Baru ticks off Masing for disparaging Tabung Harapan
He should know that it was born out of a citizens’ initiative, and that the Finance Minister had set up the bank account in response to the people’s wish to help the country pay off our RM1 trillion debt. Baru Bian, State PKR chairman
KUCHING: State Parti Keadilan Rakyat ( PKR) chairman Baru Bian said he did not understand why Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing made disparaging remarks about the Tabung Harapan.
“He should know that it was born out of a citizens’ initiative, and that the Finance Minister had set up the bank account in response to the people’s wish to help the country pay off our RM1 trillion debt.
“Nowhere was it claimed that the government was trying to mimic Korea and Japan; it was only brought up by some commentators after the fund was set up that Korea had the same initiative in the late nineties after the Asian Financial crisis. The difference is that ours is a citizens’ initiative unlike the Korean experience, which was a campaign launched by the government,” Baru, who is Selangau MP, said in a press statement yesterday.
Baru, who is also Ba Kelalan assemblyman, was responding to Masing’s statement labelling the Tabung Harapan Malaysia (THM) as “nothing more than just a political gimmick”.
The Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president said the fund “tries to mimic what Koreans and Japanese did” during the financial crisis in the 80s and 90s. According to him, during that time South Korean and Japanese businessmen sold off their overseas properties and returned home to help their countries cushion the economic crisis.
In response, Baru said the special officer to the Finance Ministry Ong Kian Ming had explained that the bank account was set up to prevent fraud and fundraising scams by unscrupulous people.
“Everyone knows that fraudsters are ever ready to prey on people and the Finance Ministry did the correct and responsible thing in setting up the Tabung Harapan Account. The fact that a fraudulent account has been set up should point to the wisdom in the move by the Finance Minister.”
Baru said the Tabung Harapan is also a way for citizens to show their love and patriotism towards the country, adding that the sense of solidarity and achievement post 14th General Election (GE14) felt by the public is so palpable.
“People want to contribute towards the healing of the nation as they now have hope for a better Malaysia, and many feel that they have a vested interest in seeing the government succeed in rebuilding Malaysia. Even school children have joined in by washing cars to collect money for the fund.”
In noting that Korea and Japan were successful in paying off their debt, Baru said whether Tabung Harapan manages to pay off the RM1 trillion debt is immaterial – it is the sincere sacrifices and effort of Malaysians that count.
“James Masing’s unkind comments belittle the efforts of the ordinary Malaysians. It was the BN government under Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, of which James Masing’s PRS is a part, which got the country into this mess. If he had nothing good to say, it would have been better for him to remain silent.”