‘Opium’ subsidies: MP hits out at Najib

Instead of abolishing subsidies completely, the government should implement new policies on subsidies so that poor families won’t go hungry, says Tawau MP Chua Soon Bui.

KOTA KINABALU: A Sabah-based MP has urged the federal government to revamp its current policies on subsidies so that the poor are left immune to price increases.

“Instead of abolishing them completely, the government should implement new policies on subsidies so that poor families, especially those in Sabah, won’t go hungry,” Tawau MP Chua Soon Bui said.

Chastising Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak for describing subsidies as “opium”, he said the poor in Sabah were bearing the brunt of the government’s austerity drive, which has driven up the prices of various goods.

She reminded the government that the national subsidy scheme has helped make life tolerable for thousands of families who lived in hardship, especially those in Sabah, which has the highest poverty rate in the country.

Chua, who is also Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) vice-president, ticked off the federal government over its record in combating corruption and wastage of public funds.

She said that a caring government should first strive to curb and plug wastage and leakage of public money due to abuses and corruption, instead of punishing ordinary people by removing the subsidies.

Chua also noted that weak enforcement by the relevant authorities had led to rampant abuses of the subsidy schemes.

“The Auditor-General’s reports have shown that there are so much wastage, leakage and corrupted practices leading to multi-billion ringgit losses, which the government should have prevented earlier.

“Now the people are the ones who have to shoulder all these abuses,” she said.

Re-think decision

Echoing the call by Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin who urged the government to be more prudent in its spending, Chua said that prices of goods would continue to rise if the government did not change its fiscal policy.

“The government must review the subsidies enjoyed by independent power producers (IPPs) which are earning billions of ringgit a year,” she said.

Chua also questioned how Malaysia, which is still a net exporter of oil and gas and thus benefiting from any increase in global oil prices, could be in such a dire financial position so that its people had to suffer.

She also expressed concern over the impact of the imminent increase of fuel prices on the market, which could fuel inflation.

“The reduction or cancellation of subsidies for five types of transport will surely have a great impact on the people, especially in Sabah.

“They will have to bear the consequences of an increase in prices of food, transport, housing or properties, and cabotage policy,” she said.

Chua also urged the federal government to re-think its decision to impose a 4% goods and services tax (GST). The GST Tax Bill is expected to be tabled for second reading in Parliament soon.

“Has the government forgotten that there are still many very poor people in Sabah and that the 4% GST will affect the people across the board?” she asked.

Dismissing the argument that the implementation of the 4% GST would reduce personal and corporate tax, she asked how this would have a bearing on the situation of poor families who are not subjected to income tax at all.

“How do they benefit from the 4% GST to be taxed on everything under the sun?” she asked.

She noted that the current 6% government sales tax is only applied to the service industry.