Govt has no money? Learn from Pak Hamid

 

At a Sikh function for the Vaisakhi celebration in Petaling Jaya on April 12, Muhyiddin Yassin claimed that Putrajaya did not have much money left for the country.

He is not alone. Throughout Malaysia, thousands of families (and businesses) are struggling. Some people have lost their homes because they have no jobs and no money to pay for food, mortgage or rent. Others have to move in with their parents as they cannot afford to live on their own. There are claims that the number of homeless people has increased.

With the economy in such a perilous state, businesses have to lay off people, downsize and, in some cases, shut down.

Muhyiddin said his government had spent over RM600 billion in 2020 and 2021, dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic and stimulating the economy in the national budget. Not much money was left in the kitty.

Last year, a similar dilemma was faced by engineer Pak Hamid Adam (not his real name), who lives in Batu Gajah, Perak, and manages a smallholding. He has a large family and four teenage children still live with him. Two are still in secondary school while the other two are looking for work. His youngest child was studying in an international school. He moved him to a local school and saved on fees and boarding.

His four elder children are married and live outside Batu Gajah with their families. One daughter, who recently married, moved to Kuala Lumpur with her husband, where both have jobs.

When Pak Hamid found that money was running short, he sat with his family and, together, they found ways to deal with the worsening financial situation.

To address his predicament, Pak Hamid made his children write down all their expenses. He made them list the money spent on necessary items. He asked them to tally the cost of unnecessary items like sweets or clothes (mostly bought online). He then made them cut back on the unnecessary expenses.

Pak Hamid also asked his wife to do the same. Treats were excluded from the shopping list and only essential items were bought. He told his household that the air-conditioning should not be switched on and fans, or open windows, could be used to cool them during hot weather.

He told them to take less time over their hot showers. He said they should not leave the fridge door open, the lights on, or the television and other electrical appliances on if they were not using them. Despite the initial resistance from his children, the results were reflected, after a few months, in the monthly bills.

Two of Pak Hamid’s teenage sons liked to take the car for long drives. He urged them to put a stop to this frivolous pastime, till the family finances improved.

One of his daughters liked to shop online, for cosmetics and accessories. He also ended her extravagant purchases.

Pak Hamid had a large garden and nearby orchard. He used to employ gardeners to manage the orchard and his garden. His wife had a cook and a maid to help her manage the large house. They also had a driver to ferry her and his children around.

When times were good, Pak Hamid paid his driver a generous salary, but with the Covid-19 lockdown and restricted travelling, his driver agreed to a reduced monthly retainer. Both hoped things would improve, but as things did not and a more severe lockdown was imposed, Pak Hamid had no choice but to dispense with the services of the driver. More savings were made.

With the restrictions, Pak Hamid realised that he did not need such a large household staff to assist him as he and his children could manage the farm and house on their own. He found that trimming his bloated staff helped to reduce his monthly expenses, as he need not pay wages and other contributions.

He reduced his travelling and instead of driving the imported car which consumed a lot of petrol, he used his wife’s little, battered Proton, and managed to save a fortune in petrol. Where possible, they combined their trips, especially as the lockdown rules meant their travel was limited.

For her part, his wife used the supermarket’s own brands instead of luxury products and found that these tasted just as good, at a fraction of the price.

When his daughter and new son-in-law lost their jobs just before travel between states was banned, he invited them to stay with him, until their employment situation improved. With no jobs, they had no money to pay the rent on their flat.

Pak Hamid’s management of his finances is a lesson to some of us.

He trimmed the bloated manpower, cut back on unnecessary expenses and, to make his finance easier to track and manage, listed all his purchases to see where savings could be made.

Sometimes, those in government can learn a lot from the ordinary people. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of the writer.