Writer: Chen Shao An

Sin Chew, Oct 9, 2014

A low-cost house at RM25, 000. Where do you find such a good deal? It is a fairy tale today. The RM25, 000 low cost houses were built by developers under government pressure. Most of the time they were government subsidized and the buyers had to apply to the government and then draw lots to see whether they were lucky enough to be allotted one.

That was 20 to 30 years ago when the salaries of the middle and lower-income group were between RM800 and RM1, 500.

During those days, some of the poorer folks in northern peninsula – from Perlis to Penang – could not even afford their allotted houses. They did not know how to fill up the application forms and they had to depend on the local representatives to help. Some of these representatives set up counters to help them go through the whole application process from A to Z.

Some unscrupulous people also exploited the situation. The buyers had to pay RM10, 000 on top of the RM25, 000. They called it processing fee, surcharge or renovation fee.

Some of those who really could not afford such extra payments voiced their grievances through various channels. But many did not mind and happily called it “under-counter” payments.

They were happy to have been allotted a house even when the total cost was RM35, 000. At least it was affordable compared with those medium cost houses selling between RM60, 000 and RM80, 000 each.

Ten years later, with better financial condition, many buyers of the RM25, 000 low-cost houses had extended and renovated their houses and were selling them between RM40, 000 and RM60, 000.

Some had made their houses so pretty and comfortable; they even sold them at between RM80, 000 and RM100, 000. Improved economy has led to higher purchasing power and many people could afford to pay RM40, 000 or even RM60, 000!

Now you can never dream of getting a house at RM25, 000 whether in the city or small town. The words “low-cost” have been banished and replaced by the word “affordable”. However, what is affordable is still unaffordable to many in the middle and low-income group as they are priced around RM75, 000 each.

In major cities in the north such as Penang, it would be difficult to find a house at RM200, 000. You would be lucky to get one at RM300, 000 and even those priced around RM400, 000 are now called affordable.

This has not included under-counter money yet. This is a strange tradition and the payment has gone up several times.

In Kedah, you will need RM80, 000 to RM100, 000 to buy a house, unless you go to the kampong where there is a Malay quota restriction.

Of course, our pay has risen from between RM800 and RM1000 to around RM3, 000 now. The figure is comforting as our pay has been doubled or tripled. But look at the RM25, 000 low-cost houses. Just by changing it to “affordable”, its price has gone up by more than 10 times!

Now we should be able to understand why they say the rise in fuel price and the implementation of GST are reasonable. But they can say a hundred of one thing, the people are still upset. And they have a real reason to be upset!

Original Source: 陳紹安‧人民不爽，真有理由的！
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