1. Price of food have gone up by 83 % in the last four years. Price of houses have also increased between 20 to 50 percent depending on location, with some at 80 %. These are our basic needs. How much have your salary increased over the period?
2. This happened against subsidies on certain major items like rice, sugar and petrol. Without which we are told would have caused price of food to be higher. Which would have caused more to follow.
3. So how are we going to live with inflation, a phenomena the country cannot solve?
4. Subsidy is not the long term solution to handle the problem of increasing cost of living. It's a temporary measure only. Money is always limited in supply to very country. They have to tax it from somewhere to spend it. If it is spent as subsidy, it cannot be spent for something else.
5. By increasing the salary in both the government and private sector, people will have more disposable income to afford the higher prices. But the increase in salary must be sustainable. Money must come from somewhere in the sense that it cannot fall from the sky.
6.On the part of government, prudence must be the order of the day. Certain old ways of running things must be stopped. Certain new ways of management to reduce wastage must be implemented. Ways where things can be done more cheaply and not so much have to be spent must be put in place. There is much truth in the saying that it is increase in efficiency when wastage is cut!
7. Oil accounts for 40% of Malaysian government revenue. Imagine what will happen if Malaysia runs out of oil to pump one day. How then is the government going to sustain the subsidy being undertaken, increasing the salary of the civil servants?
8. On the part of private sector, salary increase cannot be 100 % matched with the increase in the cost of living. Salary is one portion of the product or service cost that will invariably be passed down to the consumers IF it's not sustained by increase in productivity. Increase in real productivity will result in lower cost, better profit without price being higher, higher salary to the employees. Only in this way, salary increase is sustainable.
