Budget 2013: BN sings praises

Barisan MPs are excited about the Budget 2013, stressing that it is one that takes every facet of Malaysian life into account.

KUALA LUMPUR: Barisan Nasional MPs have nothing but high praise for Budget 2013, and have thanked Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak for taking care of the various ministries in the government.

Here are their responses.

Umno-Temerloh MP and Deputy Higher Education Minister Saifuddin Abdullah:

It is a budget geared towards a healthy economy. It is both comprehensive in its fiscal content and inclusive of the people.

The fiscal policy of the budget strengthens the private sector as a growth engine through the enhancing of a rule-based and incentive-driven market, such as increased budgets for domestic investment, small-medium enterprises and traders.

It’s not just about goodies. More importantly, it is strengthening the tradition of equitable and socially efficient allocation.

MCA-Alor Star MP and Housing and Local Government Chor Chee Heung:

This budget is the best as far as I am concerned. It is all-encompassing. Every stratum of the community receives something good from this budget, whether they are retired pensioners, youths and those who are working.

In terms of housing, I’m very satisfied because the government is very generous. They realised that affordable housing is important, which is why a lot of money has been given out for for my ministry to build houses for the rakyat.

MCA-Deputy Finance Minister Donald Lim Siang Chai:
We are looking at helping the economy to ensure that we can achieve our target of becoming a developed nation in eight years.

We are looking at more companies being listed. Other than that, the Tun Razak Exchange is also offering more job oppoprtunites as well as hope to be a financial centre in Southeast Aasia.

Other than that, I think we know that BR1M 2.0 will assist those in the lower-income group and we are also looking into helping the youth, which is why we have incentives for them.

We hope that this budget can be accepted by the rakyat so that we can continue to serve them so that we can move forward.

MIC-Cameron Highlands MP and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department SK Devamany:

The civil service, ordinary people, women, senior citizens, military, police, children, students and youths all get help. Just tell us what you need. The fight has begun.

Pakatan Rakyat’s budget is all about attacking. They only fight to get reactions to win the election, but they will not win.

The building of a nation does not depend on anger. I ask them to join us in the fight to empower Malaysia, because our enemies are not from within, but from without.

MCA-Raub MP and Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen:

Today, we have heard from the prime minister about this responsible budget. It is one that takes into account all layers of Malaysian society.

As the Tourism Minister, I welcome the announcement of 2013 to be the Visit Malaysia Year. This will develop our tourism industry, and I welcome the tax incentives for tourism agencies.

Pakatan’s budget, on the other hand, is a populist budget, as it talks about general headings. It doesn’t go into the details and the implementation.

Their budget talks a lot about the middle class, the teachers, the PTPTN holders, but overall it doesn’t really cover everything. They don’t have substantial details.

Ours is a responsible and careful budget. We take the deficit, growth rate and targeted subsidies into consideration, which is very important.

International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed:
The budget reflects the government’s commitment towards improving the investment environment and support for domestic companies, including Bumiputera SMEs. The RM1 billion Domestic Investment Strategic Fund, the RM 1 billion SME Development Fund, RM200 million Halal Industry Fund, RM50 million Young Entrepreneurs Fund are all aimed at facilitating access to financing, encourage business expansion and diversification.

The Domestic Investment Strategic Fund is to accelerate the shift of Malaysian-owned companies in targeted industries to high value-added, high technology, knowledge-intensive and innovation-based industries.

The fund aims to harness and leverage on outsourcing opportunities created by MNCs operating in Malaysia; intensify technology acquisition by Malaysian-owned companies; and enable Malaysian-owned companies to obtain international standards/certifications in strategic industries as well merge into larger entities.

The budget has also made available funds to encourage further innovation. This is specifically through the recognition of IPs as collateral to obtain financing. This fund is timely and significant as it creates the appropriate environment for more innovative and creative SMEs.

Clearly this budget is inclusive and reaffirms that this government is determined to fulfill its promises to the business community. We will work with the private sector to create a conducive, business-friendly environment, supporting domestic investment.