(B)ankrupt (N)ation

Once a nation is on the brink of collapse, it will collapse. Malaysia's fall will be due to mismanagement, corruption and crony-capitalism.

COMMENT

It certainly looks like Malaysia is on the way towards achieving the status of a bankrupt nation. Yes, the acronym of BN already stands for Bankrupt Nation, so can this be taken as a sign of things to come?

If the nation’s current debt standing at RM456 billion is added to the contingent liabilities of RM97 billion (off-balance sheet spending), we will have RM553 billion, which is more than 63% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The Loan Act 1959 and the Government Funding Act 1983 stated that the public debt ratio must not exceed 55% of the GDP.

Of course, if the contingent liabilities of RM97 billion are not added to the public debt of RM456 billion, then the latter amounts to 53.5% of the GDP which is just slightly below 55% – this, of course, lets the BN federal government off the hook instead of “breaking the law”.

Therefore, PAS Kuala Selangor MP, Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, has warned Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to stop lying to the citizens by saying that the nation’s deficit has decreased through some sleight-of-hand accounting.

Dzulkefly further added that the Greek government became bankrupt via massive off-budget or off-balance sheet spending. This is what Malaysia is practising now: off-balance sheet spending.

At the rate the federal government is spending via crony handouts, the nation will be bankrupt even before 2019.

That is why the federal government wants to impose GST (goods and services tax) after the 13th general election – the Treasury is near empty. As it is right now, our government can be referred to as “running on empty”.

Once a nation is on the brink of collapse, it will collapse. Malaysia’s fall will be due to mismanagement, corruption and crony-capitalism.

If BN wins the 13th general election, there will be a great austerity drive as the federal government aims to replenish its coffers by introducing more new taxes to dig into the rakyat’s pockets instead of curbing government spending.

There will be subsidy cuts and prices of goods, especially the basic necessities, will escalate. The ordinary man-in-the-street will have to struggle to make ends meet and the poor and the low-income group will suffer the most. As usual, the wastages and leakages will continue thereby angering the rakyat further.

Change the diapers
But BN will win in the polls due to the help of 200,000 or more alien voters in the dirty electoral rolls. In Selangor alone, more than half a million voters have been shifted about. And there are three Pakatan Rakyat parliamentary seats which have seen a tremendous increase of voters (between 25% and 35%):

1. Parliamentary seat of Subang held by PKR MP R Sivarasa;

2. Parliamentary seat of Kota Raja held by PAS MP Dr Siti Mariah; and

3. Parliamentary seat of Puchong held by DAP MP Gobind Singh Deo.

Yes, BN can win the general election due to electoral fraud. And more new taxes will surely be imposed causing the poor and the low-income group to get angry. And frustrated at the way they have been pushed into a corner.

An angry person can trigger off a political tsunami as in the case in Tunisia where it only took one angry stallholder to set himself on fire to cause the downfall of a government. One can never be too sure of things in this modern era of Twitter, Facebook and camera-phones.

And that is the reason why Najib is afraid to hold the general election. He knows he is in a precarious position despite all those public handouts. He knows that win or lose, difficulties will follow – the public expects more handouts from BN now that he has set the precedent or else they will get angry.

It is time to change the baby’s (Malaysia – a young nation) diapers. For more than 54 years, the baby is still wearing the same soiled diapers! Knowing this, Najib has promoted his image to the hilt in order to win the general election.

Figures manipulated
Najib has left no stone unturned in his efforts even to the extent of paying FBC Media RM80 million to promote Malaysia’s image. However, Malaysia or Najib rather, ended up looking silly when BBC apologised worldwide for airing those FBC Media programmes on Malaysia. What a wanton waste of money to make Malaysia the world’s laughing stock – a shame and an embarassment indeed!

Even our mainstream television news slots never fail to promote Najib – he is always shown in all the news slots saying this or that. There is never one day when his face is not shown on the telly.

All these efforts are made in order to enable him to con the rakyat further with his mighty economic deeds and so-called transformation programmes that will bring all Malaysians on the road to prosperity.

Figures and statistics are manipulated to suit BN favourably; for example crime rate and unemployment have gone down. But if you were to visit a small town and talk to the people there, for instance, Jelebu in Negri Sembilan, you will hear that there are many jobless people these days.

As for the crime rate, house break-ins are rampant in Bandar Menjalara in Kepong wherein boom gates have been installed and security guards hired by the resident’s association. Snatch thefts are also common in Taman Sri Sinar, Segambut. Credit however, must be given to the police as they have stepped up patrols but these crimes also indicate the underlying social problem of increased unemployment.

Knowing that his image is all-important in helping BN to win the general election, Najib has spared no effort in gaining political mileage in all that he does and says.

At the end of the day, will the 200,000 or more alien voters decide the fate of the rakyat? If they do, then we the rakyat will be going to Greece while the BN leaders can afford to go on a Carribean cruise and indeed many, many more cruises to come.

Selena Tay is a FMT columnist.