Malaysians want a brighter future for our children that they be given equal opportunities, treated with dignity and live a more prosperous and peaceful lives that were denied to their parents. Malaysians do not want to be divided and discriminated between Malays and non-Malays, Muslims and non-Muslims or PR and non-PR states.
Hindus also feel marginalised when their religious sensitivities are trampled upon in schools, temples torn down and appeals to boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) next month in Colombo on human rights grounds in solidarity with the tens of thousands of Tamils massacred by the Sri Lankan government, not respected.
Instead of using fear and hate to cover up corruption and abuse of power, Malaysians want to be united around values of justice, freedom, democracy, integrity and truth. We want our problems of burgeoning national debt and deficit to be addressed and not impose new taxes or remove subsidies to the poor without removing subsidies for the rich.
Why remove sugar subsidies for the poor which will only save RM 513 million yearly without touching gas subsidies for the wealthy Independent Power Producers (IPPs) that cost up to RM 12 billion annually? Why talk about cutting down spending when the government’s national debt continue to rise to RM 541 billion at the end of this year compared to RM502 billion in 2012?
Despite the Prime Minister Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak announcement that the budget deficit for 2014 has been reduced from 4% of GDP to 3.5% of GDP, Fitch Ratings is unimpressed by continuing to maintain the negative credit outlook for Malaysia. This clearly shows that Fitch Ratings have doubts about Najib’s commitment to reducing the federal budge deficit following the revelations by Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua that the increase in revenue collected by RM14.4 billion did not result in a reduction in deficit.
Instead of lowering of the projected budget deficit of 2013 from 4% to 2.6% of GDP, or the deficit from RM39 billion to only RM 26 billion, it still remained the same at RM39 billion. In other words the extra RM14.4 billion was spent. Clearly, the government is not serious about reducing the budget deficit when it wastes extra money received on white elephant projects like the RM 5 billion 100 storey Menara Warisan or refuse to take action on the wrongdoings exposed by the 2012 Auditor-General’s Report amounting to RM6.5 billion.
Even the 6% goods and services tax (GST) will force the poor as well as 94% of the population who do not pay tax to pay tax for the first time. That the Federal government will collect more revenue from the 6% GST is admitted by Finance Ministry Secretary-General Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah that revenue of RM 23.18 billion will be collected in the first nine months of implementation.
Irwan said if the government remained with the current sales and services tax (SST), it would only receive revenue of RM14.4 billion during the same period.
Irwan also said the GST is likely to bring in RM32 billion in revenue for the full year of 2016. For 2013 the SST is expected to earn only RM16.4 billion for the Federal government.
In other words, by replacing the SST with the GST, the Federal government can double its revenue. As GST applies to all 27 million Malaysians, the RM32 billion of GST collected annually will on average means each Malaysian will have to pay RM 1,200 each.
Like all Malaysians, Hindus will be celebrating the GST Deepavali by expecting to pay more taxes without any prospect of wiping out corruption or improved government services.