Unilateral revision of budget shows ‘utter contempt’ for Parliament, says DAP

Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua slams Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for leaving Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers out of the budget revision process. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, January 20, 2015.The prime minister's "unilateral" revision of the national budget for 2015 after it had been approved by lawmakers last year shows his "utter contempt" for Parliament, a DAP lawmaker said today.

The party's national publicity secretary Tony Pua said Datuk Seri Najib Razak's announcement of the revised budget today showed that he treated Parliament as a "rubber stamp" for decisions made by the "dictatorial" executive.

"The manner in which the announcement was made demonstrated the sheer contempt Najib has for the Parliament, which on paper, is the highest legislative body in the country.

"The fact that the Parliament passed the government budget and expenditure by law via a Supply Bill mattered little to the Prime Minister, who has decided that he can change the will of the Parliament as he pleases," Pua said in a statement today.

He blasted Najib for leaving Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers out of the whole affair.

He said instead of being answerable to the Parliament, Najib had made the announcement in a hall of invited guests comprising diplomats, the business community, non-governmental organisations and only MPs from the ruling coalition Barisan (BN).

"PR MPs were completely ignored on such an important government decision.

"This decision by the prime minister leaves the MPs with absolutely no avenue to debate and decide on the changes made to the budget."

The Petaling Jaya Utara MP also took Najib to task for painting a positive picture of the Malaysian economy to the people by saying that the country was not in crisis, while real problems were being ignored.

Pua said Najib had blamed events that were "beyond the government's control", like the steep decline in global crude oil prices, but failed to highlight facts about national debt.

"For instance, the prime minister failed to highlight the fact that the federal government’s rising debt amounting to RM569 billion was substantially held by foreigners.

"As of June 30, 2014, foreigners held 30.3% of the ringgit and US dollar denominated bonds and securities issued by the government, making Malaysia highly susceptible to global financial fluctuations and instability.

"The persistent selling of foreign holdings of both our government and private sector debt has been one of the key causes of the sharp decline of the ringgit over the past 60 days," he said.

Pua said Najib also failed to address concerns over the RM42 billion debt load of 1Malaysia Development Berhad, a wholly-owned investment subsidiary of the Ministry of Finance.

"The failure of the troubled investment firm to repay a RM2 billion loan in November 2014 has also hit 1MDB's bonds and fuelled investor concerns about Malaysia's economy," he said.

He cited a Reuters report quoting OCBC Bank economist Wellian Wiranto in Singapore who had said that 1MDB and the concerns over its debts were catalysts of the ringgit's weakening.

Bloomberg had also quoted Chua Hak Bin, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Singapore, as saying that the “falling oil prices, concerns over the fiscal position and 1MDB may be compounding the pressure on both the ringgit and interest rates.”

Pua said such pertinent issues that affect the nation's economy could not be debated at all when the revised budget was announced since it was not tabled in Parliament.

"The ominous omission of Malaysia and 1MDB’s debt crisis from Najib's speech will certainly not lend any confidence to the financial markets on the government’s ability to ensure an orderly financial market meet its revised budget commitments and the 3.2% deficit target."

Earlier today, Najib announced a RM5.5 billion cut to the Budget 2015's RM223.4 billion government operating expenditure, which only constituted a 2.2% slash.

The fiscal deficit target of 3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the year has also been revised to 3.2%.

Among the money-saving strategies Najib announced in the revision were deferring the 2015 National Service to enable the programme to be reviewed and enhanced; and optimising outlays on supplies and services, especially overseas travel, events and functions and use of professional services.

Najib said the transfers and grants to statutory bodies, government-linked companies, and government trust funds, particularly those with a steady revenue stream and high reserves, would also be reviewed.

Najib also said the government would intensify domestic tourism and postpone the scheduled electricity tariff and gas price hikes for the industrial sector this year.

- TMI