With the dust almost settled, many a Malaysian is satisfied with the proposals in the 2012 National Budget. Tabled by the Honourable Prime Minister on 7 October 2011, the slew of incentives and measures are meant to deal head-on with the current socio-economic predicament. True to the theme “National Transformation Policy: Welfare for the Rakyat, Well-Being of the Nation”, the proposals were drawn to help the Rakyat survive the onslaught of the escalating living cost as well as to bridge the gap of income inequality. These economic predicaments are nagging issues and have been ubiquitous. Whilst the proposed measures in Budget 2012 may suffice for the short term, a long-term remedy is necessary and imperative. If the root cause of the predicaments are not properly identified and rectified accordingly, the scenario may well turn into another form of massive dissatisfaction.
Amidst the debate and discussions of the Budget, daily reports of demonstrations in the world’s number one and biggest economy – the United States (US) – has been going on into its fourth week. Emanating from the heart of the country’s and the world landmark business and financial centre, the peaceful gathering is eponymously called “Occupy Wall Street”.
Claiming to represent an overwhelming 99 percent of the US population from the low and middle-income groups, the demonstration bands Americans of various walks of life to rally together on a common stand. In a visible show of their strong number and placards, they will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1 percent of the population, who are the rich and wealthy, symbolised by the great Wall Street. The 99 percent of the American population are the ones who have been made homeless, forced to scrimp, denied basic health care yet suffer from environmental pollution, work long hours for little pay, yet have no rights. Try as they might, the dissatisfied Americans struggle to become more self-sustaining due to a maze of convoluted taxes and local laws. In short, they have worked hard, long and diligently, yet are underpaid, and typically unappreciated. The Americans are using the Middle Eastern demonstration tactics to achieve their ends and encourage the use of non-violence to protect the safety of all participants.
The anger they feel are not without basis. It stems from the fact that the US Government was so swift in using taxpayers’ money to bail out several major institutions which collapsed during the financial crisis in 2008. These institutions, such as Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Washington Mutual, Wachovia, AIG etc. were rescued by the Government to prevent the financial system from systemic failure which would subsequently spread to the real economic sector that eventually collapsed the entire economy. Nevertheless, the bailout by the Government has been regarded by the John and Jane Does as recognising the greed as well as the whims and fancies of the corporate people. Indeed, such greed and manipulation of the top executives in the corporate world, especially the financial institutions, in pursuing their self-interest and lavish lifestyle are the major causes of the financial crisis. Their insatiable greed had been fulfilled through their astronomical remuneration packages, which included exorbitant salaries and bonuses. To maintain their self-interest, they need to maintain their businesses with skyrocketed profits. In turn, this had inevitably led to the creation of manipulated products that had eventually put the masses and the entire world economy in disaster. Evidently, the demonstrators could see that the corporate people, made up of high-flying top executives of major corporations, have actually been supported by the authority. Even worse, their ugly acts have been condoned by the massive bailout exercise. Taxpayers’ money which should be allocated for the people’s welfare have been callously siphoned out by the corporate people.
In contrast, we, Malaysians are lucky to have a Government that has embarked on various direct and indirect measures to solve the nagging socio-economic predicament. Among the multitude of announcements made in the recent Budget includes the introduction of a new remuneration system to replace the current Skim Saraan Malaysia (SSM), which encompasses improving remuneration structure and reviewing yearly increment for the public service. The Government also announced direct measures to assist the Rakyat in surviving the rising cost of living through the one-off payments of RM500 per household earning RM3,000 below per month as well as RM100 to all primary and secondary students in Malaysia. Such are the “goodies”, among many others, provided for the Rakyat in the Budget 2012.
Despite all the measures taken by the Malaysian Government, the problem of the rising cost of living and income inequality cannot be guaranteed to be solved effectively. As the situation in the US exemplifies, the extent of the voraciousness of a mere segment of the population has managed to sprout untold misery and poverty to the rest. Should similar circumstances inflict us, we may be hindered from achieving economic development with social justice. This should be far from becoming a reality in Malaysia. Neither should the emergence of “modern feudalism”, whereby our hard work and pain are just for the sake of fulfilling the insatiable lust of the top corporate citizens.