Before Malaysia's budget pays for a single service, RM210 billion of it is already spent
Two of the government's own documents give different totals for 2026. Both are right. Here is where the money goes, in order of size.
Gaji
Pay. Median wages, starting salaries, the gap against the cost of living, and the Singapore comparison everybody makes — with the DOSM series behind it.
The ringgit did get stronger — against eleven of fourteen currencies. The Singapore dollar was not one of them.
Bank Negara's own daily rate table, 2015 to 2025: what the ringgit did against fourteen currencies, and why the start date decides the answer.
The median Malaysian citizen's pay rose to RM2,793 in 2024. It buys what RM2,103 bought in 2010.
Malaysia's median citizen earned RM2,793 a month in 2024. Measured in 2010 ringgit it was RM2,103. Both figures are DOSM's own.
Only one of Malaysia's oil states is rich on paper. It's the one whose households aren't.
Sarawak produces 29% more per person than the national average and earns 22% less per household. Sabah and Terengganu don't fit the pattern at all.