Opposition flip-flopping on BR1M, GST to gain votes — Teo
KUDAT: Minister of Special Tasks Datuk Seri Panglima Teo Chee Kang has taken the opposition to task for their changing stance on the 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M).
“The opposition, including Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, initially labelled BR1M as a form of bribe.
“But PH later made a U-turn on their view on BR1M, saying that they concurred with giving out the financial assistance,” he said when presenting BR1M amounting to RM704,700 to 1,515 people at Dewan Tun Mustapha here recently.
The BR1M include a one-off payment of RM450 to single individuals earning a monthly income of RM2,000 and below; RM1,200 one-off payment to rural single individuals earning RM3,000 per month and below; and the first instalment of RM400 to households with income less than RM3,000 a month.
Teo, who is also Tanjong Kapor assemblyman, said households earning below RM3,000 per month were eligible to receive RM1,200 a year, which would be disbursed in three instalments.
He said some recipients had the financial aid transferred directly to their bank accounts.
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) president said the opposition had similarly flip-flopped on their stand pertaining to the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
He said the opposition had strongly opposed the implementation of GST at the beginning to the point where they took their protest to the streets.
“Perhaps after doing some research or consulting with economists or tax experts, the opposition concurred that GST was a good tax system.
“After the GST was implemented, the opposition reverted to their opposing stand again when they noticed that the tax was not wellreceived by the people,” he added.
Teo continued to say that Lembah Pantai Member of Parliament Nurul Izzah Anwar then made a statement that GST should be maintained but the rate ought to be revised.
“At the same time, some PH leaders had pledged to abolish GST,” he said.
In the recently launched PH manifesto, Teo pointed out that the opposition coalition vowed to replace GST with the Sales and Services Tax instead.
“When you abolish something, you do not replace it with something else,” he pointed out.
Moreover, Teo said GST was implemented in more than 160 countries in the world.
For example, the GST for France is 20 per cent, England (20%), Denmark (25%), United States (7.5%), Canada (20%), China (17%), Japan (8%), Thailand (7%), Indonesia (10%), Philippines (12%) and Singapore (presently at 7%, to be increased to 9%).
“PH’s flip-flop stand on GST shows that the opposition is only making promises which they feel could please the people in order to gain their votes,” he claimed.