alone you can see, the sterling you earn goes a long way in the UK . So your quality of life is far better in the UK than a Malaysian in Malaysia . It is just that Malaysians are just too content with what they have. But you compare apple for apple.

The British just love to complain. They have it made but still they love to complain. Nothing is good enough for the British. The government gives the citizens so much but they still seem to want more and more.

Regards
Dr Zain Azrai
London

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especially the last few paragraphs, which makes a lot of sense .

Where is our direction for our next generation..?

For those who started work around 1973, a 1.3 Litre Japaness car was RM7,000.

Today the equivalent is.... let's say RM60,000.......8.5 times

In 1973 a double storey house was about RM45,000..or less.
Today it is about RM300,000............6.6 times

In 1973 an Engineer's pay was RM1,000 .

Today it is about RM2, 000+/-............2 times....

From 1973 to 2008........35 years.......what is the Trend?
Bearish !!!!


In a stock market when the trend is bearish, what do we do? ..Exit !!!

When a country's trend is bearish what do we do?

This Bearish trend is more difficult to turn around as compared to the stock market.

I have used these 3 items : House, Car & Salary as a measurement of the country's performance for the past 35 years....

Foreigners also ask about these 3 items to gauge our standard of living.

There is a book I saw entitled : “ Malaysia : The Failed Nation”.

Some of you may be interested to read it. I agreed with the writer.....

This morning I was having coffee at McDonald (now the coffee..100 % Arabica beans..is quite good@ RM 2.90....free refill !!

I asked how much per hour is their pay?
RM3.00 x 8 hours = RM24 per day x 25 days = RM600 per month

My daughter works part-time during her University days..she worked at Gloria Jeans Coffee.... the pay?

Australian $14.00 @ 3.15 = RM44 per hour x 8 = RM352 per day x 25 days = RM8,800 ...13.3 times more !!!!!

......Price of houses in Perth is about the same in KL .

Price of cars are about 23% cheaper in Perth .

I think more and more people are becoming aware of this Bearish trend.

Developed country by 2020...means High income country!!

Let's look at some as of year 2005 (Financial Times)
USA GNP per capita US$35, 400
UK GNP per capita US$25,510
Australia GNP per capita US$19 ,530
Singapore GNP per capita US$20,690

These are developed countries by income measurement....
Malaysia 's GNP per capita US$3,540

Year 2020..developed country?

Really...a sad story. Worrying Trends, isn't it??

Ringgit sliding further and further under BN.

Recently, I interviewed some fresh graduates applying for jobs with my engineering company.

I accepted two applicants on a starting salary of RM1,600. It struck me as odd that 15 years

ago, I myself started work as a fresh graduate engineer for the same pay.

Indeed, if you compare the salaries of graduates now and 15 or even 20 years ago, you'll find

little difference but that their purchasing power is vastly different. It's the same story when you
compare salaries of shop assistants, office staff, factory workers and others.

To compound the effect of inflation, the ringgit has depreciated greatly against all major currencies. The real income of most Malaysians has moved backwards.

This is why many Malaysians suffer under the petrol hike. The root of the problem is that our real

incomes have shrunk in the face of inflation and depreciated currency.. Malaysians have not been spoiled by subsidy but are unable to move out of the time lock of stagnated and depreciated incomes.

If you compare the per capita incomes of Singapore , Hong Kong , Taiwan and South Korea , they are a few multiples of ours although at independence all these countries were the on the same economic level as Malaysia . We we grouped with them and were called Asia little Tigers. Today all of them have progressed and become 1st World (OECD) except us. We are now compared with second tiered Thailand , Indonesia , Vietnam who also seem to have overtaken us...!

What has gone wrong? We were the rising star of East Asia , a country rich in natural resources with the most promising potential.

The reason is massive corruption, plundering of resources, wastage of funds for huge non-economic projects, anti-public interest deals with politically-linked companies (cronies)and passing-of-the-buck to the man in the street..For example, Hong Kong and Singapore eradicated massive corruption in the 80s-90s with their ICAC and promoted transparency and meritocracy with wolrd standard education to uplift their economies. They now have universities ranked in the World's Top 50 (none in the 80-90s except University Malaya ).

Four decades of NEP where education, economic and employment policies are defined by race ensured that meritocracy took a back seat.

Our university standard has declined and the today best and brightest of our youths emigrate to escape the racial inequility only to contribute to the economies of foreign lands.

The reputation of our judiciary which was held in high esteem worldwide has sunk so low that foreign investors now insist on arbitration in Singapore in case of any dispute.

We also have a slew of oppressive laws such as the ISA, OSA, Uuca and PPPA which stifle free speech and are designed to keep the ruling parties in power..

We have become less attractive to foreign investors and now lag behind our neighbours in Asean for foreign direct investment. Even some corporations who have established themselves here are moving out.

All the economic and social malaise cannot help but affect the value of our currency. The strength of a country's currency is after all, a reflection of its fundamentals.

Furthermore, Bank Negara has a policy of weak ringgit to help exporters, never mind the burden on the common folk. The government is pro-corporation, not pro-rakyat.

While the poor and middle-class are squeezed, an elite group gets breathtakingly rich. We have the distinction of having the worse income disparity in Asean. A re-distribution of wealth is under way from the poor and middle-class to a select group of politically-connected elite.

The end result of this re-distribution will be a small group of super-rich while the majority are pushed into poverty and the middle-class shrinks. This is what happens when the rich gets richer and the poor get poorer.

There is much that is wrong with Malaysia . The responsibility for pulling the country backwards can be laid squarely at the door of the ruling regime. It is BN's mis-governance, racial politics and culture of patronage which has seen the country regress economically and socially.

We seem to be sliding down a slippery slope, further down with each passing year of BN's rule. Another five years of BN rule and we'll be at Indonesia 's standard under Suharto. Another 10 years and we'll be touching the African standard. What a way to greet 2020!!!!

Is there any hope for Malaysia ?

Faced with the reality that BN will never change, many Malaysians desperate for change turn their lonely eyes to Anwar Ibrahim.


Pakatan Raykat has promised to treat all races fairly, to plug wastage, fight corruption, reform the judiciary and make Malaysia more competitive.

But some have questioned whether we can trust Anwar and his loose coalition of disparate parties..

The question is not whether we can trust Anwar and Pakatan Rakyat but whether we can afford not to.

Can we afford another ten years of BN's misrule?

U have the power to do something in GE13, OUR FUTURE IS IN OUR OWN HAND