When I was 4 years old I remember going to my house's grocery shop, which was a stone's throw away, to buy shredded coconut flesh (kelapa parut). A lot of Malay traditional delicacies (kuih) uses coconut flesh so I'd be buying coconuts almost every week back then. I remember one day skipping to the shop happily and suddenly I fell down, and my coins went out of my pocket and fell everywhere. I scoured everywhere for each coin and from that incident I remembered that shredded coconut used to cost 40 cents in 1986.
In 1991, when my sister entered primary school I was 9 years old and she told me her class mate has a RM1 daily allowance. I thought that was a huge amount considering that I was allocated 60 cents at that time. If we total that up, RM22 a month compared to RM13.20 has a huge difference between them. Her father must have earned more than RM1500 I think.
Since then RM1 has not just seen a lot of face lifts in its physical features, its value also continues to decrease. Imagine in 1999 a dad earns RM1000 which includes his over time claims while in 2013 the minimum wage of workers is RM900. Your RM1 today can't even buy a packet of drink. I usually spend RM1.80 to RM4 for my son if he wants something from the shop (usually 7 eleven where I get my monthly magazines). Wow, that rounds up to RM120 a month. If I have 4 children, I'll be spending RM500 on packet drinks and packed breads. Maybe I should start packing them lunch from now on.
Anyway, the last time I paid for something costing RM1 was when I took a bus to a location which can be accessed by foot in 15 minutes. As for food, RM1 can buy me 5 pieces of jemput-jemput, you know the mix of flour-onion-water-anchovy fried food which costs 10 cents each back in 1994.
I wonder what RM1 will be in vakue come 2020. I'll be 38 years old by then and if God permits will have 3 children, I don't think my children will be bringing RM1 only during that time. They need more than RM1 for sure.
Wonderful Wordy Wednesday
2 days ago
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