Media statement by Teo Nie Ching in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, 4^th April 2012:

Change the Driver, Save Malaysia!

In a televised speech on Monday, Prime Ninister Najib Razak boasted about a slew of achievements and ongoing measures under the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).

In spite of all that, he still does not dare to accept Pakatan Rakyat's challenge of an public debate with Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim. This just goes to show that the Prime Minister's so-called "achievements" cannot stand up to scrutiny.

A few days ago, Najib called upon Malaysians not to change the "driver" of the country's transformation agenda when it is already halfway to its destination.

On the contrary, for the betterment of Malaysia, we should not only change the driver but also ditch this faulty, petrol-consuming 54-year-old junk of a car so that we don¡¯t end up in a fatal car accident!

According to Najib, just two years after the ETP was introduced, the country's per capita income has increased from US$6,700 to to US$9,700!

This fact however does not seem to correspond to the figures provided by Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri S Subramaniam, in which he said that 33% of the Malaysian workforce earns a monthly salary of less than RM700.

The gap between the rich and the poor is getting bigger and bigger, mainly because BN has consistently put its cronies' interests before the rakyat.

These days, an ordinary Malaysian who owes RM200 to the Inland Revenue Board can be prevented from going overseas under Section 104 of the Income Tax Act 1967. Meanwhile, among 99 Approved Permit (AP) Holding companies, 2 of which have to register with the Inland Revenue Board while 41 other companies have a bill of unpaid taxes amounting to RM144,627,868.94!

On top of that, Najib claimed that the government disbursed nearly RM3 billion directly to the people this year but the fact is, subsidies for many basic necessities have been reduced.

At the same time too, compensation for highway concessionaires has increased from RM300 million in 2011 to RM343 million for the year 2012. That figure doesn't even include the compensation of RM120.55 million that the Federal Government has to pay to Grand Saga Sdn Bhd for abolishing 2 toll plazas along the Cheras-Kajang Highway.

Under the continued administration of the BN government, cronies will continue to be "didahulukan" and the rakyat will be "dipinggirkan".

Only by changing the driver and the battered car will Malaysians get a shot at a brighter future and a better country!

* Teo Nie Ching, DAP Assistant National Publicity Secretary & MP for Serdang