Thoughts......

As many people know, next year would be a very challenging year for many of us Malaysians. With impending retrenchments and a foreseen global economic slowdown, many will have to tighten their belts to face the coming year.

This is all so true especially for the lower income group as a global economic slowdown would result in the closure or at least, partial operation of many factories in Malaysia.

I was talking to a few of my patients this week. All of them are anxious about their jobs. Its disheartening to hear their woes as I know full well I am one of the fortunate that may not be as badly hit by this turn of events.

One patient of mine lamented that the electronic factory that he is working with is only operational 2 weeks in a month. He is now forced to survive with 2 week worth of salary. For a factory worker with only a basic salary of RM700 and 4 children, how on earth are they going to survive in the long run?

Another patient told me that her supervisor informed them that there may be a high possibility that the factory would close shop in February, laying off 400 workers. How are this group of people going to survive the coming year when basic necessities like food are not coming down, despite fuel being at it record lows?

One thing for sure, we shall all be facing tougher times next year but nothing will compare to the true lower income group where tougher times may constitute inability to survive.

We complain about food being more expensive and yet we still are able to buy the designer bag that we longed for albeit at the expense of eating out less. For this group of people, they don't even have time complaining as they are busy surviving.

Be glad with what you have.