#SayaZahra and our great expectations

It is no secret that I am the former head of communications for the Malay Economic Action Council (MTEM). Similarly, if anyone saw the #SayaZahra video and read the news pieces that came with it, they would have known it was done at an MTEM event which hosted Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

I'll just discredit those saying it was a hidden MTEM agenda as ignorant.

As a person who knows Zahra through my short stint of seven months in MTEM, it is refreshing to hear her speak out openly about what are the wants and concerns of young Malay fresh graduates. But at the same time, I am face-palming while listening to how she's saying what she's saying.

I don't discredit what she is saying, just how she is saying it. I especially don't appreciate the whole "I take the LRT at the end of the month because not enough salary" bit. That was a figurative stab in the heart if you ask anyone in their office, since I insisted on taking public transport.

Back to the topic at hand, of course she got a lot of flak. Demanding a house, cheaper travel to and from work, even the want for higher wages which is crucial among the young.

But it is necessary to point out that what Zahra and many young Malays were thinking of as their life after college is not wrong. For the past two decades or so, Malaysia has been selling its graduates – but more so parents of the graduates – great expectations of what a local degree holds in store.

See, while we can be rather cynical in saying what a 23-year-old law graduate was hoping in her life after graduation – a high paying job, cheap cars, cheap cost of living and even houses – it is the Malaysian dream for everyone.

It is just fair to point out that age and reality made many of us who are naysayers, cynical about what Zahra said. What Zahra and many of her supporters are pointing out is that we in Malaysia have been sold a whitewash, which has made many cynical to the point of anger when the whitewash is taken literally.

Let us recap how this totally unrealistic ideal to some, came to be born.

We have sold the want and need for cheap cars as well as cheap petrol, instead of selling the need to take public transport. The fact that Zahra said it was purely an alternative at the end of the month due to salaries running out is not surprising at all.

We make fun of those wanting higher salaries even calling it unrealistic, yet at the same time we find these same critics promoting pyramid schemes, selling batik cloth from their trip to Bandung timed for Raya, even Tupperware, Avon, Herbalife and God knows what else for additional income. Why? Are their salaries and wages not enough?

And they do this during working hours, of course.

But moreover, this whitewash is due to government promotion.

You have the Performance Management Delivery Unit (Pemandu) telling Malaysians they have created 1.3 million high-income jobs in the past three years in 2014. Well, here comes Zahra and the youth asking where the heck those jobs are and why they don't have any.

And the salaries and wages report clearly shows Pemandu's failure in helping Malaysians as a whole.

Subsequently, the Malaysian government wants youth to marry earlier, citing our dwindling population growth rate and the need to have more babies. Here is Zahra asking how to actually do that when young couples can barely afford a house to plant their family roots, let alone pay the ridiculous amounts demanded for marriage.

Instead of offering more affordable housing with lower cost, our government instead told people they were open to pay for their homes from their retirement funds, the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF). At the same time, define "affordable" housing and see where it stands against the median salaries and wages reported by the Department of Statistics.

But more than anything else, I will say this. What Zahra highlighted is due to the inability of wages to cope with cost of living.That's the gist of it.

Let us be fair, we have a median wage of only RM1,575 as of 2014, with women earning RM100 less than men and a gender wage gap of close to 6%. Do you know what the median wage is for someone of Zahra's age in 2014?

A mere RM1,100.

Even at the age of 40 to 44, the majority of Malaysians in the middle only earned a wage of RM2,000. And no, I'm not kidding, this is a Malaysian government report available online.

See, many are so focused on Zahra, that we failed to see that there is a huge problem in the way we are economically treating the youth, if not all Malaysians. What was alright for us is no longer alright for the current generation. Some even went so far to argue that they received less in wages when they first started working.

Well, did they look at what purchasing power their currencies had then? How much was rent, food, even transport then compared to now?

Our current consumer price indices – if I'm not wrong – weighs the current cost to the cost of what it was in 2010. Ever thought to look up what it showed for January to March of 2015 in comparison?

I will tell you.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages are up 17.4%, health costs are up 12%, education up 11.5%, restaurants are up 18.9% and housing, water, electricity and gas are up 10%, compared with the same period in 2010.

Yet, Zahra is the one who is wrong? Think about it.

This is not about being born with a silver spoon, nor is it about youths absentmindedly bitching and whining without cause. It is the need to address cost of living issues as well as all issues affecting Malaysian livelihood to make it both affordable and economically feasible and sustainable.

I asked this question once, and I'll ask it again. What is the Malaysian salary suitable – according to state or even district – not only to live, but to thrive?

And how can we lower that through government projects such as public transport infrastructure and even subsidies on food, while still giving the same appropriate thriving weave to farmers and food suppliers.

It is a humongous challenge and a balancing act that we have failed to achieve, if you read about how sad our rice farmers and fishermen are facing. You don't have to go far. Just watch recap episodes of Bersamamu on TV3.

Or read the following; the median salary for those in the farming, forestry and fisheries sector in 2014 is a mere RM1,000. Add RM100 and you have Zahra. A person working in the hotel and food and beverage sector makes a median salary of RM1,060, though I'm unsure if that includes tips.

So yes, just like our central bank governor insists our currency is undervalued, so is our close to 10 million Malaysian workforce shown in the salaries and wages report.

So if you want to mock Zahra for being unrealistic, I throw it back to you for being cynical and raise you this; try going about living on a median wage of her age range for a few months and reflect on your thoughts.

And honestly, if there is a movement out there based on discrediting MTEM and Zahra out of petty jealousy, give me facts. Give me numbers. Otherwise, I put it to you that you're talking out of your ass.

There is nothing wrong in dreaming for life to be easier, with proper wages and proper policies to help relieve the cost of living. Zahra and MTEM work towards that achieving that. And I'm always open to listening to the empty cans suggest solutions if they have any. – July 16, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.