PENANG: Are all Chinese Malaysians rich?

Parti Keadilan Rakyat strategy director Sim Tze Tzin said the average salary of a Chinese Malaysian was RM3,488 in 2021, based on the figures released by the Department of Statistics.

According to the department’s classification, either the husband or the wife of a Chinese Malaysian family is working.

Based on the salary of a Chinese Malaysian, the family is classified as B40.

B40 is the Bottom 40% of the Malaysian household income.

They earn less than RM4,850 per month.

Except for families where both the husband and wife are working, then the family will be in the M40 category earning between RM4,850 and RM10,970.

Sim posted on his Facebook that the statistics showed majority of the 3.4 million Chinese Malaysians are salaried workers. Only a small group of them are in business.

Many Chinese Malaysians are working hard and not both the husband and wife in the family are working.

“The perception that Chinese Malaysians are wealthy may originate from the minority of Chinese who are successful in their businesses and are therefore rich.

“There are many Chinese businessmen who are not so successful,” he said.

The real issue is the imbalance in wealth distribution where the rich are getting richer while the poor continue to be poor, he said.

Sim hopes that politicians who sensationalize and play up racial and religious issues should read the figures released by the Department of Statistics as the figures won’t lie!