KUALA LUMPUR, 29 Mar: The reaction of an urban poor man when invited by his friend to go to the front of the line managed to catch the attention of a Selangor Kini reporter who was covering the Soup Kitchen programme recently.
The incident happened when about 150 urban poor people were queuing up to take food at the weekly Soup Kitchen programme at Jalan Panggung.
The poor man involved replied the invitation by his friend with a metaphor believed to be referring to Barisan Nasional (BN).
“Get in ‘line’ (in Malay ‘line’ translates to ‘barisan’ which also could mean Barisan Nasional). I do not want, but to queue up, I want,” said the man who declined to be interviewed.
When asked the real reason behind his answer, the man in his 40s expressed dissatisfaction with the actions of the government on some issues.
“This BN, I do not know how their hearts are. Even sleeping on benches they do not allow; it is an offence.
“Already the prices of goods are expensive, now added with the new tax.
“Imagine, people like us have to pay taxes. This BN with all sorts of things,” said the man, believed to be referring to the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) in April 1.
The urban poor who are homeless or identified as homeless are no spared from the GST.
Most of them earn a living by working at food stalls, taking care of parking, selling scrap, washing cars, begging and so on, on average earn less than RM800 a month.
NS
