Guan Eng’s way, make Petronas pay
Okay, we know what NEEDS to be done. We do not need Guan Eng to tell us that. What Guan Eng should tell us is HOW do we do it? Guan Eng should come out with his arithmetic to show us, if he were still the Finance Minister, how he would “earn” that RM45 billion to fund the proposed economic stimulus package. Do we bring back the GST? Do we increase the GST to 20% (like most countries)? Where will the money come from if Guan Eng was handling this?
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
The government must roll out another RM45 billion economic stimulus package to offset the effects of the recession the country is facing due to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, said Lim Guan Eng.
You do not need to be a Finance Minister or ex-Finance Minister to understand that Malaysians are facing a tough time due to this Covid-19 induced recession. In fact, the entire world is facing this problem — and in many other countries it is worse than in Malaysia — and many governments do not really know what to do (other than print more money).
And you do not need to be a Finance Minister or ex-Finance Minister to understand what happens when you print more money. Remember the “banana money” during the Japanese occupation? You needed a basket of cash to buy just one loaf of bread that used to cost just five cents.
Even now a loaf of bread costs more than RM3.00 and if you keep printing more money bread will eventually go up to RM20.00 or RM30.00. And then people will resort to barter trading instead of cash since cash would have very little value.
Pakatan Harapan’s or Guan Eng’s way of running the country is to introduce populist policies. There would be zero tax and everything would be given free to Malaysians.
How does Guan Eng propose to find that RM45 billion?
It costs about RM100 billion a year to service salaries, allowances and pensions for the 1.6 million-strong public sector (this includes the security personnel and military). And this cost increases every year.
In the past, people die within a few years after retiring at age 55. Nowadays, at age 70, 80 or 90, Malaysians still do not die and still want to become the prime minister. How much do you think it costs to maintain these people who refuse to die?
Then we have to pay for development cost, loan repayments and interest, goods and services, procurements, etc. The total federal government expenditure is about RM300 billion a year — or RM1.5 trillion between general elections (if Malaysia holds general elections every five years).
How does Malaysia pay this cost if it has zero taxes and everything is given free? Well, as far as Pakatan Harapan and Guan Eng are concerned, Petronas can pay for everything.
Guan Eng’s way is to make Petronas pay
But Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu and Kelantan are not happy with the pittance 5% oil and gas royalty they are getting. According to the Merdeka Agreement (and later the Malaysian Agreement), the oil and gas is 100% owned by the states. So why give them back only 5%? It should be 100%.
But the Federal Government cannot give the states 100%. If not, Malaysia would go bankrupt. So Pakatan Harapan promised Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu and Kelantan that the Federal Government would give them 20% if Barisan Nasional is ousted.
So, in the May 2018 general election or GE14 the voters voted out Barisan Nasional. They wanted zero tax, everything free, and 20% oil and gas royalty for Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu and Kelantan.
On 10th May 2018, the new Pakatan Harapan government took over. Then they discovered they cannot run the country with zero tax, everything free, and at the same time give 20% oil and gas royalty to Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu and Kelantan.
In short, there is no way they can earn just RM0.50 and pay out RM1.00. So Pakatan Harapan started blaming the previous government. They said the previous government stole all the money.
And then, in one rare moment of honesty, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad admitted they made promises they could never keep. Mahathir admitted that when they made all those promises they did not think they were going to win the general election — and hence would not need to keep them. Anyway, an election manifesto is not a Holy Book and hence need not be followed, argued Mahathir.
“No GST” and yet Guan Eng wants the government to spend another RM45 billion
In short, Pakatan Harapan not only lied to the voters, but they blundered as well. Their so-called “economic policies” were going to bankrupt Malaysia. They were planning to earn just RM0.50 to pay costs amounting to RM1.00. And when they could not do that they blamed the previous government and accused the previous government of stealing the money.
However, they had been accusing the Barisan Nasional government of stealing the country’s money since 2013. The general election or GE14 was in 2018, five years later. Hence five years before GE14 they had already said Barisan Nasional stole all the money. So, why the surprise? Did they not take this into account when they made all those promises to the voters?
No, as Mahathir said, they made unrealistic and impossible promises. And they could not deliver these promises without bankrupting the country. And now Guan Eng says the country needs to roll out another RM45 billion economic stimulus package to offset the effects of the recession the country is facing due to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.
Okay, we know what NEEDS to be done. We do not need Guan Eng to tell us that. What Guan Eng should tell us is HOW do we do it? Guan Eng should come out with his arithmetic to show us, if he were still the Finance Minister, how he would “earn” that RM45 billion to fund the proposed economic stimulus package. Do we bring back the GST? Do we increase the GST to 20% (like most countries)? Where will the money come from if Guan Eng was handling this?
