We don’t need dozens of councils, committees or task forces resting their hands on the same thing trying to solve the problem. One that is truly effective is all we want!

Goods prices are rising, and there’s no question about it! Spiraling inflation has become the most serious problem right now!

Inflation is nothing illusory but something very real. The endless bouts of price hikes have significantly added to the financial burden of many Malaysian families, in particular the B40 community.

Finally, the government has hearkened to the grumbling of the people. Besides resetting the ceiling prices for chicken and eggs, the government has also set aside a bigger amount of “Keluarga Malaysia” assistance and set up a special task force to tackle inflation.

It has been reported that the primary mission of this special task force on “jihad against inflation” is to collate data from all ministries, relevant agencies and the public in order to devise strategies and coordinate efforts to counteract inflation.

The government’s decision to set up such a task force speaks volumes of the severity of inflation, even though we have reservations about how effective it could get.

This is not because we are prejudiced against the government’s effort but similar task forces set up earlier supposedly to address our economic woes have yet to noticeably relieve the burden of Malaysians!

The council set up much earlier has been helpless in tacking the issue of inflation, and we don’t know whether the latest task force will have any winning strategies to help the country battle inflation.

What we hope to see is targeted solution to tackle inflation, not setting up more councils and task forces.

The government should elaborate further how different this new task force is going to be. If the national action council on cost of living has failed to solve the problem, can the new task force do it?

We have more than enough councils, committees and task forces, and we wonder whether there are any overlapping responsibilities and jurisdictions in them. Aren’t the NACCOL and task force on inflation handling the same issue?

Ordinary Malaysians are already hard pressed by the skyrocketing goods prices and we really hope the government can do something substantial to help us weather the crisis.

To be fair, the current wave of inflation is a global phenomenon that spreads across the entire planet, and is not something our government can resolve individually. For instance, the war in Europe has triggered global food shortage and the resultant steep price hikes, which is beyond the control of the Malaysian government.

That said, we still hope the government will implement some truly effective solutions to cushion the impact of inflation and bring its damage to a minimum.

Talking about inflation, perhaps our government officials need to be a little more down-to-earth, and go down to the field to get a better picture of the woes of the people instead of just analyzing the data in their air-conditioned offices.

Minister in the PM’s department (economy) Mustapa Mohamed has said the country’s May inflation could reach a high of 11.4% based on the statistics department’s forecast, if the government has not provided approximately RM77.3 billion to subsidize essential items in Malaysians’ day-to-day living.

Although our current inflation rate of 2.8% is among the lowest in the region, and unrealistically low compared to other developed countries, the people can still feel the pinch from the rising goods prices.

Bear in mind that average wage earners in this country does not take home very high monthly paychecks. Most people only earn enough to deal with their daily expenses, and will be in hot water when hyperinflation hits.

Someone has just initiated an online petition campaign to get KWSP to once again allow depositors to withdraw from their own accounts to tackle the current wave of inflation. The fact that the campaign has received overwhelming response from the public reflects the hardship they are going through now.

Stop comparing our 2.8% inflation rate with other countries and stop asking people to eat less to save money. What we want is straightforward: effective measures to help the rakyat through the inflation.

We don’t need dozens of councils, committees or task forces resting their hands on the same thing trying to solve the problem. One that is truly effective is all we want!