A field trip to Tanjung Lumpur in Kuantan on January 21 to gauge the people’s perception on the aid given to the poor by the government and their appraisal of UMNO politics was quite inspiring.
It was found that the aid recipients are aware that the RM100, RM200, RM500, RM5000 now given to the people and the salary increase for government servants before the next general election are all from taxpayers’ money. The people are cognisant of the fact that the money distributed here does not come from UMNO or Barisan Nasional (BN). It comes from the hard-earned taxpayers’ money.
Also, it was found that the recipients could not be easily convinced by all those ‘generous tricks’ and make them vote for UMNO or BN in the next general election. “Yes, I received RM500. It’s the people’s money. I’m now indebted to the people, not UMNO or BN,” said a 56-year-old aid recipient in Kuantan. When asked if he would vote for BN in the coming general election he coyly replied, “No. I will not.”
When asked if the RM500 was sufficient to make ends meet, he replied, “This is too little. They make more and spend more but give us pittance. I will take this money, as I am poor. It’s the people’s money. I’m grateful to the people but not UMNO.”
Another 58-year-old aid recipient, a farmer from Peramu, queried, “I know that I can do nothing much with this amount. The BN government could give a RM250 million loan to a minister’s family. I only have a few animals in my small shed. Can I get a RM10,000 loan to help me rear more cattle?”
People on ‘top’ are enriching themselves
Most of those disgruntled recipients were generally expecting more from UMNO. They generally felt that they were not given enough when people on ‘top’ were enriching themselves and spending huge amounts of taxpayers’ money on shopping sprees. “The poor have got no choice. Forget about shopping sprees. The costs of living is now unbearable. The government is not doing much to bring down inflation. Prices of almost everything keeps on rising,” grumbled a 50-year-old recipient from Tanjung Lumpur.
It appears like despite all the pomp and hype on the ‘free lunch’ for those who earn less in terms of income many aid recipients are not indebted to UMNO or BN. They seem to interpret that UMNO or BN does not generate money for the country. But it’s the people – the ordinary people out there who are slogging hard to pay taxes to the government to sensibly manage the country.
…more
They are still not happy with Umno
23 January 2012 – Malaysia Chronicle
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