Despite Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s recent call on Malaysians to stop blaming anyone for the rising cost of living, he seems to have a hard time practising what he preaches.
The call came even as he blamed previous administrations for lopsided privatisation contracts which, according to him, could not be altered. This is despite the government’s ownership of the companies concerned. For example, Plus, the highway concessionaire, is a wholly-owned government subsidiary via UEM and Khazanah.
In fact, the government could, if it wanted to, very well reverse privatisation, nationalise assets and return ownership of public utilities to the public. But what can we expect from a cabinet whose solution against the rising cost of living is for the people to take on extra burdens instead of the government doing what it should to bring prices down?
Ahmad Maslan tells us to work more jobs. Zahid tells us that nothing can be done and that at the end of the day, it’s not the current government’s fault.
Both ministers are playing an extensive game of passing the buck, but they seem to forget that the buck stops with them.
Last Thursday, Zahid announced that a high-level committee would be formed to discuss NGO views on the rising cost of living. Several NGOs have tabled six recommendations as viable frameworks to ease the burden of inflation and skyrocketing prices. Among other things, they suggest a boost in the sustainability of graduates, increased entrepreneurship for women and the establishment of a bureau to tackle household debts.
This new NGO-friendly committee is an extension of another, higher committee called the Cabinet Committee on Tackling the Rising Cost of Living. Both committees are chaired by Zahid.
While some may see this as a good effort or a step in the right direction, it raises several points.
First, how is it that the NGOs seem to be doing a better job in offering feasible solutions against the rising cost of living? At this rate, perhaps it is the NGOs we should be calling upon to run the country since the government appears to have few ideas of its own and can do little more than play the blame game.
Second, the government is asking NGOs to meet and consult with it, but in the end, the NGOs answer to the government. The government is the one with power to effect change in this country, where top-down government processes are still the norm.
How can Zahid pretend to be powerless then? Is he saying that the government is little more than a puppet, a slave to the many companies and cronies that it has contracts with? The people didn’t elect companies to run the country. So why is it that they seem to be calling the shots on these matters?
Third, with Zahid at the helm of these committees, one wonders just how many resolutions will come into effect to combat the rising cost of living. Will there actually be change, or just more excuses coming our way? As it is, Zahid has already warned the public that nothing much can be done about increasing prices because these are linked to “importation” and “production costs.”
No one is denying that inflation is hard to tackle or that it’s an unavoidable reality of modern life. But the prices of many things cannot rise at the same time, especially when wages are not rising as well. And with the government intent on importing more foreign labour, wages are most likely going to keep on being repressed.
In the end, promises to resolve whatever issue at hand, whether it’s inflation or racism, are just going to remain as promises. Rhetoric remains empty when it’s not backed by actual policies and plans that work.
It’s an unfortunate reality in Malaysia that politicians sometimes seem to be more efficient in running their mouths than running the country.