THE formation of a new council to look into the rising cost of living and other grassroots-level economic issues is a welcomed step by the government. 

Often, government policies and economic strategies look impressive on paper, but fail to deliver a meaningful impact on the people. 

High GDPs, growth and debt ratio mean less to the average person than “bank balance”, “price of Milo” or “credit card debt”.

The oft-used term in political circles would be “monitoring”, or its Malay equivalent, “memantau”. The fact is, they can do much better than “monitoring” and hoping for the best. 

Occasionally, there is the expression of “hope” that the private sector will do the right thing and keep prices low. There exist departments and ministries whose near sole purpose of existence is checking on consumerism, enforcing laws and enacting new ones, but scrapping old, irrelevant ones that only burden the rakyat should be part of the action plan, too.   

Apart from legislating against monopolies and controlling profiteering, laws that seek to prohibit items from coming in for the sake of protectionism should be discouraged and abolished. Competition has, time and again, proven to be an effective tool against unhealthy price fixing and the formation of business cartels to control the prices of necessities and commodities.

Chalking it up to the private sector alone isn’t enough. The present way of doing business needs to be relooked. Bureaucracy is not only slow, it is expensive and only adds to the total cost, which is passed down to the consumer. While ensuring the safety of our food and manufactured goods are important, layers of forms and approvals only inflate the final cost of items. The lack of ease of doing business may even lead entrepreneurs to seek greener pastures elsewhere, or indirectly contribute to corruption and political patronage, as these approvals themselves are used as a means of reward and largesse.

The government can also play an advisory role on directing supply chains and ensuring a smooth flow of consumer goods, as well as plugging loopholes that enable middlemen to reap profits at the cost of the end-user. Another possible step is to empower consumer rights organisations and perhaps even provide them with funding and training to act as the eyes and ears of enforcement agencies.

There is also a need to go beyond basic entrepreneurship courses to help create the next tier of business owners; enriching the skills and knowledge of present ones will help, too. Programmes like the “Kedai Harga Patut” of yesteryear can be tweaked and updated to suit present times, perhaps with a new social media element, with a stick to go alongside the carrot, like a “Kedai Harga Mengarut” or “Jom Viral Harga Tinggi”.

This is not the job of just one ministry or agency, as many other factors contribute to higher costs. For example, we could start with eradicating corruption and abuse of power (to increase efficiency and lower cost of doing business), managing national finances well, create awareness on reducing wastage, increasing health levels (to lower healthcare costs), boost road safety awareness (to lower insurance costs), create effective transportation (logistical costs) and even crime (reducing theft and pilferage).

Encouraging entrepreneurship and creativity is important, but so is ensuring sustained interest and continuity, as well as keeping to businesses we are good at and getting better at doing them, rather than participating in risky ventures with little guarantee of success. Prioritising local talent, resources, manufacturing sites, where suitable, not only helps with cost management, but spurs the local economy as well.

Rising costs affect everyone, and it’s time everyone chips in on managing it. – February 15, 2019.

* Emmanuel Joseph firmly believes that Klang is the best place on Earth, and that motivated people can do far more good than any leader with motive.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.