Monday, March 20, 2006
When 30 cents went a long way
www.malaysia-today.net
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Not that I am trying to brag, but I could be considered a rich kid in my
primary school days in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I received pocket
money of 20 cents a day whereas most of the other kids would get only 10
cents or less. I would cycle from my home in Bukit Kuda (near Bukit Raja in
Kelang -- so named because, before WWII, our family used to own the land
around there; whereas Bukit Kuda got its name because of the horses on the
hill of course) to Meru, so the 20 cents was necessary as a cold drink cost
5 cents and I needed another 5 cents for my mee goreng. That gave me a
balance of 10 cents to splurge on pineapples, which Meru was famous for. A
whole pineapple cost 5 cents. The surplus 5 cents I would use to play
tikam-tikam, a sort of gambling game where you pulled a piece of paper off
a board and you won various prizes depending on what was written on the
paper -- sometimes it would be a toy gun, plastic car, and such rubbish.
I first ‘hit the road’ in 1966, exactly 40 years ago. I was then 16, so I
could legally own a motorcycle licence. I could not obtain a car licence
until I was 18 though. By then my pocket money had increased to 10 dollars
a week (maybe worth 100 ringgit today), but it would never last the week as
I was on the road most of my waking hours. (You must be joking if you think
I spent my free time studying for my exams).
My first bike was a 90cc Yahama, which I later upgraded to a 100cc Twin
when the 90cc got too battered up because of the many crashes I endured. In
those days, this would set you back about 1,000 dollars, 10% of what you
would have to pay today. Also, in those days, Malaysia had not gone metric
yet, so we still calculated everything in gallons, miles, miles per gallon,
and miles per hour. Petrol was 1 dollar a gallon or roughly 23 cents a
litre. With 10 dollars, I could ride my bike all the way to Penang on
Saturday morning and be back in Kuala Lumpur by Sunday evening in time for
school the next day. I of course could not afford to pay for hotel rooms so
our motorcycle gang would sleep on the stone benches along Gurney Drive,
which was then ‘Millionaires Row’.
Penang was famous for its ‘grass’ or ganja, which was sold openly along
Penang Street and, in the 1960s, not yet considered a ‘drug’ -- and
therefore not a serious crime. Even policemen traded in ganja at one dollar
a role that could last a whole day and could be shared by half a dozen guys
and gals (it was safer buying ganja from policemen, if you know what I
mean, as they did not arrest their customers). In fact, ganja was not any
stronger than a Camel or Lucky Strike cigarette so the mind boggles as to
why ganja is now banned while Camel and Lucky Strike are still legal. But
bringing ganja across to the mainland was a crime though (we did not have
the required APs), so we had to be contented with enjoying it on the Island
rather than risk getting caught by Customs. Well, Penang was a free port
then and it was certainly ‘free’ in many aspects.
My first job in 1970 was an apprenticeship with Volkswagen. My salary was
105 dollars a month, a lot of money in those days for a 20-year old. We
must remember that the purchasing power of money then was ten times what it
is today, so 105 dollars is equivalent to RM1,000 or so today. Suddenly I
was flush with money. The fact I lived with my parents in Jalan Riong,
Bangsar, helped as I did not have to put any money aside for rental or
food, though I still had to pay for my lunch in the workshop canteen. The
second year, my salary increased to 120 dollars. It would have been 140 for
the third year and 160 for the final year, after which I would receive more
than 300 dollars if I passed my apprenticeship exam. But I left in the
second year because I refused to wash the cars that had been submerged in
the flood. My supervisor had given me a toothbrush with which to clean the
cars. I retaliated by hosing down the cars instead and got water in the
engine while the inside of the car became a swimming pool (Volkswagens can
float on water, in case you did not know). My supervisor flipped and sacked
me on the spot. I walked out waving and smiling to the cheers of the entire
workshop that hated the Indian supervisor they dubbed ‘Black Hitler’ (very
racial, I must admit, but it was a German company).
I was in fact ‘overqualified’ as an apprentice. Apprenticeships are for
form three failures, those who did not qualify to go to form four, whereas
I had an MCE qualification (then called GCE O-level). I could have gone to
England do my A-level but my father thought sending me to England would be
disastrous considering my ‘wild’ lifestyle. He preferred me closer to home
where he could keep a watch on me, not that he was very successful at doing so.
