After the shocking therapy of Prof Lim Chong Yah and the
expected knee jerk defensive mechanism and reaction from you know who, the
labour chief said today that the high cost of inflation and high cost of living
mean that there is a need to raise the income of workers. It is good that he
finally came to know of the problem. He also added that the high income gap
must be closed.
Now that the dust has settled down, the good sense and
propriety of the real pain are sinking in. The retort against raising salary of
the lower income group and the need for a closing of the widening income is
indeed a problem that cannot be allowed to run away without a leash.
Rhetoric and political expediency aside, some of the elite
truly believe that the bread of the rich should be buttered 3 or 4 times over as
they are deserving of the buttering because of their supreme talent. On the
downside, the losers deserve to be losers and they should count themselves
lucky that their bread is even buttered at all. Count the blessing that they
still have bread to eat.
Such line of thinking coming from those who have no
responsibility over the whole of the population is understandable. The private
emterprises and developers would choose to maximise profits at all cost as they
are not in the business of charity. But if they come from the political
leaders, it is irresponsible and obnoxious. Political leaders is not there to
look after self interest, to protect elitist interest but to spread the
goodies, ensure a more equal distribution of wealth and social equality to the
people, but not to the extent of all men are equal and all should receive one
bowl of rice.
Bill Gates does not need another pay rise. He has so much
money that he has to give them away. And so is his pal Warren Buffett. There is
no need to reach such a position to distance oneself from the accumulation of
wealth. No one is frowning against an entrepreneur or a businessman from
acquiring his wealth forever. What is objectionable is to spread public wealth
through public offices to those who are bursting at the seams with more wealth.
A very good but disgusting example was to raise the President’s salary to $4m
when the masses did not think it was justifiable, nor the office justifies that
kind of pay. But the existing god in power is always right and would have the
final say. It is right today but would be very wrong when the next god comes
into power.
Distribution of public money must be measured to serve the
majority, to benefit more people than a few yodas who have so much and do not
have much time or the need to spend them. This sickness is infected across the
industries in the private sector when the top few would grab the lion’s share
while the rest, minority shareholders and workers were left with crumbs.
And it is this kind of unequal and unjust system of wealth
distribution that is causing the runaway inflation. No amount of small
increases at the bottom can catch up with this kind of distortion in the
system. In a pure capitalist and elitist system this is cause for celebration,
and eventually cause for destruction. Is this what we want, a system where a
few elite could buy tens of private properties and tens of luxury cars and with
plenty to buy more while living on public money or feeding on the minority
shareholders’ money?
And once in a while, when it is politically opportune, to
cry for the poor workers, to shout, pay rise for the workers? May Day is around
the corner.
Prof Lim Chong Yah is absolutely right. He must have seen
the greed and the amassing of unjustifiable and unnecessary wealth by a few at
the expense of the greater good. What is so painful for a few years without pay
even if one is not Bill Gates or Warren Buffett when one can live a few life
times without having the need to earn a single cent?
