Clutching her payslip for the previous month in her right hand and a paring knife in her left, S Letchumi rants about how tough life is on the estate where she has lived for 25 years,

She points at the RM217 take-home pay printed on her payslip, agonising over her family's monthly trials with three children in secondary school and two sets of sickly parents to care for, not to mention putting food on the table.