Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s recent pledge to manage Malaysia’s rising cost of living highlights a systemic crisis where essential expenses for food, housing, and transport consistently outpace wage growth. Former MP Kua Kia Soong argues that current government strategies, such as targeted subsidies and cash transfers, merely treat symptoms rather than addressing the structural causes of economic inequality. The crisis is rooted in a development model characterized by wage suppression, the commodification of basic needs, and the dominance of politically connected oligopolies. By subsidizing consumption, the state inadvertently sustains a system that extracts profit from survival. Kua contends that true reform requires prioritizing social needs over commercial returns through expanded public housing, accessible transport, and a fundamental restructuring of the economy to reduce profit-driven extraction.