COMMENT | My name is James Chai. I was born in 1993, and I am from the Lost Generation.

I am from the generation that is poor, lost, and forgotten. We can’t afford the things our parents could, we don’t have firm values like our parents do, and we’re not sure of who we are, just like how no one is sure of us.

At least I have a university degree. Only a meagre 12.4 percent of the workforce today has a university degree. Most of my friends and relatives my age started working right after they completed their SPM or diplomas.

And at least I didn’t have to starve. My friends in local universities only eat on alternate days because they are too poor. Some would have to hide the food they buy because it’s such a rarity. Even on those “food days”, it’s only either bread or instant noodles.

In a few months I will be looking for a job, but the odds are stacked against me. There are more than 504,000 unemployed Malaysians, and one in four fresh graduates will remain unemployed for six months after graduation. So I have to be prepared for that.

If I am so lucky to get a job interview, what I learned in school and university is not enough to land me a job. Assuming I do get a job, I may have to accept low and depressed wages - much like our mood...