Struggling low-income family hopes for silver lining

KLANG: S. Rinna, 31, and A. Subra­maniam, 35, do not know if they will ever own a home or even be able to save enough for their children’s education.

Rinna, who has to manage the family on Subramaniam’s meagre salary as a lorry driver for a hardware company, said their priority now was to make ends meet.

“He is paid a basic salary of RM1,700 and has to do a lot of overtime to hit RM2,000 or RM2,100,” she said.

The couple’s monthly household income puts them in the B40 group, for whom the Pakatan Harapan government has various measures under the 11th Malaysia Plan Mid-Term Review to help them.

This includes increasing access to affordable homes and healthcare, as well as enhancing their purchasing power.

Although Rinna receives the Bantuan Sara Hidup payment of RM450, she said this only lasted for around a month or two.

(Ban­tuan Sara Hidup is the new name for Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia or BR1M under the Pakatan government.)

“I use it to buy the essentials we usually can’t afford,” she said.

After paying the monthly rental of RM1,000, utilities, their children’s insurance and medical card, as well as tuition fees for their eight-year-old daughter Sadhana, Rinna is left with RM300 toRM400 for the month.

“Due to our tight budget, we are not able to buy many of the things we need or even treat ourselves once in a while,” she added.

As she wanted to live in a neighbourhood that was conducive for raising her children, Rinna said they had to fork out RM1,000 rental for a single-storey house in Teluk Pulai near here.

“We can live in a cheaper place, but will the neighbourhood be safe and suitable to raise a family?” she asked.

Rinna said she is unable to go out to work as she has to take care of her two-year-old son Sharan, adding: “Babysitting services are expensive.”

Finding it a challenge to manage the household food bill with their tight budget, she wished for the price of her son’s milk powder and other essentials to be more affordable.

“He needs one medium packet of milk formula costing about RM27 a week,” she said.

Rinna hoped the new government would look into the plight of families like hers, saying: “Right now there isn’t any silver lining for families like ours, but I hope that will soon change.”