When the Going gets Tough, The Tough gets Going
Today, as I skimmed through the headlines of our newspaper, three very interesting headlines caught my eye…
‘Malaysia government plans fuel and other subsidy cuts to avoid becoming bankrupt by 2019’
‘Sime defends business model after Q3 loss’
‘Malaysia's 40 Richest Wealth Soars 42 Per Cent To US$51 Billion’
Malaysia Boleh or 'Tidak Apa' Attitude
It is said that we often get what we deserve, and I believe that is true of our elected Government as well. The very fact that most Malaysians don’t even bat an eye at the excessive spending of our Government on lavish and often uneconomical projects such as the PKFZ projects is astounding.
The fact that the Government has admitted it may follow Greece into bankruptcy is a serious wake up call. Yet, even with the proposed removal of subsidies and implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) – I doubt Malaysia can remain in the black. These suggestions are an attempt to treat the symptoms of the disease but not the underlying reason.
The Buddha once cautioned that:
‘Just as in the case of a great tank with four inlets and outlets, if a man should close the inlets and open the outlets and there should be no adequate rainfall, decrease of water is to be expected in that tank, and not an increase’
Our Government seems to have taken Buddha lessons to heart. On one hand, its’ increasing its’ inlet [income] by raising new taxes such as GST and removing subsidies for the public. But will it do any good if it continues to spend, spend and spend by opening the outlets to the tank?
Proposed Goods & Services Tax
One, the Government is running out of money. Two, GST is supposed to bring in additional ‘moolah’ for the Government. Three, the Government says that taxes will actually be less under the GST and will not unduly burden the lower income and middle class.
So, where do you think the additional money for the Government is going to come from? Some of you might think – yeah, it will come from the upper class. Are you kidding me? The Income Tax that we pay via our Borang BE is by far, a more equitable system. If you earn more, you pay more to the Government. So, why doesn’t the Government increase the tax rates under Income Tax instead of using GST?
Simple, under the GST, the tax burden shifts more to the poor than the rich. Heck, the rich can afford to pay a measly 5% tax on that flashy handbag but to tax an additional 5% on a packet of nasi lemak may be too much on the poor. Forget about price controls! And if the Government tries to institute price controls on certain controlled items after the implementation on GST – well you might pay the same price for your packet of nasi lemak – but it may have shrunk by half.
Remove Subsidies and then what? [Spend, spend and spend?]
Typically, our official media has portrayed the Government as being responsible in highlighting the issue and trying to resolve it with public input. Hogwash! And we are missing the big picture here. It’s all fine and dandy to want to remove the subsidies to the public but what about the rest of the Government expenditures.
Firstly, isn’t the Government a little bloated? I am sure a large % of the government expenditures goes towards paying for the salaries of our civil servants. Hmmm… private entities usually ‘downsize’ in times of difficulties. What about our Government?
Secondly, why are we in this situation in the first place? Where have our vast natural resources such as timber, fertile land, petroleum etc. gone? If the Government is going to continue to sink our money into white elephants – I prefer the money go into subsidies rather than beasts such as PKFZ.
Thirdly, when are we going to stop bailing out GLCs such as MAS, Sime Darby and Proton? Sure, remove the subsidies if you want to – but please remove the excessive and ludicrous tax on foreign cars as well.
Conclusion
Often, it takes two to tango. If the Government wants the public to bear the burden of its’ fiscal deficit by removing subsidies – we want some accountability as well. How about some real effort in eliminating leakages and white elephants? What’s the point of saving a couple of billion in subsidies and squandering them later on. Can we also have more transparency such as releasing detailed financial statements of Petronas?
12 comments:
Sigh, we can keep telling them to do this or that, or by reason(s). Ultimately its unfettered corruption and greed thats responsible for the current scenario.
And you can bet your last dollar it wont change unless WE, the people bring about change.
Yeah, you're right. Well, when the 'change' finally comes... let's hope it's not 'too little, too late'.
Do we need more than 1 million civil service in a country with less than 30 million? Do we need so many ministers and their deputies with only 30 million? It is time to trim down the manpower of civil service. Kick out the deadwoods and arrogant civil servants especially now we in a computerised world. One computer can take over a number of jobs. We can see civil servants chatting away while at work or walking around doing nothing. Are not these draining the financial resources of the country? How about tendering projects to the public?
