Press Statement by Tony Pua in Petaling Jaya on
Tuesday, 2nd September 2008:
Budget 2009: Dramatic increase in
operational expenditure exposes questions on the government's efficiency
and effectiveness
The budget for 2009 announced last
Friday, is once again, a record budget amounting to RM205.9 billion
relative to RM176.9 billion which was budgeted for 2008 last year.
While everyone was expecting an expansionary budget in the light of a
global economic slowdown, the very substantial increase of 16.4% raises
the question of the Government's efficiency and effectiveness especially
when the bulk of the increase has gone towards operational expenditure.
Operational expenditure includes financial items such as rental,
maintenance, emoluments, general supplies and services as well as other
items such as compensation to toll concessionaires.
The following chart tracks the increase in the Government's operating
expenditure over the past 12 years:
The Government's operating
expenditure has been increasing very rapidly over the past 10 years. It
has increased by 189.0% since 2000.
The DAP finds it is very difficult to fathom why the Government's
operating expenditure has to increase by as much as RM53 billion or
52.4% in just 3 years since 2006. It has more than doubled since Datuk
Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over as the prime minister in 2003.
In fact, the proposed Government's operating expenditure in 2009 of
RM154.2 billion has exceeded the entire Government's budget expenditure
of RM136.8 billion by 12.7% just 3 years ago in 2006.
The DAP calls upon the Government to put in more effort to rein in
operational expenditure which has clearly grown fat and unwieldy and is
becoming difficult to maintain. Most importantly, the Government must
act firmly to cut down on wastages, corruption and unfair contracts such
as expensive repair and maintenance bills for poor quality construction
like Middle Ring Road II, purchasing equipment with highly inflated
prices as discovered by the Auditor-General as well as lucrative
compensations paid to toll concessionaires.
This rapid expansion of operational expenditure has deprived the country
of sizeable funds for development expenditure which has greater economic
multiplier effects. It has also resulted in a larger than necessary
deficit in our budget, which leaves no surplus for our future
generation. If this trend were to continue, our economy will be
certainly at the risk of collapse in the near future.
* Tony Pua Kiam Wee, MP for Petaling Jaya Utara
http://dapmalaysia.org