Country doesn’t need GST’s rescue, Najib told

A PKR leader has blasted Prime Minister Najib Razak for claiming the Goods & Services Tax (GST) has saved the country from economic ruin, arguing the problem lies instead with the administration of the country.

“I strongly condemn the prime minister’s ‘brilliant’ statement, because nearly three years after the GST had been implemented, what we can see is the economy is increasingly sinking and the ringgit’s value has been on the descent.

“So where is the logic of his statement?” said PKR Terengganu’s Bandar assemblyperson Azan Ismail in a statement today.

“From what can be seen, GST was only introduced to help the government pay off the nation’s debts that are piling up.

“The government under Umno-BN has failed to use the people’s money in a responsible and trustworthy manner,” he said.

Azan said the country’s economy could be improved without GST, as long as the government manages its finances properly, without corruption, wastage and leakages.

“The source of the federal government’s financial squeeze is because it continues to spend more than it has earned through the past decade, to the point it has racked up huge debts,” he said.

Azan said Pakatan Harapan has consistently objected to the GST being a burden to the poorer classes.

This, he said, is because it has resulted in ballooning costs of goods and services.

This is worsened because the government has also cut numerous subsidies on basic necessities at the same time.

“Rightfully, when you have GST, the government should also give more subsidies,” he said, drawing comparisons with developed countries like Japan, Switzerland and United Kingdom, where high taxes were used to provide more subsidies in healthcare and education.

“But this is not the case in Malaysia,” said Azan, calling on BN to be “more responsible” with the people’s money before saddling them with GST.

The ringgit has been on the slide since 2013, and was at approximately US$3.6 when the GST was introduced in April 2015.

It continued to fall to its lowest in mid 2017, passing the US$4 barrier, but has improved slightly during the last quarter and is presently at around US- Mkini