I DON’T usually write about issues.

But when my wife whipped out a bottle of condensed milk and a sachet of Nescafe’s 3-in-1 from her oversized tote at a coffeehouse in a hotel in downtown Kuala Lumpur recently (the waiter was gracious enough to provide her with a mug of hot water at a princely sum of 50 sen), I knew it was time. And no; I didn’t ask for another table.

I miss the good old days when a piece of chicken at the mamak shop was just RM2.50.

Now, if you got off with paying just RM4, it’s like you had just hit paydirt at the Venetian Macau.

Roll out the red carpet and bring out Rihanna, boys! It’s time to party! Somebody get my umbrella ... ella ... ella ...ella ...
Three days ago, I paid RM9.60 for a plate of nasi biryani. Granted, I did gorge on a piece of chicken (at least that’s what they said it was. It looked more like a half parakeet to me ...), but apart from the pile of kobis, that was it.

When the cashier turned the tiny screen on the cash register oh ever so slowly towards me, I could hardly believe it. I thought I was seeing stars. I blinked a couple of times to clear my eyes and stood there for a moment.

I blinked again. The cashier blinked with me. We both blinked in unison. I knew it was pointless. So did he. He just wanted to see if I’d make a county fair out of it. I didn’t.

I shook my head in disgust as I pulled out RM10.

RM9.60. That could’ve bought me two meals back in the old days, I thought.

The events of the last few months have not escaped me; despite the fact that I went to public school and used to sleep in class (sorry, Mr Wong).

Oil prices have shot up, driven in part by the war in Iraq and the US economy has taken a beating with analysts saying that this time around, the effects will be much worse than the Great Depression of the 30s (not bad, kan?).

On Monday, the government announced a further reduction in fuel prices in recent weeks, effective yesterday.

Yay! Somebody light up a firecracker or two. But that joy was short-lived. Many gas stations closed early, saying that they had run out of “go juice” (but that’s another story altogether).

So, does this mean that food prices and prices of essential goods will go down as well? I wouldn’t hold my breath and bet Hafiz’s Pokemon card collection if I were you.

But why not? Shouldn’t it? If you strip away everything — all the economic and financial variables — and lay everything down in the simplest of terms, you should be able to enjoy cheaper prices too, no?

I guess what I’m asking for is a little break. Yes; that would be you, the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry.

Let’s just consider bringing the prices down a tad. It doesn’t have to be much. Just enough to give us little guys some breathing room.

Surely, that would be the Malaysian thing to do ...

• The writer can be contacted at CrazeeHorse701@gmail.com