The BN government must not drag in the people to cover up its economic incompetence and policy shortfalls, says PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim.
Describing the national fiscal deficit as the result of the government’s “maharaja” expenditure by the Prime Minister’s Office and Department, Anwar said this added to the financial burden in the ballooning national budgetary deficit.
“These originate from Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s unsound vote-buying schemes that cost the people billions of ringgit in the last general election.
“Any attempt to introduce a new Goods and Services Tax (GST), albeit in stages to reduce the budgetary deficit, will be resisted much in the same way that the people are resisting electoral fraud,” Anwar warned.
He pointed out that a bloated PM’s Department, the entourage (on overseas trips) and its exorbitant expenditure as highlighted in the Auditor-General’s Report were truly unprecedented.
Further criticising Najib for heading a committee to reduce the deficit to three percent, Anwar said such a feat could be achieved only if the government was transparent and practised strict economic governance without introducing new taxes or cutting essential expenditures that would affect the people.
Despite the poor showing of the government in the May 5 general election, the Permatang Pauh MP said, it continued to govern the country behind a veil of secrecy.
On this, he pointed to the conduct of the cabinet in the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement negotiations for its lack of transparency and for not holding inclusive negotiations with the opposition.
Najib does not have the full legitimacy of government in terms of popular votes received, Anwar added.
'No' to Goods and Services Tax
Najib's administration, he said, had failed to deliver the most basic of his economic promises since being sworn in, and this included reducing car prices, as promised in its election manifesto.
“These exemplify the incompetence and hopelessness of the Najib administration.
“He has failed to deliver on the promise of affordable housing and Pakatan will consider his administration a failure if it is not successful in bringing down the prices of average mid-range housing by at least 10 percent over the next one year,” Anwar said.
While national car maker Proton reduced the price of its Proton Saga this week, many, including DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, have questioned the reduction in prices of imported cars, ashighlighted in Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia.
As to whether the opposition expects the GST to be implemented in this term, Anwar said he was opposed to it being implemented.
“Imposing additional taxes will cause major hardship to the people. I maintain that the GST can only be implemented if the average income had risen significantly over the last five years. Between 2000 and 2010, the average wage growth has been at a low of 2.6 percent.
“The (Second Finance) Minister has claimed that the government will get an additional RM27 million in revenue from the GST, but I say stop the wastage, corruption and the extraordinary spending. Our position from the start has been clear: stop excessive spending and be transparent,” he said.
On another note, Anwar said that realising the alarming increase in crime, he and Pakatan have offered to work with the police in a bid to reduce crime in the country.
“I will table to the Pakatan leadership that a committee made up of Pakatan and BN representatives be formed immediately to work with the inspector-general of police and his officers to address this concern,” he said.
Describing the national fiscal deficit as the result of the government’s “maharaja” expenditure by the Prime Minister’s Office and Department, Anwar said this added to the financial burden in the ballooning national budgetary deficit.
“These originate from Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s unsound vote-buying schemes that cost the people billions of ringgit in the last general election.“Any attempt to introduce a new Goods and Services Tax (GST), albeit in stages to reduce the budgetary deficit, will be resisted much in the same way that the people are resisting electoral fraud,” Anwar warned.
He pointed out that a bloated PM’s Department, the entourage (on overseas trips) and its exorbitant expenditure as highlighted in the Auditor-General’s Report were truly unprecedented.
Further criticising Najib for heading a committee to reduce the deficit to three percent, Anwar said such a feat could be achieved only if the government was transparent and practised strict economic governance without introducing new taxes or cutting essential expenditures that would affect the people.
Despite the poor showing of the government in the May 5 general election, the Permatang Pauh MP said, it continued to govern the country behind a veil of secrecy.
On this, he pointed to the conduct of the cabinet in the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement negotiations for its lack of transparency and for not holding inclusive negotiations with the opposition.
Najib does not have the full legitimacy of government in terms of popular votes received, Anwar added.
'No' to Goods and Services Tax
Najib's administration, he said, had failed to deliver the most basic of his economic promises since being sworn in, and this included reducing car prices, as promised in its election manifesto.
“These exemplify the incompetence and hopelessness of the Najib administration.
“He has failed to deliver on the promise of affordable housing and Pakatan will consider his administration a failure if it is not successful in bringing down the prices of average mid-range housing by at least 10 percent over the next one year,” Anwar said.
While national car maker Proton reduced the price of its Proton Saga this week, many, including DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, have questioned the reduction in prices of imported cars, ashighlighted in Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia.
As to whether the opposition expects the GST to be implemented in this term, Anwar said he was opposed to it being implemented.“Imposing additional taxes will cause major hardship to the people. I maintain that the GST can only be implemented if the average income had risen significantly over the last five years. Between 2000 and 2010, the average wage growth has been at a low of 2.6 percent.
“The (Second Finance) Minister has claimed that the government will get an additional RM27 million in revenue from the GST, but I say stop the wastage, corruption and the extraordinary spending. Our position from the start has been clear: stop excessive spending and be transparent,” he said.
On another note, Anwar said that realising the alarming increase in crime, he and Pakatan have offered to work with the police in a bid to reduce crime in the country.
“I will table to the Pakatan leadership that a committee made up of Pakatan and BN representatives be formed immediately to work with the inspector-general of police and his officers to address this concern,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.