Mahathir says that Malaysians are not starving like Africans but we are becoming poorer everyday

31 July 2012

Jul 31: In a thinly veiled attack on Pakatan Rakyat, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today urged Malaysians not to trust promises of tax abolition and free education, repeating his favourite argument that "change is not always for the better".

"Their proposals will reduce Government revenue and at the same time increase Government expenditure. This is exactly what the Greek Government did, and the whole country went bankrupt.

"Promises are deep [sic]. Barrack Obama promise[d] 'change'. Four years into his term, not a single change has been made," wrote Mahathir in his latest posting on his blog.

The former UMNO strongman gave a long list of countries in turmoil, including the economic uncertainties in Europe as well as natural disasters in Japan and the United States, before arriving at a conclusion:

"In the face of all these disasters Malaysians can consider themselves fortunate.

"We do have mild floods, slightly raised temperatures and haze, but they are nothing compared to the disasters affecting so many parts of the world," he said, while admitting that the crime rate "has increased somewhat".

Mahathir said while cost of living had gone up, Malaysians are not starving "the way the Africans and some Asians are starving".

He then warned of forces who were out to "exploit every little misfortune that we may experience".

"They would even promise that they can bring about sudden prosperity, give free education, and all kinds of goodies. But observe the contradictions.

"They promise the oil-producing states to increase the royalty from 5% to 20%. Obviously this will result in the Federal Government losing 15% of revenue from oil; and that is a big sum. The states gets their royalty based on gross income.

"They will do away with road tolls, increase subsidies on fuel and reduce rates and taxes," said Mahathir, taking a jibe at the many economic and financial revamps proposed by PR, including its latest proposal to do away with car excise duties to reduce car prices and increase disposable household income.

But repeating the claim by BN leaders that less taxes on the people would lead to national bankruptcy, Mahathir said such policies were "exactly what the Greek Government did" before it went bankrupt.

"To be in power for 56 years is a long time. But look at the progress. No other developing country has made such progress. Change is not always for the better. Change can make things worse. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. Beware of politicians who make promises," he exhorted.

Prior to this, pleading innocence over accusations that he was a dictator during his 22 years as prime minister, Mahathir said a PR-led federal government would like to see him thrown in jail and suffer a brutal end such as that which befell Libya's Muammar Gaddafi and Egypt's Hosni Mubarak.