PETALING JAYA, Jan 28 (Bernama) -- The federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations (Fomca) on Thursday called on the government to intensify efforts to improve the economy because the majority of Malaysians were concerned with the escalating cost of living and the fear of losing their jobs.

Its president, Datuk N.Marimuthu, said a recent survey by the Think Tank Merdeka Centre had shown that 43 per cent of the people were concerned with the state of the economy while another survey by Credit Card company VISA International showed that the majority of Malaysians were worried about their job security, personal savings and inflation.

He said at present it appeared that more emphasis was placed by the government on ethic relations, corruption and politics and "very little was being done for the economy".

"While we appreciate that the issues of ethic relations, corruption and politics are also essential, they should not be the sole preoccupation of our leaders.

"Serious efforts should be made stimulate the economy so as to gain the people's confidence," he said.

Marimuthu told Bernama that the government should engage the people in serious discussions at all levels and make them aware of how they could contribute to a "highly developed and prosperous Malaysia".

One area which Fomca wanted the government to emphasise was to change the subsidy mentality of the people.

"If we continue with this culture of subsidy, we will definitely suffer economically in the long term," he said.

-- BERNAMA