| Economic hardship hits everyone. But it hits the lower-income group and the poor the most, regardless of race and religion.
As most of the lottery sales were made at eateries, even a week-long year-end rain that made many people stay home could mean poor sales and major losses of income for our family. There was no buffer. Malaysia’s worst economic crisis then was in 1985. But my family did not do well even in parts of the 1990s economic boom.
I am also relieved that we never had to move out from our single-storey brick urban house despite my father telling us that had the situation worsen we would have to return to his family kampung house. As a young boy, the thought haunted me for months – the house was surrounded by graveyards in the large cemetery area behind the old Istana Negara.
Three decades later, the whole world and Malaysia are going through lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. During this MCO, I dread thinking about the 12-year-olds today, especially those from the lower-income family.