PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (pix) believes more can be done to resolve the issue of profiteering among businesses and to increase the salaries and disposable income of Malaysians.
The PKR president was responding to the results of an online survey he had conducted on his Twitter account, which found that more than half of the respondents admitted to spending less on shopping during the current Chinese New Year period, as compared to last year.
Remarkably, less than a fifth said they spend more this year.
“55% spent less. Not a fully representative sample, but telling,” the Port Dickson MP said today of the survey, which had 1,584 respondents.
“Some degree of inflation can’t be avoided, but more can be done in the short term to address profiteering, and for the long term, measures to improve wage and disposable income,” he posted on Twitter.
A plurality of respondents, amounting to 37%, said they had spent less this year due to the rising cost of living, while another 18% said they spent less as they were worried for their future.
Only 15% of respondents admitted to spending more, while the remaining 30% believed they had spent about the same as the previous year.
While the survey was only conducted on a small scale and is not a perfect representative sample of Malaysia, the result could serve as a reminder of Pakatan Harapan’s pledge to reduce the cost of living, which was among the things listed in its election manifesto.
