‘Full of old promises, no substance’
KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Harapan’s Alternative 2018 Budget has been described as old promises that fell short of substance.
International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said it failed to provide a clear and consistent plan on how to finance its promises.
He urged Malaysians not to fall for populist and unsustainable measures outlined in the Alternative 2018 Budget tabled by PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail in Parliament yesterday.
“This Alternative 2018 Budget is a repetition of old promises — abolishment of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and tolls, as well as free higher education.”
Mustapa said the abolishment of GST would leave a big hole in the government’s revenue.
“Instead of sharing their plans to compensate this drop in revenue, they are only relying on the assumption that a tax cut will result in higher consumption and tax collection.”
He said such ploys were used by the opposition to mask their failure in coming up with a credible economic agenda.
“For a political coalition that keeps spreading unsubstantiated claims that Malaysia is heading towards bankruptcy under the Barisan Nasional government, they are the ones driving the country in that direction with their fiscal irresponsibility.
“An economic agenda will only be credible if planned expenditures are backed by revenue-generating measures. I appeal to the objectivity of the Malaysian public to not be deceived by populist and unsustainable measures.”
Gerakan vice-president Datuk Dominic Lau said the opposition’s budget was unrealistic, adding that the pact was only trying to “make the people happy”.
He said after reviewing the shadow budget, he concluded that it was a modification of BN’s past budgets.
“Look at the details of the budget. The basis is mainly from BN. BN’s budget is RM260 billion and they put it at RM258 billion. The difference is around one per cent only. Now look at (the allocations) proposed by BN on development, which is 20 per cent, and the operating expenses are 80 per cent.
“Pakatan Harapan just changed it to 23 per cent for development and 77 per cent for
operating expenses.
“So, the difference is just around three per cent. They modified it from BN’s budget,” he said.
Besides abolishing GST and providing free public education, the alternative budget would also increase the petroleum royalty for four states to 20 per cent.
On Wednesday, Deputy Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Henry Sum Agong said the opposition’s
budget was “an empty promise”.
“They can say anything but for us, GST is important. That’s why we imposed it. Others include the 1Malaysia People’s Aid, which is also important.”
Umno’s Gua Musang member of parliament Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah merely laughed when asked for his opinion.
On whether the alternative budget made sense, he said: “It makes sense for people who have no sense!”