Stop pretending that everything is going well
Regardless of whether it is the BN or the Pakatan Rakyat, there is a surge in the Operating Expenditure. However, no one tells the people how to improve productivity and open up new revenue resources to offset the increased expenditures.
Lim Sue Goan, Sin Chew Daily
The Budget has been pan-politicised and the confronting coalitions are busy in wars of words, blurring the vision of the country’s economic future.
The last 14 paragraphs of Prime Minister cum Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Budget speech had dignified the BN and belittled the Pakatan Rakyat. Members of the confronting coalitions picked up their respective Budget and booed at each other after Najib finished his speech. Najib has continued to attack the alternative coalition over the past two days and said, “You do Bersih 2.0, we do BR1M 2.0. You storm the barricades, overturn police cars, we help the rakyat.” He also said that the Buku Jingga is not worth the paper it is written on.
Pakatan Rakyat leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim fought back and teased the BN when debating on the Budget in the Dewan Rakyat on October 1, while DAP Parliamentary Leader Lim Kit Siang challenged Najib to debate with Anwar.
When politicians think only about politics, they will no longer pay attention to more important issues.
At this very moment, Terengganu Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin urged the people to drop their subsidy mentality to form a hard working and competitive society, instead of just expecting for assistance.
Indeed, both the BN’s Budget and the Pakatan Rakyat’s alternative budget have failed to get rid of subsidies. And they are actually the pot calling the kettle black. They ridicule each other as being populist but have failed to realise that they are actually making the same mistake.
Take the BN’s Budget as an example, the Operating Expenditure has increased to RM201.9 billion, accounting for 80% of the total expenditure, and among them, 20.8% is allocated for subsidies.
The government’s subsidies have amounted to RM42 billion this year, exceeding the estimated amount by 27%, or RM9 billion. The total subsidy in 2007 was only RM10 billion, which means that political confrontation has increased subsidies by four times.
Subsidies could anesthetise the people’s nerves and when subsidies are forced to be terminated, the people might not be able to stand stably.
In addition, the emoluments for civil servants have also been increased from RM52 billion in 2012 to RM58.6 billion next year, accounting for 29% of the total Operating Expenditure. Since the government has shelved the Exit Policy to deal with problematic, indisciplined and underperforming civil servants, the number of civil servants has kept increasing, so does the emolument expenditure.
The Pakatan Rakyat’s alternative budget also advocates pay rise for civil servants, such as increasing the salaries of police officers by 15%, providing a special allowance of RM500 for teachers and increasing the salaries of civil servants. The additional emolument expenditure is RM4.4 billion. However, it requires an additional RM5.1 billion based on the calculation of MCA President Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek.
Regardless of whether it is the BN or the Pakatan Rakyat, there is a surge in the Operating Expenditure. However, no one tells the people how to improve productivity and open up new revenue resources to offset the increased expenditures.
It seems impossible to remove the subsidy system, while the administrative team has been continuously expanding. It is afraid that the debt might touch the national debt ceiling of 55%. The national debt has increased from last year’s RM456.1 billion to the current RM502.4 billion, In other words, each person is averagely bearing RM18,000 of debt.
The government should tell the people how many oil resources are left and how long could they support our expenses. When would the country become a net oil importer and would it be in 2017, as predicted by the International Energy Agency?
The government should make public the national accounts to clearly show the people the country’s financial situation, instead of keep pretending that everything is going well, telling the people that there is no big deal and distributing money.
If the financial direction and management are not changed today, I am afraid that Malaysians might one day walk on streets to protest against financial austerity. Such a scenario is horrible!
