Tiger is somewhat proud this week, because Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak chose Tiger's colours - orange (baju Melayu) and black (songkok) - when delivering his Budget 2014 speech last Friday.
On second thought, make that prouder, since Tiger is always proud of its handsome coat, but Tiger digresses.
There was plenty of good in the Budget, not least of which are anti-speculative measures for the property market as well as the introduction of goods and services tax (GST) coupled with a new income tax structure.
But there were plenty of things that raised Tiger's magnificent eyebrow, too, like the comments surrounding the abolishment of sugar subsidies of 34 sen per kg or approximately RM551 million in total.
In announcing it, the prime minister turned to rising diabetes numbers as the reason for the abolishment. His deputy, on Saturday, brought up the late Kedah Mentri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak as a case of excessive sugar consumption.
In the latter's case, Tiger must say the tactless manner shows a lack of class.
Also on Saturday, Najib cited loss of libido as among the negatives of too much sugar. Tiger looked it up and found that there is indeed a connection between sugary food and lowered sex drive.
So Tiger applauds the prime minister's concern about maintaining the fitness of, ahem, the Tiger in every Malaysian. But there is a disconnect in reasoning here - is health the primary concern that led to the subsidy abolishment?
The unspoken understanding is that the abolishment is part of the government's subsidy rationalisation plan - subsidies are expensive and do not provide any reasonable returns on the money spent.
Go to KiniBiz for the full article.
There was plenty of good in the Budget, not least of which are anti-speculative measures for the property market as well as the introduction of goods and services tax (GST) coupled with a new income tax structure.
But there were plenty of things that raised Tiger's magnificent eyebrow, too, like the comments surrounding the abolishment of sugar subsidies of 34 sen per kg or approximately RM551 million in total.
In announcing it, the prime minister turned to rising diabetes numbers as the reason for the abolishment. His deputy, on Saturday, brought up the late Kedah Mentri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak as a case of excessive sugar consumption.
In the latter's case, Tiger must say the tactless manner shows a lack of class.
Also on Saturday, Najib cited loss of libido as among the negatives of too much sugar. Tiger looked it up and found that there is indeed a connection between sugary food and lowered sex drive.
So Tiger applauds the prime minister's concern about maintaining the fitness of, ahem, the Tiger in every Malaysian. But there is a disconnect in reasoning here - is health the primary concern that led to the subsidy abolishment?
The unspoken understanding is that the abolishment is part of the government's subsidy rationalisation plan - subsidies are expensive and do not provide any reasonable returns on the money spent.
Go to KiniBiz for the full article.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.