In those days, with an MCE qualification, you could get employment as a
trainee officer with a bank or as a probationary inspector in the police
force at more than 300 dollars salary a month (what would be RM3,000 plus
today). After three years, when you passed your internal exam, you could
become a confirmed bank officer or police inspector at maybe twice the
salary. But none of this interested me. I was only interested in
motorcycling around Malaysia and sleeping under the open sky beside the sea.
That was life in Malaysia 40 years ago. All you needed was 300 or 400
dollars a month to get by. I got married earning that much money and even
owned a car at the same time, which was cheaper than owning a wife. A 100cc
motorcycle cost 1,000 dollars. Since I was ‘rich’, I of course had a big
bike, a 650cc Yamaha, which cost an ‘exorbitant’ 3,000 dollars, a
‘ridiculous’ price to pay for a mere motorcycle (you could buy a Volkswagen
for twice that). Just before I got married I sold the Yamaha to buy my
first car, a used (second-hand) Holden Torona. I traded that in for a
Mitsubishi 1600 after I crashed my Holden on the Federal Highway and landed
on the other side of the road (luckily it was a Holden and not a Proton, if
not I would not be around today to write this article). The brand new
Mitsubishi cost less than 10,000 dollars, amongst the most expensive car in
its class.
When my business saw success, I bought my first Mercedes Benz. It was a
used or second-hand 240D (diesel) which cost me 30,000 dollars. I needed a
diesel because I was travelling a lot and was clocking about 100,000 miles
a year. I would drive to Johor in the afternoon, have a dinner meeting in
Mersing, leave for KL around midnight, attend a meeting the next morning,
leave KL that same afternoon, and be back in Kuala Terengganu in time for
dinner. I was then in my 20s so I did not need much sleep.
When Malaysia experienced a diesel shortage to crisis proportions in the
late 1970s, I sold the 240D for the same price that I paid for it, 30,000
dollars, and bought a new Mercedes Benz 200 petrol for 37,000 dollars.
Later, I traded that in for a BMW 728i, which cost me 85,000 dollars. I
used that for awhile after which I traded it in for a Mercedes Benz 380 SE
at the insistence of Cycle and Carriage, my partner in our new business
venture (their German engineer had refused to step into my BMW when I
fetched him at the airport). This cost me 125,000 dollars, the price of a
Japanese car today. But that was over 20 years ago.
And why, you may ask, am I telling you all this? Well, this is just to
demonstrate the purchasing power of money then compared to today. What most
of you are earning today is ten times what I earned then. But what I earned
then went a long way. Today, even with your higher education and ten times
higher income, you can hardly make ends meet, let alone enjoy the perks I
did then. And don’t forget, today, you need to spend RM400,000 to get an
overseas university education to earn what we earned then with a mere form
five qualification. With a university education, we could earn a starting
salary of RM8,000 to RM10,000 in today’s money value. But there was no
motivation to go to university when we could save two years in form six and
three years university, a total of five years, and in five years our salary
would be equivalent to a university graduate just starting out (but passing
some internal exams would be required first).
Has the 30 sen increase in fuel prices upset you? Well, don’t get too
upset. Even if they did not increase the price of petrol, or decided to
reduce it again, you would still not be any richer. Today, if you earn less
than RM3,000 a month, you are still poor even if the price of petrol did
not increase. You can’t buy a motorcycle for less than RM1,000 or a good
quality and fast car for less than RM10,000. You cannot own a Mercedes Benz
for RM40,000 or a top end BMW 7 series for RM100,000. You cannot fill up
your tank and drive to Penang or Johor and back for RM40. You cannot buy a
single-storey house in Subang or Bangsar for RM20,000 or a two-storey home
for RM45,000. If you send your kids to England, you need RM400,000 over
three years and RM1 million if they decide to do medicine. Coke no longer
cost 20 cents, nor does a cup of tea or coffee. A trip to the supermarket
to fill up your cart would set you back RM400, more than a month’s salary
in the old days.
Okay, forget about comparing Malaysia then to Malaysia today. Let us
compare Malaysia today to UK today.
My sons live in Manchester -- been there more than four years now. They
earn UK £5 an hour. If they work 8 hours, that would be £40 per day -- they
work more hours than that though, sometimes 10 or 12 hours, so they make
more than £40 per day. With this salary, they pay their cost through
college and since they share a two-room apartment at £320 a month (which
they pay weekly at £80) their living cost is quite manageable. In a month,
each of my sons takes home more than £1,000, sometimes even up to £1,200.
