Rising costs, declining luxuries

Housewife Mariam Hassan, 42, sorts through stacks of schoolbooks with her children, Nur Aisyah Mohd Affian, 14, and Aus Ikhwan, seven. The textbooks are borrowed from the school but the exercise books are new, paid for with money from her savings. Mariam sets aside about RM500 per child to cover the cost of school supplies and uniforms.

The work books alone cost RM244 – and Mariam has yet to factor in the cost of fees for the parent-teacher association and other school-related expenses.

The cost of living is also difficult for Mariam to manage, and she limits her grocery purchases to only the essentials.

Musdana Musthafa, who works in the private sector, gets her groceries from the sundry shops around her neighbourhood. Although these can sometimes cost more, she has no choice as such shops are the closest at hand.

Each month, she struggles to stretch her salary as far as she can but it is a losing battle.

Normah Zakaria (right), 47, mans her small stall every day and worries about how to factor the rising costs into her prices.

Apart from drinks, she sells kuih for RM2 per packet, hoping to make enough to cover her expenses for the day.

Mechanic Foo Weng, 51, has had no choice but to raise the price of his services to keep up with the cost of his supplies and equipment, much of which is imported from other countries. He was reluctant to do so, as he understands the plight of ordinary Malaysians, but has no other way to stay in business.

Lim Sek Hau, 43, works in the tourism sector. He, too, understands the daily struggle to pay the bills and put food on the table, so much so that he has decided to remain single instead of marrying and starting a family.

Vijaya Rahavan, 55, also works in the tourism sector. She runs a small kiosk in the heart of Kuala Lumpur where she does henna art for tourists who come to the Dataran Merdeka area. However, the number of tourists has been on the decline, and so has her business which has gone down 20% in the last two months.

Vijaya lives from hand to mouth, with no extras for any small luxuries.

Seevabgaiyam Kannapathy, 53, works for Alam Flora and does what she can as a single mother of three. She has been indebted to loan sharks for the past 15 years and the string of debts seems never ending. Her children's textbooks and uniforms are provided by their school, but still, there is always another bill to pay.