We, the middle-income earners, are hanging on a thread!

LETTER | Based on my income, I am categorised as a middle-income earner in Malaysia. I am one of the majority M40 who is based in Klang Valley. I spend close to 10 hours in the office and 3 hours to commute daily. This leaves me barely any time to source for an alternative stream of income.

As the cost of living continues to rise in urban areas and salaries struggle to catch up, Malaysia’s majority middle-class earners, like myself, are hanging on by a thread and others even falling off into poverty. In 2017, the World Bank highlighted the government should focus more on policies which favour the middle class.

As of now, I have yet to see any strong favourable policies that benefit the middle class. The recent initiative, the RM30 e-tunai rakyat, for which the government allocated RM450 million raises questions if policies like this can really benefit the middle class?

I am grateful for the RM30, but how much can RM30 a year help the middle class, what more the B40? Could the RM450 million be used in better ways, such as healthcare or education?

It's perplexing that the government also announced an RM416 million allocation to build new clinics and hospitals - which is less than then e-tunai allocation.

Middle-class earners in Malaysia are ''too poor'' to enjoy a comfortable life and ''too rich'' to be entitled to subsidies. The average cost of seeking basic medical or dental treatment from a private practitioner can be expensive and the alternative of RM1 treatment at government healthcare providers can be viewed that the middle class is misusing the benefit as it's primarily catered to the B40. Why isn't there a reliable alternative in between RM1 to RM100?

Can a young married couple with two young children sustain themselves with a household income of RM10,000? Just over 10 years ago, RM10,000 was considered good enough to live comfortably in urban settlements. But with house prices being at an average of RM450,000 in cities such as Petaling Jaya and Subang Jaya plus the increasing cost of insurance and childcare centres, how well can a middle-class family can live comfortably?

Public transport a shame

Most middle-income earners spend a huge fraction of their income on automobiles. An average executive in Klang Valley can easily spend up to RM500 a month for toll, petrol and parking, excluding car instalments. What if the government pumps more money on public transport instead? It's a shame that public transport connectivity and availability is still limited, despite the year being 2020.

Tax reliefs and cash handouts are one-off aids which serve very little to no significant benefit to solve the middle-class malady. We need more sustainable, long-term policies. Better loans, affordable transportation, affordable quality healthcare and higher wages are needed to exit the middle-income trap.

Although Malaysia aims to be more inclusive in its policymaking, policies continue to exist in silos and exclusive in practice. It is flabbergasting as to why a centrally planned economy such as Malaysia often finds reforms notoriously hard to execute instead of the opposite.

The country’s ambitious plans to exit the middle-income trap were initially effective in structurally changing the landscape of the economy, but today, it merely acts as a guide, rather than a policy in itself.

The government needs to think ahead of planning policies to ensure we exit the middle-income trap. Policies must be inclusive, sustainable and beneficial.

With the cost of living continuing to rise, I won't be surprised if the M40 will eventually fall into lower categories of income. The M40 have been neglected and been drifted away. It is about time the government does something before brain drain happens within the M40

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.