There has been a premise bantered around that a family of four can survive on a gross pay of

RM3,000 per month. This I find hard to believe. Let us say the family consists of four persons; a bread winning father, housewife, school-going child and an infant.

In my basic calculation, putting together very basic purchases for the said family, including basic amenities, three daily meals for the family, dad’s daily expenses, vehicle petrol/repayment/ insurance, child’s education, school-busing, car repayment, infant care and other expenses, I arrive at a figure above RM3,600.

And the RM3,000 income is going to be affected by EPF contributions and income tax.

There is a huge deficit confronted by these families. I do not include what I consider supplementary needs like satellite TV subscription, mobile phone bills and Internet connection.

There are also medical bills, dental charges, quit rent and so on. This is the life of the family with RM3,000 income per month. And is it not worse for pensioners and retirees? They live in small low-cost houses in the city which are in need of repair.

Drawing only 60 percent of their last salary, which averages to one thousand ringgit, how does an elderly couple survive with today’s prices of basic items if their children don’t chip in?

And what’s to happen if the breadwinner loses his job or finds himself incapacitated? Three thousand ringgit for an urban household is the average income of an unmarried, carefree secretary in the 80s. And back then RM3,000 got you so much further.

Today, a graduate draws less than that secretary and is trying to support a family of four. And now we read about inflation surveys that cost RM17 million that surprisingly show us low inflation is despite the reality on the ground.

The prime minister talked about RM2 billion savings from cost-cutting measures. But interesting information nuggets came out of it.

Like the type of entertaining cabinet members do in the due course of work. When visiting heads of government or foreign ministers come to Malaysia, their official itineraries are paid for by state provisions. So who are they entertaining? Themselves, I guess.

The rakyat is very understanding. If politicians are performing exemplary work they would not begrudge them receiving large salaries. But are they doing good work? Or are they just flip-flopping between one firefight to another?

The Petronas CEO was on TV and said that his company’s accounts were made public years ago. The rakyat are not interested in those accounts; they want to know the detailed items in the income and expenditure statement, as well the cash-flow patterns over the years. We need to know since over 40 percent of the government’s revenue comes Petronas.

We like to know the cost-benefit analysis and the root-cause analysis done for mega-projects funded by Petronas and the billions sunk into countries with weak oil potential.

It is not good enough that the full report is only made to the prime minister’s department. The national oil company should be safeguarding the interest of future generations of Malaysians.

The directors of ECM Libra stated at their last annual general meeting that it is challenging to hire premium staff since many have left for greener pastures overseas. So much for the Umno policy that spells zero-sum game for other communities since the deputy prime minister’s father took over power from Tunku Abdul Rahman in a power struggle.

Our education standards are dropping and we are still putting in so much into the national service which is failing everyone especially the participants themselves. Looking at this, I realise maybe the people running the country have not woken up.