“Job fairs with online registration, such as this one held in Labis attract youths in the district who are are ...”

Job fairs with online registration, such as this one held in Labis attract youths in the district who are are ...

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 04:34 PM PST

Struggling with the cost of living

2011/01/11
Interview by Ahmad Fairuz Othman
streets@nstp.com.my

EMPLOYMENT is an issues close to the heart of youths in the Labis district.

Young adults face problems getting work that pays enough to support their families.

Like me, most of the younger generation of Labis work as farmers or rubber tappers. Other youngsters are fruit pickers or employed at the many oil palm or rubber estates.

Their income working these fields is between RM700 and RM800. That is not enough to support themselves and their families.

I have lorry driver friends who go outstation and return home once a week as their job requires travelling and being away from home. But they need to do it to earn a living.

There are some who look for work in Singapore, but they encounter other types of problems. Working in the island republic means having to to cope with a high cost of living.

It is tough for people to make ends meet if they do not have good-paying jobs.

Some of the local youngsters who have gone to Singapore to work have returned home as they do not like being far from Labis.

I am particularly lucky as I work at my late father's 2.43ha rubber smallholding.

I am single and therefore need only to fend for my mother Murugamah Govindasamy and 28-year-old sister, who recently graduated from university.

If I were to work in Singapore, I may earn about RM3,000 a month, but a lot of it would go towards the cost of living.

I am worried about my younger sister, a graduate of Universiti Tun Abdul Razak, who is job hunting.

She has applied for a teaching post in Kuala Lumpur and she is waiting for a reply. She knows it will be tough for her to look for work in Labis.

I think she prefers to work elsewhere. She will have more opportunities in the federal capital than in Labis.

I am the sixth of five brothers and two sisters, and my family lives at Kampung Melayu in Chaah, near Labis. My father, who was a rubber tapper, died 10 years ago.

I live with my mother at the family home.

Rubber tapping has been my livelihood since I was old enough to earn a living.

I started helping out at my father's rubber smallholding when I was six years old. I have never known any other profession.

Although it gets tough sometimes with the increasing expenses of utility bills and mobile phone bills, I am able to cope.

I prefer the quiet tranquility of Labis rather than any other town. As they say, there is no place like home. There are few social ills in this town and district.

I feel safe in Labis, and have many friends here. Some of my friends have related unfortunate stories of their experiences living in other cities.

My friends who work in Singapore complain about the high cost of living and crimes there. A friend of mine who works in Singapore, but lives in Johor Baru was robbed in the republic and lost thousands of ringgit.

People, like my friend, who earn more than RM2,000 a month in the city, also risk being victims of crime.

Even though there are many work opportunities, living in big cities is always risky. I prefer to earn my living in my hometown.

I believe the lack of good-paying jobs is the root of crime.

People will not resort to crime if they earn enough. The prices of some essential goods are increasing, but people continue to earn the same salary.

In Labis, the most common crimes are brawling and motorcycle thefts. There are also youngsters who lepak. This could be because they had nothing to do during the recent year-end school holidays.

It could also be due to the lack of recreational activities in Labis and its surrounding areas.

The people of Labis could do with more sports courts and fields. Though there are already existing football fields and multi-purpose halls used for indoor sports; more is needed to entice the youths in this district.

I am a member or the People's Progressive Party in Labis, and the party's divisional youth chairman.

Barisan Nasional coalition parties, including PPP, are working around-the-clock now in preparation of the Tenang state by-election on Jan 30.

I have been a member of the party for the past nine years, and it has been a good learning experience.

As a network of people, the PPP can be effective in serving the people. There are 15 PPP branches in the Labis parliamentary constituency.

Of the more than 900 PPP members in Tenang state constituency, 690 are voters.

Moganaranda Muniasamy, 30, inherited his late father's rubber smallholding in Chaah, near Labis.

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