Corruption in high places is so institutionalised that it has become a virtue.
If you can get away with murdering, it means you have the power and connection; if you can get away with cheating, it means you are smart; if you can get away with bullying, it means you are more equal than me; if you can get away for hijacking the established businesses of others, it is called the NEP.
The truth is that Umno has ruled supreme for the last 50 years. It always got its way because the dominant ethnic majority of the country always supported its policies.
The state of the nation is corrupt, discriminatory, inefficient, racist, unjust, and backward. If Malaysia stinks then it is because Umno stinks.
If the "morals of the country" stinks, then it is because the morals of Umno politicians stinks.
I won't even discuss the morality of explosives and murder of foreign nationals as most people seem to be able to tell the difference between right and wrong in this instance.
Instead, I shall talk about Umno corruption and Umno racism as the former will occasion the disastrous downfall of this nation, and the latter will be the downfall of the malays.
Umno teaches that it is just to discriminate against all non-malays and non-Muslims: business, college universities, education opportunities, government contracts, jobs, schools, taxes, and even finding a cemetery to bury the dead.
Umno teaches that it is right to discriminate on the basis of a person culture, language, race or religious belief.
In front of malays, it speaks of the race and religious, cultural and language supremacy, glorification of ethnic and power subjugation, and in front of non-malays, it speaks of the tolerance and unity in diversity.
To the vernacular schools it gives a pittance for support, and to malay language schools, there is no need to be diplomatic and call them "national language" schools, it gives 100% support.
As for English medium schools, the type that made Malaysia education the best in South East Asia, and our school leavers the most sought after anywhere in the civilised world, they were made extinct, courtesy of Umno cultural fantasies and language supremacist.
So we are left with unemployable graduates with deplorable job skills and prospects.
Umno language supremacist policies caused the extinction of the best high quality education that Malaysia and the malays would ever know.
Umno perversion of the very idea of meritocracy in favour of racist discrimination has ensured the lack of meritocractic competition for all Malaysians.
Later or sooner, the malays will realise that denying meritocracy to non-malays guarantees that there can be no meritocracy for malays even within their own community.
Umno policies caused a brain drain to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK, and the US.
The fact that there is no entitlement complex nor inferiority complex or notable NEP dependence amongst the non-malays is no accident.
If the non-malays were the dominant ethnic majority, and they had an Umno-like racist party to lead them with promises of ethnic privileges, ethnic supremacy and racial discrimination, then I believe they would have lost their self-belief, self-confidence, and self-respect too.
Farish Noor once said "Umno ternak melayu untuk disembelih".
I agree, and if the dominant ethnic majority fails to see past Umno false gods of ethnic aggrandizement and seductive promises of ethnic supremacy, then we are all finished.
The real extremists and terrorists in multiracial Malaysia are born, bred and indoctrinated by none other than Umno, especially under the reign of Mahathir.
If you turn on BBC, there are fair and equal coverage on the UK opposition parties.
So is NHK (Japan), so is KBS (Korea), so is CNN (America), so is CBC (Canada), so is ABC (Australia).
Even in our neighboring Thailand, their TV coverage is fair for both ruling and opposition parties!
Only in this Umno hijacked country that you find most lop-sided idiotic coverage on Umno and its running dog partners!
The truth hurts.
The Chinese or the yellow race is what brings progress. Just look at Asia……….is enough.
Whether they do it internationally or locally they will survive.
We can distinctly see the lowering of Malaysia standards of living as the percentage of Chinese in this country goes down.
In the 70s we were tops with 40 over percent of Chinese and today with only 25 percent we are far behind Singapore, Hong Kong and Korea.
Main reason is the number of such Chinese migrating to these countries – the best ones and rich ones.
Next ten years as the percentage goes even lower, we would be nearing Indonesia or Philippines.
Meanwhile enjoy your stay and the good time.
On the whole as the Chinese spreads out throughout the world, the average standards of these will have much higher standards of living over others.
How to save 1Malaysia when it does not even exist in the first place? 1Malaysia can only happen when the racist BN is sent packing lock, stock and barrel.
Thank you all for your comments.
Coolooc, I agree with you completely. When I read the local newspaper like the Star, it is so lop-sided. It appears like everybody agrees with the subsidy hike. Not a single article questioning how we arrived in this situation in the first place.
If the government were not desperate, we would still be in the dark about how dire the situation has become.
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