Written by Money Tai Tai
Few months ago, I was thinking if I should apply for Malaysians’ low income welfare subsidize as I am now jobless and my husband’s income was never steady and sounded as good as he once tried to impress me!
Last year, when he engaged a new sub-contract civil project with a new contractor, I began to worry when I heard all those negative remarks of his new contractor although Mr. Money thought highly of his new boss.
Chinese New Year is coming soon, and it will be next Monday, and this morning I heard Mr. Money was arguing through the telephone with someone.
“If you release the cheque for me on Thursday, you won’t be able to see me after Chinese New Year, because I will be chopped into pieces!”
After a long pause, then I heard him argued, “Look, I don’t use the money to go overseas playing and partying but I have to use it to pay all those workers and suppliers!”
And then he would argue that he has been working for few months without any pay, and yet why he was not able to get the full amount of job done. In short, he would be paid half of his work done, probably the amount of one and the half month.
What kind of life is that for a Malaysian civil works sub-contractors kids and wives?
I could only see my husband once a month, like this trip to visit Kuching he could only stay up a night, and juggling to get his business done and rushing back to the civil site in a small Rejang town.
I was told a Malaysian civil contract project is like a pig being shared: The four big legs of meats you know I know where they went to, and if those sub-contractors know how to wave their tails, some bones would be threw out to them. So often, I imagined that I was chewing bones with my kids after Mr. Money brought those pitiful bones hardly stuck with meats back home!
Happened that last week, another of my close female friend who is also a subcontractor who only dared to open her mouth to ask a best friend not even her own relative to borrow just a two hundred ringgit to meet her weekend due. I was more than happy to help her and she knew that was the only amount I left in my wallet too. She came just now returning the money immediately to me, she is lucky enough to receive Chinese New Year project money faster than most sub-contractor in town.
And this amount of RM200 will be good enough for me to sustain next few days before flying off on New Year eve to hide in my parents’ house with my kids without Mr. Money. Imagine the scene of those rich contractors who don’t want to pay generously to the poor subcontractors who will be bringing their whole family for overseas trips, having big feasts and family reunion. I called this the business world of survival of fittest!
My good friend lucky enough happened to work for an almost extinct species of sensitive rich Datuk-contractor, who would realize that she is a subcontractor, she needs the money to pay workers and suppliers who need to return their respective distance away villages for their Chinese New Year. By the way, city boys and men won’t work tough civil jobs, only poor families’ kids work for hard laboring job.
I almost wanted to chop Mr. Money to pieces when he left Kuching just now without leaving any Ang Bow for me and the children for the Chinese New Year, luckily my good friend was on scene to prevent me from out lashed my foul temper to add in another notorious murder case in Sarawak state!!
Up to today, three bank working days remained, if Mr. Money wires me any money to my account on Friday, as I don’t have any ATM card, I sure will not wait in the bank for 3 to 4 hours to get my the limited amount of cash he gives to the family to welcome dragon Chinese New Year.
I don’t like to buy new shoes, new dresses and foods for Chinese New Year with a credit card a day before New Year Eve, the Chinese New Year will become meaningless and hectic in this case.
How many Datuk and Tan Seri class Contractors in Malaysia are sensitive enough to know that just because they have money to bring the whole family to tour Japan Disney, staying in the 6th stars hotels during Chinese New Year holiday overseas, but how many of those suffered subcontractors who work for them, their families and spouses will be suffering from no Ang Bow, little Ang Bow or late Ang Bow. It is completely meaningless when Ang Bow comes to my pocket too late, now I understand why there are so many people have to squeeze in the supermarkets for last minutes shopping, all because they are poor people. Rich people will do advance Chinese New Year shopping.
And often many people don't realized why in a big corporation/company the QS and the FC or accountant don’t want to release full amount of money of work done to their subcontractors, since this kind of Chinese New Year budget decision of a big corporation/company was usually done by the FC or chief accountant, usually Datuk and Tan Seri class bosses will not look into details for this kind of small figures paid to their staff and outsiders, the truth is always because if they release too much cash money for other outsiders, they wouldn’t get as much Ang Bow from the remaining budget. As the BIG DATUK TAKAU seldom bother to release an extra proceeds saved in their Swiss bank for this kind of Chinese New Year Ang Bow affairs!!!
I just wish that my middle fingers are long enough to point to the air, oh God oh king of ETs, the world is not fair, except we all have to die one day! Especially in Malaysia now, the rich one got richer, the poor ones got subsidize from government, worst are those who are in the middle class, square brain, HONEST and hard working folks once from low and middle background who work for the richest group whose gross in billions per yearly. I told Mr. Money what for he has to go to USA to get a civil engineer degree and what for I travelled few continents around the world to get a liberal art degree, back in Malaysia I feel that I don’t get appreciated, especially staying in a cat city where eggs can’t grow inside my kind of nest, where solely I have to depend on Mr. Money’s nest of limited eggs!
But Chinaman Mr. Money would try to convince me from the day 1 I married him, “Kuching is still the best, not overseas!” I think all because he can speak Foo Chow or Mandarine to run his business here in Kuching!
Yes, Chinese New Year, Chinamen like Mr. Money has money to buy firecrackers to burn in the air but I didn’t wear any new Chinese New Year dress or shoes since Year 1 I married him to this 10th year!
