Reading this news on a gloomy Monday morning, Evaporated milk to cost 30 sen more in Janauary 2011, I immediately thought of my two good friends who are retired and single, living on their own and depending solely on their pensions of about than RM1000 a month. My friends each rent a small room for RM400 a month in different parts of the city, and drive 25 year-old dilapidated cars, as public transport is woefully inadequate. In order to make ends meet, one of them buys a loaf of bread every three days, and that was his breakfast and lunch for the period. The other one skips a meal a day, preferring to wake up late in the morning, have a brunch of two Roti Canai and a glass of teh tarik, which will see him through until dinner time.

With the announced increase in the price of milk, and the expected increase in price of oil, you can imagine the cost of their basic requirements will further increase. I am not sure how they will cope, but I can understand their feelings of bitterness, having worked for the Govt for more than 33 years, and seeing their country "taken over" by millions of immigrants who will work for almost nothing, and seeing out the remaining days of their lives living just above the poverty line.

Please don't think these are isolated cases; If the Govt would just commission an independent research to survey public opinion on the streets it would come as a surprise to the Govt that many more people are out there suffering in silence, going from one hungry day to the next, praying for the Almighty to mercifully "take them away". Not only pensioners and retired teachers, but the small businessmen who cannot afford to save at all for their old ages. Talk to the fishermen, the farmers and the hawkers, do not just interview the senior executives, fund manager, and the CEOs to find out if such price increases will affect them.....

It's going to be a sad New Year for many

Happy New Year, anyway

Govt must realise how price hikes are hurting many retirees