WE'RE NOT ALTANTUYA, WE JUST WANT YOU TO SAVE MONEY: Would you prefer I dine by candlelight - Najib

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said the high electricity bill for his official residence was a necessity and was unavoidable.

"The electricity bill for Seri Perdana is high, but it doesn't belong to me. It is not my house. There is a function room for visiting heads of states.

"When the Chinese president is here, we're not going to use candlelight. Wouldn't that be too romantic?" the premier told reporters at the sidelines of the National Economic Empowerment (Pena) Conference at the Federal Territory Mosque auditorium, Kuala Lumpur today.

Najib described himself as the third premier to "tumpang (be a guest)" at the official residence and the cost involved could not be avoided.

"I don't sleep in the main house. If we need to hold seminars there it is free as well," he said.

Earlier this month, the government was forced to reveal, through Parliament, that the electricity bill for Seri Perdana cost tax payers RM2.2 million a year.

At the time, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Shahidan Kassim insisted that the bill was still the cheapest in the world for a head of state's official residence.

'Be patriotic, embrace GST'

Meanwhile, Najib said claimed that paying tax, including the goods and services tax (GST) which will be implemented on April 1 in 2015, was a form of patriotism.

He said that not everyone can be a soldier or join the police, thus it was incumbent for others to pay tax.

"The definition of patriotism in our country is that we must discharge our responsibility to the country for the good of the people and the nation.

"When we pay tax, we are helping the people. We instil this spirit, with this our country will be more successful," he said.

The premier, who is also finance minister, insisted that the GST would be good for the people and would help the Malaysia become a developed country by 2020.

Avoiding bankruptcy

He said that the GST would help provided additional resources for the country, particularly in infrastructural development.

"The benefit is that we will have a stronger source of revenue to accelerate the country's development and the people will be more happier because it is based on resources that will make the progress further.

"If we are to look at the country's journey, take a moment to imagine the direction of our country's development, a country where traditional villages, small towns are given a facelift.

"We want new roads, new schools and universities and these require more allocations. So, we need revenue. Otherwise, who is agoing to pay for all these.

"The other option is to take loans, but if we continue to borrow, what will happen, (if) we cannot pay, the country's rating will drop, we will be bankrupt, the people will suffer, we cannot manage the country like this," he said.

Critics have claimed that the Najib-administration's should focus on plugging leakages and eliminating graft before moving to broaden the tax base.