Almost six decades after Malaya gained independence and nearly 53 years since we became Malaysia, it can sometimes be questioned whether or not the country is really a democracy. No less a personage than the late great Tunku Abdul Rahman — the father of our independence — was quoted as saying: “There is no more democracy. You say anything, you are put in (jail) and you are not allowed to reply nor allowed to hold rallies to defend yourself”.
Despite that, and despite much evidence to the contrary, the government is quick to proclaim that we are a democracy, even going so far as to proclaim it as the best in the world, literally. But as a fellow Malaysian once wrote, real democrats don't brag about their democracy — they show how it is done. And one of the ways it is not done is by claiming that citizens do not have a say on matters because they do not pay for things.
This issue came about when Langkawi MP Datuk Nawawi Ahmad was quoted as saying his salary is not paid by the people, but is from the government, and that public funds did not belong to the people. “The salaries of MPs are not paid by the people but the government and the government's money is not the people's money. Once money has passed on to another quarter, it is no longer our money. If the government's money is really the people's money, let us attack all government departments to take back our money," he said in a Facebook comment.
“What is wrong with this definition? The government’s money is the government’s money and our money is our own money.”
Let's see. Government revenue the world over — including ours — come from several sources: there is tax revenue, which is levied by the government on a variety of incomes, goods and services; non-taxable sources, such as income from government-owned corporations; the revenue of the central bank; and capital receipts, consisting of external loans and debts from international financial institutions. And guess what?
The sources of revenue/income for all of these bodies is ultimately the people themselves, whether through direct and indirect expenditure, savings, taxes paid, and so on.
And what is expected of this outflow of money to the government? Public goods and services, amongst other things — that means all the roads; street lighting; affordable services such as health and education; and all manner of welfare initiatives to help those Malaysians who need help. On top of all that, it also includes the pay for the running of the civil services and the government departments, as accounted for in the annual National Budget.
However, given the statement which supports the view that Nawawi is a clueless and callous entitled bureaucrat, one can be forgiven for cynically believing that the public sector of the country cannot be trusted to run itself in a prudent and fiscally responsible manner — particularly since they have already supplemented the Budget yet again when it was found to be short due to "unforeseen calculations" that should have been taken into account in the first place.
There are many examples of this. The Federal Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Felcra) ended up committing RM687m for an office that it technically should not have had to pay for at all. Also, the Finance Ministry's assurance that debt levels are expected to go down in order to refute reports of a possible country credit rating downgrade rings hollow when you consider that it let 1MDB fall apart in such spectacular fashion — with it’s own minister heading the troubled corporation's board, to boot.
Perhaps we need to sit Nawawi and the public bodies down and explain to them that their point of view is not conducive to the smooth running of the country. The rakyat are ultimately the majority paymasters for all the money that is being spent — and all they want is the reassurance that the money is spent properly in an accountable fashion. So don't be surprised when they take you to task for treating the money as if it were your own. - http://www.theheatmalaysia.com/
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