LETTERS: THE cost of living in Malaysia is increasing and imposes an economic burden on most Malaysians.
For example, the price of milk is high. A tin of 800g Nestle Nan H.A 1 Infant Formula milk powder is RM114. That’s a substantial percentage from the income of most Malaysians. Imagine if you have four mouths to feed!
The reasons for the high price of food is because most of the products are imported.
Most of the milk powder in Malaysia are imported from the Netherlands, Switzerland and New Zealand.
The importation price includes transportation cost from other countries to Malaysia, insurance cost, freight cost and importers’ profits.
Although Malaysia has arable land of 7-8 million hectares, the land is not utilised to their full potential.
If Malaysians can produce food locally, the cost will be much lower.
The high prices of houses is another issue. This is due to
the high profits enjoyed by devel opers.
For example, the price of a two-storey terrace house in Serdang, Selangor is RM700,000. This requires a monthly payment of RM3,500 to RM4,000 for 35 years at a bank rate of 4.4 per cent. Most fresh graduates earn between RM2,800 and RM3,500. How can they afford to buy?
There is a need to do something to reduce the high cost of living in Malaysia.
Firstly, Malaysians have to eliminate the mindset of over-dependence on importing food.
Malaysians should grow their own food. Simple technology such as hydroponic and fertigation can be applied to plant vegetables such as kangkung, bayam and chillies.
Malaysians can learn from Thailand’s sufficient economy philosophy in which the land is divided into four plots to make it productive.
The first plot is used for poultry rearing, the second for vegetable planting, the third for aquaculture farming and the fourth to build a house.
This can provide sufficient food and reduce the cost of living.
With regards to houses, we need to build houses that are affordable. Affordable houses for fresh undergraduates should be less than RM280,000. This price takes into account the fresh graduate’s ability to pay the monthly instalment of not more than RM1,400 for a period of 35 years.
House ownership should also be limited to one house per person to avoid speculation in the housing market.
Speculation will result in further increases in house prices.
Houses should be purchased for residence purposes and not for speculation or investment purposes. Those who cannot buy a house can consider renting first before opting to buy later.
This will enable them to accumulate enough savings to pay the 10 per cent downpayment and prevent severe financial stress.
DR LEE WEN CHIAT
Senior lecturer, School of Economics, Finance and Banking, Universiti Utara Malaysia
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times