Forget about converting all this to ringgit. Let us just calculate
everything based on £1 equals RM1. This is because that same job that earns
you £1,200 in Manchester will earn you RM1,200 in Malaysia. So we have to
look at it on the basis of one-to-one. If you earn RM1,200 per month in
Malaysia, can you rent a two-room apartment in the city for RM320? Will you
be able to spend RM20 (£20) for a cart-full of groceries like in
Manchester, or will it be RM400 (£400) like in Malaysia? Can you buy a used
car for RM200-RM400 (£200-£400) in Malaysia like you can in Manchester?
Yes, our problem extends to more than just the price of petrol going up 30
sen. The ringgit that you earn does not go very far in Malaysia, even if
the petrol price did not increase. The cost of living in Malaysia is very
high even though the quality of life is low. That is the crux of the issue.
I would rather earn £2,000 in UK than RM2,000 in Malaysia. £2,000 in UK
goes very, very far. In Malaysia, RM2,000 can hardly carry you through half
the month.
Still want to protest and demonstrate against the 30 sen increase in petrol
prices? Don’t waste your time. You should instead protest the low wages.
The so-called ‘poverty level’ that the government has come out with is
utter bullshit. The government is misleading us as to what really
represents poverty. If they redraw the poverty line, then most Malaysians
can be considered poor. In reality, 'poverty level' is more like RM1,200.
Short of that, you just can't manage, especially if you have a wife and kids.
Do you want to know something the government has not told us? Bank Negara
has come out with its calculation that if you retired at age 55 or 56, you
will need a savings of RM2 million-RM3 million to enjoy your retirement
comfortably. If not, you will still need to work. This is of course
assuming you will live for another 15-20 years before you die and that you
will live a modest live, not one of luxury. Yes, that’s right, RM2
million-RM3 million or RM120,000 a year if you live to age 73 or so, the
average lifespan of a male Malaysian. That comes to about RM10,000 per
month. But you can only play with your grandchildren and tend to your
garden. If you jet-set or take sea cruises, then you will be broke within
three or four years.
Now, how much do we get when we retire? RM300,000? In two or three years
you will be broke and will need to go find a job. This is more frightening
than the 30 sen increase in petrol prices. And I bet what you are earning
today hardly lasts the month -- so for sure you are not saving anything for
retirement day. Well, let’s hope you get a heart attack and die before age
56. This would save you the agony of facing your old age with no money in
your pocket.
When 30 cents went a long way
www.malaysia-today.net
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Not that I am trying to brag, but I could be considered a rich kid in my
primary school days in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I received pocket
money of 20 cents a day whereas most of the other kids would get only 10
cents or less. I would cycle from my home in Bukit Kuda (near Bukit Raja in
Kelang -- so named because, before WWII, our family used to own the land
around there; whereas Bukit Kuda got its name because of the horses on the
hill of course) to Meru, so the 20 cents was necessary as a cold drink cost
5 cents and I needed another 5 cents for my mee goreng. That gave me a
balance of 10 cents to splurge on pineapples, which Meru was famous for. A
whole pineapple cost 5 cents. The surplus 5 cents I would use to play
tikam-tikam, a sort of gambling game where you pulled a piece of paper off
a board and you won various prizes depending on what was written on the
paper -- sometimes it would be a toy gun, plastic car, and such rubbish.
I first ‘hit the road’ in 1966, exactly 40 years ago. I was then 16, so I
could legally own a motorcycle licence. I could not obtain a car licence
until I was 18 though. By then my pocket money had increased to 10 dollars
a week (maybe worth 100 ringgit today), but it would never last the week as
I was on the road most of my waking hours. (You must be joking if you think
I spent my free time studying for my exams).
My first bike was a 90cc Yahama, which I later upgraded to a 100cc Twin
when the 90cc got too battered up because of the many crashes I endured. In
those days, this would set you back about 1,000 dollars, 10% of what you
would have to pay today. Also, in those days, Malaysia had not gone metric
yet, so we still calculated everything in gallons, miles, miles per gallon,
and miles per hour. Petrol was 1 dollar a gallon or roughly 23 cents a
litre. With 10 dollars, I could ride my bike all the way to Penang on
Saturday morning and be back in Kuala Lumpur by Sunday evening in time for
school the next day. I of course could not afford to pay for hotel rooms so
our motorcycle gang would sleep on the stone benches along Gurney Drive,
which was then ‘Millionaires Row’.
