THE BUCK STOPS WITH UMNO-BN: Urban poverty, hardship, suffering now VERY REAL in Malaysia

It was a chance encounter. Ah Chong (not his real name) sat across the table he shared with me at a kopitiam in Pandan Jaya, Kuala Lumpur. His hair was an untidy mess, he looked a few days unshaven and he wore a white shirt, that was by now a shade grey, and black long pants.

As I suspected he was an off duty taxi driver who had just finished his shift and was on the way home. Home was a three-bedroom walk-up flat nearby where he stayed with his wife and three kids.He had stopped to have a drink of 'yam cha' (tea) before heading for home but now struck up a conversation with me.

It was opportune that it was also tea-time for me before proceeding to a language center in the vicinity where I taught as a paid volunteer. Ah Chong seemed to be in a chatty mood while I was all ears as I had ample time before my classes started.

While I was no 'shrink' (psychiatrist), it looked as if Ah Chong was looking to pour out his troubles and problems to someone with sympathetic ears.

Ah Chong and the Malaysian Dream gone awry

Ah Chong had been a taxi driver for the last 15 years. In times past he was able to gather about RM 5000 a month in taxi fares to take care of his wife and children.

But three years ago he was discovered to have diabetes and hypertension. This meant less hours plying his taxi in the Klang Valley and his income dipped to about RM 3000 a month.

His wife does not work but stays at home to supervise their three primary school-going children.

Besides paying for the installment monthly for his flat, he has to pay for the food bill, electricity and water and telephone charges.

His three school-going children need uniforms, books and medical expenses for the family when they fall ill.

"You should know," he said, "how much I have to pay for their tuition fees alone."

As he spoke with me, a pall of gloom began to envelop us and I knew he was struggling to stay afloat and to keep his family going through these tough times.

"Once I was really broke and even thought of borrowing from a loan shark some money. But I managed to pull through. But I'm not sure how long more I can keep going. I worry a lot," he said.

There was nothing I could do except to offer some words of comfort and encouragement and told him to seek help from organizations that reached out to people in his circumstances.

I told him to be realistic and positive. He said he had no vices except that he waged a little on digit games in the hope of getting a windfall to ease him through life.

It was time to commence my class and as I bade him farewell I could not help but think if this was the tip of the iceberg of people suffering from urban poverty in this country.

The sufferings of the Ali's, Ah Chong's and Ramasamy's in this country

The story of Ah Chong is not really an untold story. In the course of my travels across the Klang Valley using public transport, people of all walks of life, from bus and LRT commuters and taxi drivers have confided in me of their sufferings and hardship.

In these economically bleak times, its hard to make ends meet. There were people who told me that they held not only a day but an evening job as well so as to make ends meet.

It was not really that these people were extravagant in their ways, though some showed signs of living beyond their means, it was just that they were hard pressed trying to make ends meet.

It was unthinkable to be without work as this will mean having to beg, borrow or steal to get through life. While the plight of these people have begun to come to the forefront of life, on the other hand, we are witness to lavish and unnecessary spending by corrupt leaders of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

While the BN government has put in place mechanisms to try and help these kind of needy, desperate cases, the rise and surge in numbers is evident by statistics given by Bank Negara on the rising number of bankruptcy cases in this country.

If the BN government were instead to focus on eradicating corruption among government leaders and civil servants than it will be able to use ample funds at their disposal to help these groups of people.

But the real, root problem of urban poverty is because Malaysia suffers from a very bad and evil specter of corruption that has become embedded in the system.

It is the system, blame the system because it is corrupt and has failed us.

How much longer can Malaysians possibly bear this pressure and burden on their lives in which the elite live well off the hard efforts and labor of the toiling masses?

It is unfair that the wealth of the nation is not equitably distributed and the BN government does not seem to bother about the plight of needy Malaysians who are increasing in numbers not just in the rural areas but in the urban areas as well.

A call to address the issue of urban poverty

It doesn't help that the prices of goods and services keep increasing and the BN government seems to have lost control of the situation.

By bringing in a Goods & Services Tax, the BN government is actually adding insult to injury and this is also viewed as the imposition of heavy taxes as many Malaysians in the workforce do not pay personal income tax.

It really is adding to the misery of Malaysians and the ugly scenario of urban poverty. The fact that most Malaysians earn below RM 2000 a month and if Ah Chong can hardly survive with his family one can imagine how the others fare.

This is not a case of scare-mongering or sheer exaggeration. But by interviewing or talking to people on the streets, the general public, and by doing some simple arithmetic it is possible to get a guesstimate of the seriousness of urban poverty in Malaysia.

Consumer rights groups and pressure groups should learn to highlight the importance of household budgeting and financial prudence to ensure Malaysians live within their means. They should take it upon themselves to educate Malaysians on spending and ways to save and be thrifty.

There should also be a minimum wage level and financial help and provisions put in place to help steer people out of urban poverty and to avoid borrowing from loan sharks to make matters worse.

Life in this country is now certainly not a bed of roses. There is a great need by Malaysians to pressure the government to stamp out and weed out corruption so that it does not wreck and damage the lives of the majority of Malaysians.

This is because the root cause of urban poverty can be traced to corruption which only favors the minority elite in this country. - Malaysia Chronicle