Guan Eng shows how to solve falling ringgit

Abolish GST, cut petrol prices, freeze highway tolls, and become an entreprenerial state.

PETALING JAYA: The DAP has called for the abolition of the Goods and Services Tax, lower petrol prices, and a freeze on highway tolls, among measures to restore the value of the ringgit.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng described the imposition of GST as “the principal cause of the economic downturn” and repeated the DAP’s current campaign claims that 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s RM42 billion debts and a reported RM2.6 billion donation to Najib Razak’s personal bank accounts had been the cause of the fall in value of the ringgit.

He said Malaysia was unlikely to achieve developed-nation status by 2020 and must become an entrepreneurial state in order to move towards a high-income state. He called for “inclusive growth” that was free from corruption.

Malaysia needed a progressive economic policy, with a wealth-creating agenda based on collaboration amongst “wealth-creators” involving not just business but also workers, public institutions, and civil-society organisations, he said in a speech at the Selangor DAP convention today.

The progressive economic policy would be inclusive, led by private investment and sustainable. It would create wealth through a public-private partnerships to drive long-term growth and productivity, and that benefits everyone, especially the lower income groups.

“The best way to solve the problems of ‘bad capitalism’ (monopolies and cronyism) is to unleash the virtues of ‘good capitalism’ (competition and innovation),” he said, “just as it is employability that matters, not employment”.

He said current policies had created a “crony state with mercenary capitalism of monopolies and rent-seeking” which he claimed had led to “unbalanced growth, income inequality and finally bankruptcy”.

He accused the federal government of allowing Malaysia’s total debt obligation to have trebled in nine years to reach RM804 billion.