IN times of crises, including at the present, we should not expect the political elite of the
day to continue with pre-existing perks/benefits/privileges and pensions – and even salaries – which gives the perception of “unbridled” enjoyment of “lavish” treatment, rightly or wrongly.
This is at the expense of the money belonging to the rakyat. As revealed by member of Parliament for Muar Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman(pix) and leader of the Muda (Malaysian United Democratic Alliance) party, there has been no let-up in the provisioning of ministers’ salaries and perks during what is an unprecedented spell and the most devastating economic impact ever, brought about by Covid-19.
In fact, ministers have doubled down on their claims and self-entitlements, which have created anxiety and unease among MPs, giving their due response on behalf of the rakyat, who have been put through the most severe economic and socio-economic upheaval so far.
This is set against a real-world backdrop where it has been estimated that unemployment together with under-employment could well have reached more than two million by now. Some have had to endure pay cuts before the wage subsidy kicked in. Worse still are those whose pay cuts were never restored.
Tragically, thousands of businesses have shut down because they were unable to withstand the impact from the movement control orders or lockdowns that had caused such a drastic drop in sales in conventional or face-to-face transactions. Hundreds of thousands more are on the verge of bankruptcy and closure.
For businesses that have adapted to and adopted digitalisation by way of low contact transactions, some (i.e. high growth businesses) have found success
and their niche in the market through e-commerce platforms such as Shopify Plus, and digital
marketing solutions providers in the form of Meekco, among others.
Whereas for the wider real economy, getting onboard delivery platforms like Grab, Food Panda, Shopee, Lazada, it has been a mixed picture. Many continue to struggle, and sales from digital orders barely cover the losses from the conventional or
face-to-face transactions.
On top of that, businesses suffer from the perennial cashflow problem that is compounded by high gearing ratios or highly leveraged financial positions (i.e. high debt) as well as outstanding rental payments to landlords, among others.
A staggering 580,000 households from the M40 classification have slipped into the B40 category, whereas there are now 639,800 households that are deemed as poor as of 2020.
Incidences of absolute poverty – that should have been abolished a long time ago – increased to a scandalous 8.4%. All these data are from the Department of Statistics, applying the current Poverty Line Income set at RM2,208 per month.
In short, statistics after statistics from our
socio-economic data point to a grim outlook. For the vast majority of the rakyat, they continue to struggle to survive and cope while some have barely enough to put food on the table.
We have learnt from the lessons of other countries that austerity should not be imposed on the rakyat during times of economic difficulties. Countries such as Greece that experienced austerity saw its gross domestic product (GDP), output and employment contracting and shrunk massively.
In the UK, the austerity measures (timed over a
five-year period) were unable to go on full swing as
it stalled by 2012 when GDP fell to 0.2% (in
inflation-adjusted GDP – this is below the level in 2007, i.e. the year before the onset of the Great Recession of 2008/09). But savings and cuts should be made by the government on itself. If at all, any self-imposed constraints and restraint should be upon the government’s internal expenditure, whatever one wants to call it – “efficiency savings” and what-not.
Specifically, the government should go all out in plugging leakages and wastages from public expenditure as reported in the Auditor-General’s Report year after year, by tightening up the screws
on the procurement process and implementing a
zero-based budgetary system.
More to the point, and to put it simply – ministers’ pay, perks and pensions should be revisited and subject to a reasonable reduction, accordingly. For one, there should be a temporary or time-limited cap on ministerial pay, perks and pensions across the board. On top of that, there should be a freeze or halt to any proposed rises.
Just because the government is allocating funds to the rakyat to help them tide over the impact from the pandemic, it therefore, does not mean that
ministers are “equally” entitled to a “reward” for what they are doing. Such casuistry, if at all, is only
self-serving above all.
A mild or modest belt tightening on our ministers will not hurt them in any way. In fact, it will elevate their standing in the eyes of the rakyat and assure them that our political elite and masters truly empathise with their situation.
A big thanks to Syed Saddiq for raising and highlighting this matter.
Please, dear ministers, can we see some show of
real empathy?
Jason Loh Seong Wei is Head of Social,
Law & Human Rights at EMIR Research, an independent think tank focussed on strategic policy recommendations based on rigorous research. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
