Digest on Malaysian News

Balai Ringin, Sarawak assemblyman Snowdan Lawan is advising the people in the rural areas to be thrifty in their spending as a result of the sudden increase in fuel price.

With limited cash earning how thrifty can they be ? And the only time the rural folks required cash are when they need:
1) to buy fuel for their motorbike or outboard engine
2) to buy fuel for their genset
3) to pay fare to visit doctors in town
4) to buy animal feeds if the rural folks are into husbandry
5) to buy pesticide and fertilizer if the rural folks are into cash crops farming
6) to pay school fees for their children

Due to the sudden and sharp increase in fuel, cost of transportation, goods and services have also go up. The poor rural folks are not spared from the high prices of thing yet their cash income does not increase.

Rural folks in fact are quite self-sustain lots but they still need to travel or still need diesel to run their generator set.

With their basic needs, there is not much to be thrifty on anymore. What Snowdan could do is to assist the rural folks in his constituency is to see ways and means to increase the rural folks cash income. Create project that generate recurring incomes. Provide alternative and free energy to the longhouse to minimize the spending on genset fuel.









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Source: theborneopost.com/?p=36603

Rep tells rural folk to be thrifty

By Leyana Talif

Change your lifestyles as fuel price hike affects prices of other goods and services: Snowdan

KUCHING: People in the rural areas were yesterday advised to be thrifty as petrol and diesel were now more expensive.Balai Ringin assemblyman Snowdan Lawan in giving the advice reminded them to be smart consumers.

“Being thrifty involves changing your lifestyle, which isn’t easy, but must be done. And because fuel affects the prices of other goods and services, you may have to cut down on certain things,” Snowdan said when met at his Gawai Dayak open house here.

“For example, since distance between places in rural areas is often far, travel only when necessary.”

The assemblyman also urged the rural communities not to panic, adding that the federal government had already come up with four swift measures that would ease the burden on consumers, and the measures were expected to be unveiled soon.

“Our government is not only subsidising fuel but also food such as rice and flour.

“Therefore, we can’t only focus on increasing the subsidy for fuel because the government realised that subsidising food is also of importance. We can’t deny that food is also part and parcel of our life,” he said.

When asked to comment on the recent protest carried out by the opposition, Snowdan said they were merely trying to get political mileage.

He said: “No government in the world is perfect but the Barisan Nasional (BN) government has been around for more than 40 years and has done a commendable job in bringing development and prosperity to the country from the First Malaysia Plan till the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

“The fuel price hike is a global matter, thus it is as a matter of fact beyond our expectation.

“There is no way for any government in the world to prevent the rise in the price of fuel,” Snowdan explained.

At the open house, the assemblyman feted a total of 20 residents from the Sarawak Society of the Blind (SSB) Kuching branch.