Is 9MP going to offer only "water & grass" to low-rank govt servants?

Today's headline news in the Star is mind-boggling.

It mentioned that the poverty line in Klang Valley is RM1,500.

Lans Korporal Mohd Izwan Abdullah, 34, who has served the police force for 10 years and diligently upgraded his qualifications by studying part-time and obtaining a degree in HRD from UPM is currently being paid RM1,050 per month.

Detective L/Kpl K. Ganesh, 40, who has a law degree from London and currently serving in the Selangor Commercial Crime Division earns about the same amount.

According to the IGP, 20% of his lower-rank men are diploma and degree holders and yet some of them even earn as little as RM650!

I wonder if L/Kpl Mohd Izwan and L/Kpl K. Ganesh are married with wife & kids? And what about those who are currently earning less than RM1,000 per month? Are they all bachelors? Or do their families survive mostly on a good helping of polluted air, tap water and grass? Where do they live? Do they have to pay rent? Do they have any form of personal transport like motorbikes or cars? How do they upkeep their vehicles? How much do they need to pay for basic utilities like electricity, water, gas, school supplies and attire for their kids? What is left at the end of the month to feed the family? What is left at all to save for a rainy day?

An 18-year old receptionist clerk with a basic SPM qualification and no experience is paid RM800 starting pay in a private engineering firm in Serdang working 5 days a week. By the time she is 20, and with the 2 years experience she had, she can easily ask for RM1,000 starting salary in any private company around Klang valley. If she continues working, we can safely assume that she can earn no less than RM1,200 per month with 7 years of working experience by age 25. If she takes the initiative to upgrade herself with diploma in secretarial studies or some other relevant courses, her salary scale can even go up to above RM2,000 per month.

This is not fictional. This is a real-life example of someone I personally know of. She is currently contented in her job, in air-conditioned comfort and working 8:30am to 5:30pm from Monday to Friday with 2 days off on Saturday and Sunday to enjoy with her family. And yet, she is struggling to meet with the high cost of living in Klang valley. She had to pay her babysitter RM350 a month, her older son's kindergarten fees of RM200 a month, loan repayment on her Kancil, rental on her apartment and other unavoidable expenses. She is lucky that her husband is also gainfully employed as a technician at about the same wages as her. According to her, they are barely managing on their joint take-home pay of about RM2,000.

If the example above shows that even families earning RM2,000 are struggling to live a comfortable life, what more of those who are earning much less than that?

As the Chinese saying goes, do they fill their stomachs with "water and cow-grass"?

The next time our government wants to approve increases in basic utility charges like electricity, water and gas, please consider these group of people.

The next time our government allow petrol prices to go up again, please also consider them. For those who do regular marketing for food and household items, they already know that the same basket of items cost at least 10% more today than what it did same time last year.

Do they not understand the logic that with prices going steadily up over the years, the cost of living has gone beyond what some of our government servants are earning in order to survive above the poverty line?

Until our government develops compassion for this low-income group, we will continue to see various social ills arising out of this conundrum.

For the oppressed will fail to understand how with all the country's riches and grandiose policies formulated at Federal level, it has not made an iota of difference to their lives. They continue to plod on, "kais pagi makan pagi, kais petang makan petang" while their favoured brethren continue to live the good life, unashamed to flout their excesses and privileged positions.

So, please don't talk cock about marginalised Malays in Penang. Go and take a look at some of the poor Malays living in Kelantan, Terengganu and Selangor Maju. Go and take a look at how our government had marginalised our low-ranking police personnel, teachers and other government servants.

And then, tell us how the 9MP can eliminate some of their sufferings.