Cost of living going up and up
In addition to the soaring prices in the food and drinks industry, the quality in the housing industry has also been dropping. In the old days, houses were acquired to live for life and became the family heritage homes for generations to come.
By YEW LEE KIM, Sin Chew
Translated by Adeline Lee
Many years ago, I loved to eat Chinese buns and dim sum more than the western fast food, especially the big buns, which at that time were really very big.
Over the years, the cost of the big buns have gone up, but the skin of the buns had became gradually thicker, with only a small portion of egg and smaller amount of pork.
As the price of a big bun became increasingly disproportional with its content, I have stopped eating it for some time now. I often jokingly refereed to it as the “evolution of a bun”, that is the price goes up, while its quality goes down.
Besides the big bun, there are also many traditional good foods whose qualities have also declined. For example, the ingredients of the dumplings have become less, and the wontons are getting smaller and smaller.
And just in the first month of 2011, the pressure of increasing prices is already widely felt. Particularly in the start of the new year, prices of all goods have gone up. The most unbearable is the double increase in the food and drinks industry. Clear-minded consumers will find that in addition to the increase in price of at least 50 sen per bowl of noodles dish of some areas, its content is also secretly shrunk. The shrimps and squids of fried noodles have all disappeared, and some char siew slices of noodles dishes have also decreased in quantity.
The difficulties faced by the food hawkers are not hard to understand. The high cost of the raw ingredients has increased their production cost, but they dare not increase their prices much for fear of losing their customers. So they have to cut corners. But this is not a permanent way to manage business. If these practices were carried out for a long time, traditional food would change, and it would stop being able to satisfy the taste of the customers. In that case, what capital will local food have to compete with fast food from overseas? It is no wonder then that our children love western fast food better than local food. The worst consequence will be the gradual phase out of local cuisine. Of course, there are also hawkers who adhered to gradual increase in prices, but who did not reduce the quality of their food. But these are in the minority.
In addition to the soaring prices in the food and drinks industry, the quality in the housing industry has also been dropping. In the old days, houses were acquired to live for life and became the family heritage homes for generations to come. But shabby housing projects are nowadays more common. High housing prices have weighed down the city people, yet we lack even the protection of a comfortable home.
In addition, the 1% increase in service tax at the beginning of this year is not limited to just the food and drinks industry, it also includes accountancy, legal, architectural, and certain medical services. Unless you do not buy houses, have no need to do accounts, do not get loans, and do not fall sick, you will inevitably have to pay service tax.
It is understood from some service providers that some of their customers do not understand why the number of bills has increased, and thought that the industry wants to make profit. In order to retain their customers, some service providers offer discounts on other charges. Of course, nothing comes for free, and ultimately the losers may be the customers because the service quality may also be played off.
As a consumer, of course, we all want to get what we pay. The businessmen want to maximise profits with minimal capital. To strike a balance between the two, we can not look only at the immediate short term profits; we must look to the future as well. Otherwise with the quality of all the basic necessities of life diminishing, how can Malaysians look forward to a better tomorrow in the new year?
