Malaysia is not ‘going bankrupt’

By The Star

BATU PAHAT: The Opposition’s claim that the Government is going bankrupt due to its huge deficit is unfair, as a country’s wealth should not be measured in terms of its debt but ability to service it.

MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said that Malaysia’s budget deficit to GDP ratio was 5.4%.

“For countries like Greece, the percentage was 12%,” he said when met at his Chinese New Year open house here yesterday.

He said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had promised to reduce the deficit to 5.2% this year.

Dr Chua further reiterated that Malaysia was not facing bankruptcy due to the strengthening of the ringgit as well as the huge inflow of foreign direct investment into the country last year.

“The strengthening of our currency as well as the huge inflow of investment will not be happening if the country was bankrupt or facing bankruptcy,” he added.

On the Chinese New Year celebrations, he said that generally there were huge crowds everywhere.

“The economy has recovered and every sector has achieved respectable economic growth.

“As such people are more optimistic and confident about the future of the country,” he said, adding that the MCA open house in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday had attracted a huge crowd.

On the floods which hit several states including Johor, Dr Chua reminded the people to take note that only those from Barisan Nasional especially Umno, MCA and MIC were on the ground helping out.

“In times of floods, the people from DAP and PAS are not around.

“They only come when there is a by-election or election,” he said, adding that MCA has a mechanism whenever there was a flood which would be activated at the division level to provide assistance to flood victims in terms of food, water and even welfare.