Marsha Maung:: Freelance graphic designer and writer

The price of petrol goes up…once again! Accordingly, Malaysians enjoy quite cheap petrol prices compared to many developed countries. But still…as a citizen who is ENJOYING the slight advantage we have over other developed nation, it still hurts like mad to know that the price of petrol will be hitched up another notch and we’ll all have to prepare ourselves to pay more for….basically everything! From chicken to computer mouse, from hamster food to CDs. the cost of transporting goods will go up and the consumer bears the brunt of this very cruel joke.

 

But this is life….but I rather enjoyed the article in today’s The Star on the rising cost of living.

 

Global Cost of living statistics

 

Accordingly, Tokyo and Osaka are among the most expensive cities to live in; but the quality of their life is very high. I know we’re heading in that direction although we’re not as ‘cheap’ like Paraguay (which is the cheapest city in the world). I heard that ‘some’ Indonesians need only spend about RM1.00 (USD$0.25) a day to keep a family of four alive! Amazing, isn’t it? All they get to eat is vegetable of the second-rate variety together with rice provided by the government to poor families…and viola, four heads are fed.

 

And also my sponsored child who lives in Hotan, Xinjiang, China and his family survive on RM50 a month…which works out to be RM1.66 a day. But their lifestyle is unenviable. There’s also a friend of mine who prefers to take a bus to work (I don’t like this idea at all because I hate smelling other people’s armpits whenever they raise their arms to hold the banister screwed to the ceiling of the bus!! Eugh!) instead of driving. He owns a very nice car (not your conventional Malaysian car, ok?) and keeps it safely at home while he jumps into a ‘sardine can’ every morning to work?

 

But my friend’s decision is actually very sensible. Sitting over cappuccino, he worked out how much he actually saved by taking the bus. He also worked out the many benefits of waking up early to catch the earliest possible bus, walking to the bus stop, reading while waiting for the bus, and getting home dog-tired and sleeping early…and I am like….mmmm….that’s interesting. On the flipside of having to cramp one’s body into a moving sardine can, you get to live a healthier and cheaper lifestyle. I guess if you looked at it that way, it is KINDA great to take the bus to work, huh?

 

Back to point in contention…..a price rise like this that affects the overall cost of living in a developing country like Malaysia is inevitable. We can’t stay cheap forever and change is unavoidable. But who says we have to smile while ‘change’ comes bossing us around every now and then.