The response to Budget 2021 from workers groups and activists is one of frustration and disappointment as a significant majority feel that the plan unveiled by Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz has failed to address many of the urgent needs of Malaysia’s B40.
“This is a very disappointing and timid budget and most of the policies are recycled,” said Sarawak Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) secretary Andrew Lo.
“Apart from the third round of Bantuan Prihatin Nasional (BPN) payments, in which households with a combined monthly income of RM2,500 and below will receive RM1,200 and families with more than two children will receive RM1,800, the rest are negligible,” said Lo.
“The tax reduction of 1 percent is worth only about RM300 after taking into account various existing rebates and the reduction in Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contribution to 9 percent. Allowing withdrawals is sacrificing worker retirement savings and inviting future trouble,” he added.
Assistance should be targeted better, says ex-MP
Former Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar said that while the government sounded like it had its heart in the right place, its implementation was questionable.
“I’m retired and I’m going to get RM500 additionally but I don’t need it. Many other pensioners and government servants, a full 1.6 million of them are going to get it, whereas in Sungai Siput and all across the country, there are families who cannot get money to put food on the table,” he told Malaysiakini.
“The money is used in this blanket across-the-board way, but actually the impact on the people is uneven. Those badly affected need more support.
“In certain sectors, workers can manage, while in others, the rug has been pulled from under them and so our support must targetted, not generic. Government funds are finite but are you giving to the right people,” he said.
Jeyakumar speculated that the reason the government gave aid across the board was to gain votes for upcoming elections.
He also sounded the warning that the government was being very unrealistic in estimating how quickly the economy could recover.
“Their forecast of 8.6 percent growth next year is totally out. Even to predict -4.7 percent in 2020, when our second quarter was -17 percent is very optimistic.
“I think it is very unrealistic and the government is acting blind to the fact that there is a recession,” said Jeyakumar, who is Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) chairperson.
He said the Covid-19 threat will persist until a vaccine is found, which may take at least another year, while the number of people who need help is growing.
He said the government of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was seriously underestimating the size of the problem.
“I think their revenue through tax, through oil, through exports - it is all based on unrealistic expectations.
“They also didn’t talk at all about debt monetisation and borrowing from a central bank, which Australia and New Zealand have tried.”
This practice allows a government to finance its deficit without creating money directly - which is prohibited to do in many countries - and also without increasing debt to private parties. Jeyakumar believes Malaysia should look at implementing it here.
Women’s concerns not taken seriously
Rights group Empower Malaysia's executive director Dorathy Benjamin said the budget failed to provide adequate protection for workers, especially women workers.
“In general, women have experienced an increase in the burden of caring for their children, elderly, and other family members when lockdown or restriction to movement orders was in force. This meant an increase in care labour as schools and daycare centres were closed. There was very little indication that this care burden crisis was taken seriously in this budget,” she said.
Zafrul had announced an allocation of RM95 million for a special micro-credit fund to empower women entrepreneurs, saying that a guidance programme for more than 2,000 women entrepreneurs will be provided under the Micro Entrepreneur Business Development Programme (BizMe).
“In the allocation for rescaling and upscaling, the government should have introduced a quota for women to have equal access to this allocation. Women are employed in some of the most affected sectors, like accommodation, food services, and domestic work. They are the most vulnerable to layoffs and loss of livelihood,” said Dorathy.
She said Empower was also appalled that the government decided to allow for withdrawals from the EPF, which is supposed to be a pension fund for retirement.
“This is a dangerous road to go down and will have negative implications for Malaysians in the long run, especially for women workers. Women in general do not earn the same amount as men in most jobs even if they are in the same sector as men. This means their savings are also limited and women usually live longer than men.
“Instead of asking women workers to dip into their EPF account, the government should have ensured that a special allocation was created for women workers. This special allocation could have been implemented in lines of a micro-credit system,” she said.
“Merely giving handouts may be helpful to some women who have lost their jobs, but we believe this will not assist in making fundamental changes that are needed for the long-term to benefit most women workers,” said Dorathy.
Irene Xavier (photo) of Persatuan Sahabat Wanita Selangor concurred and called for the government to look at increasing the minimum wage.
