NEED FOR RESTRAINT ON SUBSIDIES
IAM perplexed to learn that the government plans to reduce the retail price of coarse sugar as part of efforts to lower the cost of living in Malaysia.
The price of sugar in Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam is RM4.65, RM3.58 and RM4.41 per kg, respectively.
At RM2.95 per kg, the sugar price in Malaysia is the lowest in the region.
Malaysia has the highest rate of diabetes in Asia and is one of the highest in the world.
There are 2.5 million Malaysian adults who are diabetics. Almost half of them do not know that they have diabetes.
By lowering the price of sugar, this could lead to people consuming more sugar. This could lead to an early onslaught of diabetes.
Malaysians are paying one of the lowest domestic electricity tariffs in the world.
This has encouraged many families to install air-conditioners in their homes at the expense of the environment. Air-conditioners contain halogenated chlorofluorocarbons that emit greenhouse gases, which have an effect on ozone depletion.
Prolonged sleeping in an air-conditioned room without proper ventilation has certain unhealthy impact on one’s health too.
Many of my neighbours, though in their 60s, are still toiling long hours as odd-job labourers to make ends meet, but they can afford to enjoy air-conditioned comfort at home.
I spoke to one of them and was told: “I can’t sleep without the air-conditioner”.
As he has been sleeping in an air-conditioned room for more than a decade, addiction to a cool environment has developed.
Subsidy is a double-edged sword. It helps but it also harms a large section of the community.
If my neighbour is willing to lead a simple life like mine, I believe he could have retired by now.
Unfortunately, he is not only burdened with a heavy electricity bill, but also a high car installment every month. Hopefully, he is able to retire before his 70th birthday.
A subsidy mentality has long been entrenched in our society.
In fact, implementing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) three years ago was an effective way to ease out the entrenched mentality gradually.
“The more you consume, the more you have to pay.”
This motto will encourage people to spend less and lead a frugal lifestyle. After all, most essential goods were GST zero-rated.
The Pakatan Harapan government should practise restraint in introducing more subsidies.
The abolishment of GST will cause an annual shortfall of RM20 billion in the national coffers. As our country has been running on a deficit economy for a long time, there is an urgent need to rectify this weakness.
If not, it will be vulnerable to a national debt crisis similar to the one encountered by Greece a decade ago.