By Jennifer Gomez

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: It was hard for 36-year-old Anjalai Devi to understand what the mini- budget was about and how it would affect her.

Living with her 13-year-old twins and her contract-worker husband in a flat in Sentul Pasar, all Devi was worried about was whether she would be able to keep on earning RM1,000 monthly in tuition fees as people lose their jobs and cut back on expenses.

So she was relieved to find out that the government's mini-budget was aimed at increasing employment opportunities and safeguarding existing jobs.

"That is good news, because all my 30 tuition students are from poor families. We will lose our main source of income if their parents lose their jobs," Devi said.

Her husband's income is not stable. "One month he's employed and can bring home up to RM1,000, and the next few months, he could be out of a job. So we always stretch the RM1,000 he makes to tide us over during the bad months," she said.

When told of the retraining opportunities the budget provided for retrenched workers and unemployed graduates, Devi hoped that her husband would be able to get into the programme as well.

"It would be good for him to train in another area of skills, as his current skills cannot ensure him a permanent job," she said.

Devi said apart from keeping prices of sugar, bread and wheat flour stable, the government should also keep tabs on the prices of meat and vegetables, which she added were getting "very expensive".

As for the RM5,000 rebate to trade in 10-year-old cars for new Proton or Perodua cars, Devi said it did not affect her in any way as they did not own a car or even a motorbike.

The tax relief for interest on housing loans was also meaningless to her as she said she would not be able to own a house in the near future.

"We can't even think of owning a house. Our main priority now is to feed ourselves and get our children through school."

Joseph Timmiah, 41, on the other hand, is eager to own a house, even if it's a low-cost flat, for the sake of his three daughters. An odd job cleaner, Timmiah and his wife, also a cleaner, earn a combined income of RM1,400 a month.

"We live in a flat for free in Kampung Subang but it's too small for the five of us. So we would consider buying a home if the government helps us."

However, Timmiah hoped that prices of essential goods, mainly grocery items, could be brought down.

He was surprised to hear about the car rebate and said he would most likely go for it.

"My Proton is very, very old and the cost of maintenance is very high now, although I only use it to ferry my children around and don't even take it to work. We certainly need a new car," he added.

"This is very good news."