"The main point is the majority of women working are at the lowest rung of the salary scale - at minimum wage. If the government really wanted to help the majority of women, they have failed.
"There is no real long-term plan to address the issues. The microcredit plan is very piecemeal and does not address wider issues," she said.
"Right now people are desperate and they will welcome handouts, but that is simply not enough," she stressed, adding that she would have liked to see something in the budget for single mothers.
No help for stricken industries
National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia president Ismail Nasaruddin was scathing when responding to the announcement that RM50 million would be allocated for retraining and job placements for 8,000 airline workers.
“This is peanuts. The industry is weak but where is the urgent assistance for business to stay afloat,” said Ismail who cited massive job losses at AirAsia and Malindo Airways in recent months.
This training, he said, was just to treat the symptoms, not to offer the industry a cure.
“We needed a special rescue budget for affected industries in tourism such as the airlines and hotels. This job upskilling segment doesn’t help in the immediate situation and it is generating income for training institutes, not unemployed workers.”
His comments were echoed by Labour Law Reform Coalition chairperson Gopal Kishan.
“I didn’t see any immediate and major remedy to the problems of the workers and the B40. The B40 was the most vulnerable group in society even before Covid-19 came along and they are really suffering now,” he told Malaysiakini.
“I don’t think what is announced is going to help much. For example, the Human Resource Development Fund allocation of RM100 million offers no immediate respite to the poor worker. Probably benefits the trainers more,” he said.
Gopal questioned how the increase of the Prihatin Stimulus package to RM65 billion was going to be monitored.
"My only concern is how are they going to channel the funds, whether the recipients are the needy or not?"
While lauding certain policies like daily free milk for unprivileged children and the plan to offer free 150,000 computers to schoolchildren, Gopal said the last time such a plan was approved, the cost of the computers to the government turned out to be vastly inflated.
Orang Asli not to the fore
Orang Asli activist Bah Tony said the impact on the indigenous people was not going to be very clear as a lot of assistance goes through the Orang Asli Affairs Department (Jakoa) and the department was not mentioned in the budget.
"I think the focus should be on entities that provide employment so they continue to exist and can provide jobs to the people. These entities should also include professional undertakings like legal firms which I understand have been affected by the pandemic," he said.
He hoped that the Rubber Productivity Incentive which was doubled to RM300 million to stabilise the income of 150,000 smallholders could be channeled to the Orang Asli (OA) communities in the country.
“Hope this can be channelled to the OA also. But usually, anything to do with the development of OA will be under the purview of Jakoa. Another issue is whether OA whose holdings on lands which are not gazetted as OA reserves can be entitled to these incentives,” he said.
Bah also questioned if the plan for Orang Asli to be 500 given jobs as tourist guides in Taman Negara was a timely move.
“Firstly, this should have been done a long time ago. In fact, not just with Taman Negara but with government agencies which involve the forest, like the Forestry Department and Wildlife Department. Also, the timing is such that tourism income now is so low,” he added.
He also lauded the free milk and free computer programmes but expressed the view that the distribution must be carefully monitored.
Simply not enough for disabled
Anthony Thanasayan (photo) is president of Petpositive, a group that promotes animal-assisted therapy for disabled and elderly persons.
Responding to the RM50 increases in disabled workers' monthly allowance (to RM450) and assistance for disabled people unable to work (to RM300) he said, “This is simply not enough for the disabled.
“We are happy that they have given something but unfortunately this doesn’t even cover food and we all have steep medical costs. Firstly, why is it that those who can’t work have a lower allowance, isn’t that crazy?” asked the wheelchair-bound activist.
He said his group was pushing for a flat RM500 allowance.
“It’s good that the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government is increasing (the allowance) a little because Pakatan Harapan never increased it for two years, but this also reflects that they don’t understand and they have no clue what we (the disabled) are going through,” he said.
He called on the government to meet with disabled community leaders.
“They should meet with us to discuss the issues. One-off payments are good, but the situation for the disabled community is different, with higher expenses and little or no income. We have many big groups, the blind, the deaf, those in wheelchairs. We are struggling badly,” he said. - Mkini
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