By: Kheng-Liang Tan
Cartoonist Leslie Chew – the man behind the popular series of Demon-cratic strips – has shared how cheap it is for him to live in Johor.
In a receipt posted, Chew spent RM30 (S$10) on groceries which he says could last him for up to 4 days if he were to cook at home with his own existing stock of rice.
The items which he has purchased include: 2 chicken breasts, a packet of carrots, 3 tomatoes, a packet of oyster mushrooms, a packet of mee kuning (thick yellow noodles) and a Honey Dew.
The amount he has paid bill for these was only RM20 (S$6.50) as he has purchased an additional bar of chocolate for RM10 which he says is an additional and expensive indulgence.
Chew has also praised the Malaysian system where GST is not charge on basic necessities. By contrast, Singapore gives GST vouchers to low and middle income families to offset the GST.
SIM undergrdaute Ong Liang Wei describes it as a “regressive” scheme that “does not add value [but is] merely a source of income for the government”.
In a separate post, he shared about how he spends less than RM500 a year on maintenance and upkeep of his car – RM100 for an oil change, RM100 for road tax and RM200 for insurance.