Cushioning the Impact

Most people pretty much has accepted that the world economy will not be getting any better, and that the cost of necessities (and no, an HTC Touch Diamond does not count as a necessity!) is going to continue its rise.

The concern is that there is no comprehensive social net in Malaysia, to help with the most needy families with their basic needs, especially in the light of potential loss of employment due to the slowing economy. Big, urban families are the ones most at risk.

Crime rates, petty or otherwise will probably also rise if people are desperate enough. Longer term, the effects of bad nutrition (a family was featured in one of the news dailies eating rice and rassam only! Not that I have anything against rassam, but ...) on children, especially, would impact the effectiveness of our workforce 10-15 years down the line.

So this is definitely something that we need to collectively figure out how to solve. How to get help to those that need it the most, while minimizing leakages and ensuring that fraud is kept to a minimum, so that we get the best "bang for the buck".

Perhaps it is time to explore some sort of targeted aid - where a set amount (depending on a formula based on number of people in a household, household income, household expenditures etc) is distributed to people who apply for it. Eligibility is determined via interviews and the aid "expires" after a period of time.

The aid can be distributed via MyKad (biometric features help in combating fraud) to be withdrawn via ATM, or be done via old-fashioned "food coupons" that can only be used for food items (not soft drinks or gula gula!)