Pakatan Harapan failed to implement its own proposals

(The Star) – The Pakatan Harapan-led government tabled its first-ever national budget on Friday (Nov 2), after several years of drafting its own “alternative budgets”.

Now that it is in government, getting what it wants should be a done deal, right?

Unfortunately, it missed several opportunities to implement the proposals in its own alternative budget of 2018.

This includes providing free tertiary education and increasing maternity leave from the current 90 days to 120 days with full pay.

However, it did fulfil its promise of restructuring the payment scheme for National Higher Education Loan Fund (PTPTN) borrowers.

In the proposed 2018 alternative budget, Pakatan said that fresh graduates earning under RM4,000 a month will not have to service the interest due on their loans until they earned more.

In Budget 2019, Lim announced the introduction of a progressive loan repayment schedule of between 2% and 15% of the borrower’s monthly income based on his or her income level.

He also said that discounts on the loan will be given to students from B40 households who have successfully obtained first class honours in their studies.

Meanwhile, PTPTN borrowers who are 60 years old and above with a monthly income of less than RM4,000 will have their debts written off.

While Pakatan, in its 2018 alternative budget, said it would retain the 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) programme, Lim announced the new Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH), which is aimed to help the B40 group.

Pakatan certainly did meet its tax pledges, repealing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and replacing it with the Sales and Service Tax (SST) on Sept 1. This was part of its alternative budget.

While there is no mention of oil royalty in Budget 2019, it was reported that the government was in the midst of revising the existing 5% in royalties paid to oil-producing states.