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Salleh Said Keruak has likened the Pakatan Harapan election manifesto as giving the people a ‘poisoned cup’ to drink from, as well as a case of short-term gain for long-term misery.
“As they say in America, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Someone, somewhere has to pay for it. And the Harapan manifesto means future generations have to pay for the folly of the current generation," said the Communications and Multimedia minister in a posting on his blog, sskeruak.blogspot.my.
Taking a swipe at the opposition's promise to abolish the Goods and Services Tax (GST) if they came to power and re-introduce the Sales and Services Tax (SST), he said there was no explanation on how much they would earn to replace the RM40 billion lost once GST was abolished.
"Where's the alternative revenue that will be needed to pay for goods and services and to develop the country, going to come from? How much will the SST bring in?
"Abolishing the GST is not an issue. The issue is there's no explanation on the SST, which used to be higher than the GST," he said.
On the opposition's pledge to re-introduce petrol subsidies, Salleh said: "On the one hand, Harapan attacks subsidies while on the other hand, they want subsidies for petrol. Most economists would disagree that subsidies for petrol are a good thing."
The minister said the manifesto was merely aimed at making the voters feel good.
"It's just like when they said in 2008, they will abolish highway tolls but after 10 years in power, they have still not abolished toll charges for highways in Selangor.
"Abolishing toll charges for highways means the Selangor government will need to pay billions in compensation to the concessionaires every year, and that's economically not possible," he added.
- Bernama
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