Expensive Hairdo vs The Memory of A Great Leader

A Kadir Jasin

ADMITTEDLY there have been many twists and turns in the planned implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) – not the least the possibility of widespread profiteering at the expense of the uninformed public.

You and I know that Malaysian traders are not the most scrupulous in the world. On the contrary they could be among the most unscrupulous.

[REMINDER: No anonymous comments will be published.  Please use Google Account, OpenID or Name/URL. Pseudonym is accepted. Thank you]

So I am not at all surprised that many people are worried about them taking advantage of GST to profiteer.

The last to join the chorus in expressing this sentiment is the wife of the Prime Minister, (Datin Seri Paduka) Rosmah Mansor.

She cited her hair treatment that had increased in price to RM1,200 per session at her residence and RM500 for tailoring a pair of baju kurung.

GST is taking toll on Rosmah hairdo

I leave it entirely to readers and debaters to make sense of the RM1,200-hairdo. You can credit her for speaking up on behalf of consumers or loath her for the hair raising price she paid for hair colouring.

This is what she was reported saying: “Now when I want to dye my hair at home, the hairdresser charges me RM1,200.

“Wow, that is expensive but they say the price is different in the store. It’s pricey because it is home service...

“They can charge three, four or five times the price citing ‘home service’.

“I am speaking on behalf of housewives. Bakti believes that home services must be subject to (pricing) guidelines.”

To put the RM1,200 hair treatment in perspective let us consider the following statistics:

1. Median income of people in Sarawak, Perak and Kedah RM1,200, Terengganu RM1,100 and Kelantan RM1,000.

2. The majority of ASB unitholders have an average investment of RM550.

3. Out of nearly eight million working Malaysians, the median salary for 2012 and 2011 had stagnated at RM1,500. The median household income was RM3,626. The median household income for the top 20% was RM9,796, the middle 40% (RM4,372) and the bottom 40% (RM1,852).

Late Tun Abdul Razak was Frugal

Then there is this thing about the Prime Minister Office’s statement to the New York Times that Mohd Najib received “healthy” inheritance from this family.

The NYT had quoted the PMO as saying that “…neither any money spent on travel, nor any jewellery purchases, nor the alleged contents of any safes are unusual for a person of the prime minister’s position, responsibilities and legacy family assets.”

Tun Abdul Razak a Frugal Man

This was in relations to the paper’s expose on the mysteriously wealth young Chinese Malaysian, Jho Taek Low son of Tan Sri Larry Low of Penang.

I had made two notations on this in the blog. In one I said, that the PMO’s statement could cast double on Abdul Razak’s integrity and give the impression that he was wealthy.

In another I quoted his former political aide as saying that the second Prime Minister did not die a wealthy man. He left behind two houses – one in Pekan and another in Kuala Lumpur.

Yesterday (Feb 24) Mohd Najib’s sibling namely (Datuk) Johari, (Datuk) Nizam, (Datuk) Nazim and (Datuk Seri) Nazir issued a statement saying:

"We are extremely concerned that some recent news articles and postings have given rise to speculation as to the nature and extent of the inheritance that our late father, Tun Abdul Razak, had left behind.

"We wish to put on record that Tun Abdul Razak was a highly principled man, well-known to all who knew him for his frugality and utmost integrity and any statement or inference to the contrary would be totally false and misleading to his memory and to his service and sacrifices for the nation.

"We take issue with anyone who taints his memory, whatever the motive.

"We would also like to add that our whole family is united on this issue."

Unless the PMO makes an about turn and deny ever making a statement to the NYT about Mohd Najib’s so-called inheritance, it stands accused of tainting the memory of that great man.

The PMO propaganda machine can do whatever it likes even at the expense of ethics and morality to protect the PM and his wife. But for it to dishonour and disrespect the memory of Tun Abdul Razak is an unpardonable sin.

Wallahuaklam.