William Ting

Is the cost of living low in Malaysia?
I personally believe that the recent soaring price is artificial. I just asked my children in UK (Leeds) whether there is any major price increase there.

Ok, see this:
White bread: 60p (RM3.90) a loaf (double our size here) Miri: RM2.60 (or RM5.20 if double the size)
Good quality bread: 120-180p. How much in Miri?

Salmon: 800p/kg (RM52) (500p when on offer); Miri: RM70/kg
Lean pork: 320p/kg (RM20.80) Miri price - slightly cheaper

Big Mac + medium fries: 199p (RM13). In UK, you can buy 3 Big Mac for 1 hour working. What is the price in Miri? It is so expensive that the last time I took must be about RM8.00 - need to work for 2-3 hours.

Minimum wage: 600p/hour, ie, RM39/hour or RM320 for 8 hours work.

In Miri, you need for work for 1 month as cashier in the supermarket and earn RM300-500.

In UK, petrol is 120p/liter but working for 1 hour can buy 5 liters. In Miri, you need to work for 2 hours to buy 1 liter of petrol.

How about rice? 10 pounds for 2x10Kg bag of American long grain. That is about RM32. You work there for 1 hour and you can buy one bag. In Malaysia, you may have to work for 2 days or more.

wah... what is happening now? I went to the fish market last Sunday. Fishes are so very expensive. It is beyond the reach of the poor or they can only eat the tiny ones.

Talking about cars, average price is 5000-8000 pounds for a very good car. Here in Malaysia, we pay 3x the amount. If I am not mistaken, there is only one toll near Birmingham. Otherwise, there is no need to pay toll in the whole country. Road quality - excellent. In this country, it is so bad that it is one of the major killers. I blame it on the road because there is no proper system. Otherwise why should one particular category of road user (motor bike) became the major victim?

Having done all these comparisons, I must say that service fees are more expensive than Malaysia. But on the other hand, if you earn pound and spend pound, it becomes very relative.

I was in Houston, USA, a few years ago. What surprised me most was that the cost of many items in the supermarket were actually cheaper than Malaysia. Eat out was quite cheap also. I was told that it is still about the same at the moment.

There is something seriously not right in this country. We must stop buying if we know that the towkay is overcharging!