Penang was famous for its ‘grass’ or ganja, which was sold openly along
Penang Street and, in the 1960s, not yet considered a ‘drug’ -- and
therefore not a serious crime. Even policemen traded in ganja at one dollar
a role that could last a whole day and could be shared by half a dozen guys
and gals (it was safer buying ganja from policemen, if you know what I
mean, as they did not arrest their customers). In fact, ganja was not any
stronger than a Camel or Lucky Strike cigarette so the mind boggles as to
why ganja is now banned while Camel and Lucky Strike are still legal. But
bringing ganja across to the mainland was a crime though (we did not have
the required APs), so we had to be contented with enjoying it on the Island
rather than risk getting caught by Customs. Well, Penang was a free port
then and it was certainly ‘free’ in many aspects.
My first job in 1970 was an apprenticeship with Volkswagen. My salary was
105 dollars a month, a lot of money in those days for a 20-year old. We
must remember that the purchasing power of money then was ten times what it
is today, so 105 dollars is equivalent to RM1,000 or so today. Suddenly I
was flush with money. The fact I lived with my parents in Jalan Riong,
Bangsar, helped as I did not have to put any money aside for rental or
food, though I still had to pay for my lunch in the workshop canteen. The
second year, my salary increased to 120 dollars. It would have been 140 for
the third year and 160 for the final year, after which I would receive more
than 300 dollars if I passed my apprenticeship exam. But I left in the
second year because I refused to wash the cars that had been submerged in
the flood. My supervisor had given me a toothbrush with which to clean the
cars. I retaliated by hosing down the cars instead and got water in the
engine while the inside of the car became a swimming pool (Volkswagens can
float on water, in case you did not know). My supervisor flipped and sacked
me on the spot. I walked out waving and smiling to the cheers of the entire
workshop that hated the Indian supervisor they dubbed ‘Black Hitler’ (very
racial, I must admit, but it was a German company).
I was in fact ‘overqualified’ as an apprentice. Apprenticeships are for
form three failures, those who did not qualify to go to form four, whereas
I had an MCE qualification (then called GCE O-level). I could have gone to
England do my A-level but my father thought sending me to England would be
disastrous considering my ‘wild’ lifestyle. He preferred me closer to home
where he could keep a watch on me, not that he was very successful at doing so.
In those days, with an MCE qualification, you could get employment as a
trainee officer with a bank or as a probationary inspector in the police
force at more than 300 dollars salary a month (what would be RM3,000 plus
today). After three years, when you passed your internal exam, you could
become a confirmed bank officer or police inspector at maybe twice the
salary. But none of this interested me. I was only interested in
motorcycling around Malaysia and sleeping under the open sky beside the sea.
That was life in Malaysia 40 years ago. All you needed was 300 or 400
dollars a month to get by. I got married earning that much money and even
owned a car at the same time, which was cheaper than owning a wife. A 100cc
motorcycle cost 1,000 dollars. Since I was ‘rich’, I of course had a big
bike, a 650cc Yamaha, which cost an ‘exorbitant’ 3,000 dollars, a
‘ridiculous’ price to pay for a mere motorcycle (you could buy a Volkswagen
for twice that). Just before I got married I sold the Yamaha to buy my
first car, a used (second-hand) Holden Torona. I traded that in for a
Mitsubishi 1600 after I crashed my Holden on the Federal Highway and landed
on the other side of the road (luckily it was a Holden and not a Proton, if
not I would not be around today to write this article). The brand new
Mitsubishi cost less than 10,000 dollars, amongst the most expensive car in
its class.
When my business saw success, I bought my first Mercedes Benz. It was a
used or second-hand 240D (diesel) which cost me 30,000 dollars. I needed a
diesel because I was travelling a lot and was clocking about 100,000 miles
a year. I would drive to Johor in the afternoon, have a dinner meeting in
Mersing, leave for KL around midnight, attend a meeting the next morning,
leave KL that same afternoon, and be back in Kuala Terengganu in time for
dinner. I was then in my 20s so I did not need much sleep.
When Malaysia experienced a diesel shortage to crisis proportions in the
late 1970s, I sold the 240D for the same price that I paid for it, 30,000
dollars, and bought a new Mercedes Benz 200 petrol for 37,000 dollars.
Later, I traded that in for a BMW 728i, which cost me 85,000 dollars. I
used that for awhile after which I traded it in for a Mercedes Benz 380 SE
at the insistence of Cycle and Carriage, my partner in our new business
venture (their German engineer had refused to step into my BMW when I
fetched him at the airport). This cost me 125,000 dollars, the price of a
Japanese car today. But that was over 20 years ago.
