The response to yesterday’s post alerted me to how different Western society operates to Eastern society. One of my Eastern friends, on reading about the suicide, at the end of the post, thought the jumper must have had money problems. After all, most suicides in Asia are the result of financial woes. Often, you read of people jumping from their apartment blocks whenever they’ve lost everything on the stock market. Certainly, that seemed to be the case in Japan and Hong Kong during the Global Financial Crisis, as people lost face through the downgrading of their financial status. I told my friend that no one here worries about their three meals, regardless of whether they can afford luxuries like holidays or a new house, because the government gives people money.

How much money? It is tied to how much you earn. If your household income is above $150k, you get next to nothing. However if you are of low income, then you can receive an average of $1200 a month through a combination of government payments. It used to upset me that everyone was getting free money save I,  but I’ve come to see the high taxes that get redistributed as payments to others as the price for the civility we live in.

The odd aboriginal in West End might ask me for a bob, but none other than charities will harass me for cash if I say no. Snatch thefts are few and far between because none need resort to crime in order to put food on the table. Around here, the banks are perceived as the robbers, because they levy fees on the small fry. There is a lot of empathy for the every man here, missing in Asia; Asian society expects you to be self-sufficient; God help you if you aren’t. The streets of KL abound with beggars some say work for a syndicate. Here, organised crime leaves the regular Joe alone.

The most heart-breaking story I’ve come across in Malaysia was of a child abandoned by both his poorly-educated parents, forced to skip school and shell prawns for pittance each day in order to support himself and his elderly grandmother. Things like these just don’t happen over here. People do end up on the street, but factors other than a low education come into play: most who end up on the streets usually have drug and alcohol issues or a history of domestic violence. Aid organisations like St Vincents and the Salvos come to their rescue. We, who are better off, are encouraged to think of them at Christmas time and make donations of NEW toys under “wishing trees”, as in at Kmart.

In Asia, who cares if you have no special meals or toys at Christmas? The raising of a child rests solely and squarely with his or her parents. A low education is synonymous with poor life outcomes: a life of menial jobs, being looked down by others, living in envy for the things you can never have. Hence, everyone works hard, some, as many jobs as they physically can, in order to get ahead. Once in a blue moon, an astute politician, weeks or months out from an election, will rock up to an old folks home or an orphanage, bearing gifts and money. He or she is almost always accompanied by the press, if not, why would they think of doing these things? Society’s unspoken perception is that one’s hardship is somehow the result of laziness or bad choices. Thus the few who pursue careers in the arts or sports, fields where there is no guarantee of a good income.

Even among family, the more you own the bigger your say is because there is respect in having wealth. Wealth is exhibited through the owning of imported cars, posh dwellings or in taking overseas vacations. Here in Australia, you can easily get as nice a house in the outer suburbs as you do in the old money neighbourhoods. Vacationing overseas is in many instances cheaper than vacationing locally. Our hotels are expensive, our food is expensive. Having said that, almost any person can afford a car.

One of my friends here who relies on government handouts to live, brought the whole family back to Malaysia en-route to Hong Kong, on the baby bonus she received from having a second child. Even though I belong at the other end of the household income continuum, our houses have more or less the same furniture, the same white goods, the same sheets even… All that sets us apart is home ownership, choice of schools – public versus private, medical insurance, which we are forced to buy to avoid the medicare levy surcharge – an additional 1% on top of the regular medicare levy paid by all, number of times we eat out in a week and places we vacation to.

Conversely, I would contend we have a lot less crime not just because people receive handouts from the government, but because the gap between poor and rich is hardly visible. The super rich keep to themselves, the middle and lower classes enjoy  a very similar lifestyle, but for the points mentioned above.