A social system gone topsy turvy

We're ignoring the needy while rewarding the well-to-do and pampering the rogues.

COMMENT

It looks as if there’s a breakdown in the Malaysian social system, if there is one. While a large section of the public is struggling with the cost of living, judges are getting a hefty pay rise, mat rempits are getting seed money to set up business, and failed Mara students are getting a 50% discount on their study loans. Who is or are behind these hare-brained ideas?

No one is saying that the work of judges is not important, but at a time when the poor are getting poorer, it takes an insensitive soul to decide on raising their salaries and, worse, backdating the raise to July 2015. Some of the judges will get increments of more than RM8,000. And let’s not talk about the luxurious perks senior judges are entitled to.

Meanwhile, we hear from Terengganu that the Islamic Affairs and Malay Customs Council (Maidam) will give Mat Rempits RM15,000 each to start a business. They’ll also get shop lots and be given free education and training for business. The zakat fund will bear all these expenses.

We note the Maidam chief’s statement that only Mat Rempits who are willing to change their lifestyle will be entitled to the facility. We’ll wait to see how that will be determined.But one cannot help thinking that the wrong message is being given to the public. Mat Rempits, who are mostly young adults, take part in illegal street races, often at night. They have no respect for other road users. Many are high on drugs, do not ride licensed vehicles, have no driving licences and do not know the highway code. It is said that the winning riders can earn several thousand ringgit. It is even alleged that they get girls as trophies.

Why can’t Maidam instead think of a programme to instil good values and discipline in the young when they are still in their formative years at school? Why wait till they become Mat Rempits before trying to wean them off bad habits?

A similarly erroneous message is being given to the Mara students who fail in their higher education. The message is that Mara rewards failure. How daft is that?

As some men continue to have their RM300 lunches and some women continue to get their hair done for RM1,200 per session, we read about fathers and mothers who are forced to steal to feed their children. One mother was caught stealing Milo from a supermarket in Kuala Lumpur. One father in Bukit Mertajam stole food worth RM27 to feed his three children. In Ipoh, a man is forced to live in his car with his disabled wife and seven-year-old son.

If the judges can be given a pay rise, if Mat Rempits can get RM15,000 cash injections for business, if failed Mara students can get a 50% discount on their study loans, why can’t there be a revision of welfare allowances for the poor, for single mothers and for the disabled? The effect of the GST on the cost of food, transport and medicine makes life unbearable for them. It’s time the welfare system was revamped.

Mariam Mokhtar is an FMT columnist.