• 9 years ago
Produced by Indrani Kopal | Narration by Nick Josh Karean |

The real victims of the financial crisis are the families

Thirty-five year old factory worker S Muniandy is a husband and a father of six-children. He takes home every month RM400 plus after deduction.

His wife M Kalairani, age 33 is a housewife.

They've been living in Sri Perantau Flats in Port Klang ever since they were evicted from Rumah Panjang Sungai Rengam in 2004 under the previous Selangor state government's 'zero-setingan' programme.

According to Muniandy, he hasn't been paying for the house for the past one year. The monthly payment for the flat is RM400.

If he pays for this from his monthly salary, he will never able to feed his children for the entire month.

Can a family of eight survive on a monthly income of RM400, given the cost of living in Malaysia today? Muniandy is living below the poverty line.

Muniandy is a typical story of many who have been retrenched by factories due to the economic downturn.

Many residents who Malaysiakini interviewed during our recent visit there, had similar stories to share.

It has been claimed that factories in Klang and Shah Alam have been retrenching local workers so that they can be replaced with foreigners for half of the salary.

This has affected many families who live and work in Klang and Shah Alam.

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