Stop blaming victims of failed economic policies, MP tells gov't

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and the government should stop blaming the victims of their failed economic policies, an opposition lawmaker said today.

Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong said Malaysia's economy is now facing a crisis that Najib and the government have refused to acknowledge, attributing the situation to what he described as a "failure of Najibnomics."

Whenever concerns are raised, Liew said, the government’s immediate reply is to either disparage critics or blame victims who complain.

“The government needs to acknowledge that there is a crisis before it can deal with it properly.

“It must stop blaming the victims and scoffing at suffering Malaysians,” he said in a statement.

Among others, he cited Najib's remarks during the MIC annual general meeting last week that Malaysians are still complaining about the six percent Goods and Services Tax (GST), despite other countries having higher tax rates.

“For him (Najib) the six percent regressive tax is good for Malaysia, and no one should whine or complain about it.

“I am further stunned with the claims made by Treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah who said: ‘If people are poor, I believe that they have made themselves poor. If they have arms and legs and can walk, they can survive in Malaysia’.”

Irwan, who made the remarks during an event yesterday, also said there is no reason that Malaysians should be poor because there are plenty of opportunities for them to be well-off.

Liew, however, pointed out that overall prices of goods have increased since the last general election due to the combined effect of GST implementation, a 30 percent depreciation of the ringgit since October 2014, and successive subsidy cuts.

“This is eating into people's disposable income and hence hurting domestic consumption,” he said, adding that wages have remained stagnant as a result of an overreliance on cheap foreign labour.

At the same time, he said more Malaysians are now seeking employment in 3D (dirty, difficult and dangerous) sectors overseas, including in Singapore, Australia, and the United Kingdom.- Mkini