And why, you may ask, am I telling you all this? Well, this is just to
demonstrate the purchasing power of money then compared to today. What most
of you are earning today is ten times what I earned then. But what I earned
then went a long way. Today, even with your higher education and ten times
higher income, you can hardly make ends meet, let alone enjoy the perks I
did then. And don’t forget, today, you need to spend RM400,000 to get an
overseas university education to earn what we earned then with a mere form
five qualification. With a university education, we could earn a starting
salary of RM8,000 to RM10,000 in today’s money value. But there was no
motivation to go to university when we could save two years in form six and
three years university, a total of five years, and in five years our salary
would be equivalent to a university graduate just starting out (but passing
some internal exams would be required first).
Has the 30 sen increase in fuel prices upset you? Well, don’t get too
upset. Even if they did not increase the price of petrol, or decided to
reduce it again, you would still not be any richer. Today, if you earn less
than RM3,000 a month, you are still poor even if the price of petrol did
not increase. You can’t buy a motorcycle for less than RM1,000 or a good
quality and fast car for less than RM10,000. You cannot own a Mercedes Benz
for RM40,000 or a top end BMW 7 series for RM100,000. You cannot fill up
your tank and drive to Penang or Johor and back for RM40. You cannot buy a
single-storey house in Subang or Bangsar for RM20,000 or a two-storey home
for RM45,000. If you send your kids to England, you need RM400,000 over
three years and RM1 million if they decide to do medicine. Coke no longer
cost 20 cents, nor does a cup of tea or coffee. A trip to the supermarket
to fill up your cart would set you back RM400, more than a month’s salary
in the old days.
Okay, forget about comparing Malaysia then to Malaysia today. Let us
compare Malaysia today to UK today.
My sons live in Manchester -- been there more than four years now. They
earn UK £5 an hour. If they work 8 hours, that would be £40 per day -- they
work more hours than that though, sometimes 10 or 12 hours, so they make
more than £40 per day. With this salary, they pay their cost through
college and since they share a two-room apartment at £320 a month (which
they pay weekly at £80) their living cost is quite manageable. In a month,
each of my sons takes home more than £1,000, sometimes even up to £1,200.
Forget about converting all this to ringgit. Let us just calculate
everything based on £1 equals RM1. This is because that same job that earns
you £1,200 in Manchester will earn you RM1,200 in Malaysia. So we have to
look at it on the basis of one-to-one. If you earn RM1,200 per month in
Malaysia, can you rent a two-room apartment in the city for RM320? Will you
be able to spend RM20 (£20) for a cart-full of groceries like in
Manchester, or will it be RM400 (£400) like in Malaysia? Can you buy a used
car for RM200-RM400 (£200-£400) in Malaysia like you can in Manchester?
Yes, our problem extends to more than just the price of petrol going up 30
sen. The ringgit that you earn does not go very far in Malaysia, even if
the petrol price did not increase. The cost of living in Malaysia is very
high even though the quality of life is low. That is the crux of the issue.
I would rather earn £2,000 in UK than RM2,000 in Malaysia. £2,000 in UK
goes very, very far. In Malaysia, RM2,000 can hardly carry you through half
the month.
Still want to protest and demonstrate against the 30 sen increase in petrol
prices? Don’t waste your time. You should instead protest the low wages.
The so-called ‘poverty level’ that the government has come out with is
utter bullshit. The government is misleading us as to what really
represents poverty. If they redraw the poverty line, then most Malaysians
can be considered poor. In reality, 'poverty level' is more like RM1,200.
Short of that, you just can't manage, especially if you have a wife and kids.
Do you want to know something the government has not told us? Bank Negara
has come out with its calculation that if you retired at age 55 or 56, you
will need a savings of RM2 million-RM3 million to enjoy your retirement
comfortably. If not, you will still need to work. This is of course
assuming you will live for another 15-20 years before you die and that you
will live a modest live, not one of luxury. Yes, that’s right, RM2
million-RM3 million or RM120,000 a year if you live to age 73 or so, the
average lifespan of a male Malaysian. That comes to about RM10,000 per
month. But you can only play with your grandchildren and tend to your
garden. If you jet-set or take sea cruises, then you will be broke within
three or four years.
Now, how much do we get when we retire? RM300,000? In two or three years
you will be broke and will need to go find a job. This is more frightening
than the 30 sen increase in petrol prices. And I bet what you are earning
today hardly lasts the month -- so for sure you are not saving anything for
retirement day. Well, let’s hope you get a heart attack and die before age
56. This would save you the agony of facing your old age with no money in
your pocket.
