Report from Malaysia: “Bad times? What bad times?”

This is the fifth in a series of blog posts from Western Herald writers in Malaysia. Check this space next week for the final post in the series.

Just before I left the United States two months ago, I remember having a phone conversation with my mom regarding difficult economic times in Asia. At the time, the United States was struggling as well–certainly not news to many.

“Singapore is hit pretty badly, too,” I remember her saying, with a sigh, “and everything is so uncertain in Malaysia.”

Malaysia’s economy was hit pretty bad in the late ‘90s, but since then things have been pretty stable. So when my mom sounded worried, I was prepared to see some changes in lifestyle patterns when I reached Malaysia.

As I sit here in my living room with my laptop, listening to the drilling and sawing of busy contractors, renovating two houses in my row of neighbors alone, I can’t help but wonder, “Bad times? What bad times?”

No matter where I drive, houses seem to be under renovation. What surprised me most was seeing a house which had undergone a massive renovation last summer, go through yet another one this summer! Seriously, what bad times was my mother talking about? These renovations can easily cost RM 120, 000 (about $34,000) per house–the cost of a double-story house in certain parts of the country!

Another observation that I have made are about the cars people around me drive. Almost everyone has seemed to have upgraded their vehicles. Friends who drove cheaper Malaysian cars have switched to imported Hondas and Toyotas. Uncles who drove Asian-made cars have moved on to BMWs and Mercedes Benz.

WHAT difficult times was my mom talking about?

First of all, these imported cars are by no means a boost to the local economy.

However, the difference in quality between local and imported cars can be accepted as a reasonable excuse, but what an odd timing to upgrade one’s vehicle if a true recession has hit the country!

And these are not doctors or teachers I’m talking about, whose jobs are relatively secure. I’m talking about people in business and real-estate, which were supposed to have suffered from slow sales.

The above are just major examples of many minor spending habits of Malaysians during slow economic times which have puzzled me.

Being an economics major, I can’t help but be amused and curious on how late-night restaurants still remain crowded past midnight, even on weekdays, how people still choose to drive just themselves through heavy traffic when they could actually save time and money by carpooling and how shopping malls are still filled with shoppers.

Spending beyond one’s mean is the first thing that came to my mind. This was one of the main reasons that the the United States’ economy was dragged into an economic crisis and –by the looks of things across the ocean–some parts of the world haven’t learned from their mistake.

I do not deny that there are many who have been hit by the rising prices of things and cut-down of labor force by companies.

There are farmers and fishermen who are struggling to make ends meat as a result of higher commissions that are snatched away by middlemen in the name of increasing transportation and sales cost.

However, in the city, where many sit in air-conditioned rooms and cars and live paycheck-by-paycheck, where people lavishly swipe their credit cards as if there wasn’t going to be a bill in their mail later, where people want to change cell-phones just because theirs is “so last season,” I can hear a time-bomb ticking away.

A life with debt is often unavoidable, but there is trouble to make debt your life. Although banks are pretty strict with their loan restrictions, loan-sharks are ever-ready to lend money to desperate borrowers.

These illegal money lenders are thirsty for the high interest that borrowers are often unable to pay up, putting their families in danger of being harmed by the loan sharks that they borrow from, which has driven many to commit suicide.

Scary times, indeed, but the cries of those who have been truly hit by the crisis are probably drowned away from the ears of proud house owners by the drills and saws of contractors working away on their houses.

Ranchithaa Anatory is a junior at Western Michigan University studying economics, mathematics, and journalism.

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=7142

Posted by HeraldAdmin on Aug 13 2009. Filed under Blogs, Breaking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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