We'll go bankrupt if BN wins, not the other way round: Jui Meng tells DPM

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has warned Malaysia will be bankrupt if the opposition wins the general election, but was immediately shot down by Pakatan Rakyat leaders, who pointed the 2019 bankruptcy came from with his own boss's department.

"It is the silliest accusation. The cat is chasing its own tail," PKR vice president Chua Jui Meng told Malaysia Chronicle.

Indeed, it was in May 2010 that Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Idris Jala first shocked the nation with a warning that Malaysia may fold up if it fails to slash subsidies and reduce debt.

"We do not want to end up like Greece with a total debt of EUR300 billion. Our deficit rose to record high of RM47 billion last year. If the government continues at the rate of 12 per cent per annum, Malaysia could go bankrupt in 2019 with total debts amounting to RM1,158 billion," Star reported Idris as saying on May 27 last year.

Flexible memory bank?

But it looks like the 64-year-old DPM has a shorter memory than most.

Muhyiddin said the opposition was only good at making empty promises. He pointed out that when Prime Minister Najib Razak tabled the 2012 Budget, he had promised to retain the country's deficit at 4.7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product. Yet Pakatan de-facto chief Anwar Ibrahim made a mockery of it.

"The shadow budget by the opposition shows its expenditure, purportedly for the people, but it does not take into account the deficit. If the deficit goes up to 10 per cent, it means the country is not managed well," Bernama reported Muhyiddin as saying a day ago.

Jui Meng rebuked Muhyiddin, accusing the Pagoh MP of talking through his hat.

"It is very clearly stated in the Pakatan's Prosperity for All shadow budget that we do not want a deficit than of more than 4.4% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product," said Jui Meng.

"But obviously, it must have missed Muhyiddin. Also, Najib's Budget 2012 is already under heavy fire for overly high growth projections with no real ideas or details of where the money will come from. The only possibility is to introduce GST straight after GE-13. But before such a drastic measure, why not trim the fat within BN itself first, starting with Umno."

Trim the fat

The Pakatan's shadow Budget was unveiled on Tuesday, three days before Najib's grandiose and record-size RM232 billion spending plan that was overly studded with "one-off" cash incentives.

The shadow Budget for 2012 is sized at RM220bil, and plans to cut the expenditure of the Prime Minister’s Department by RM10bil and re-distribute the allocation to the other ministries as part of its trimming plan for the bureaucracy. Money would be spent on the people, with emphasis on the needy groups, the Pakatan had promised.

This would include a RM1,000 bonus for senior citizens with annual incomes of less than RM18,000 each as well as for qualified housewives. Pakatan also proposed that the minimum wage be set at RM1,100, an annual allowance of RM1,000 to be given to mothers to encourage them to enter the workforce and re-imposing various taxes on luxury items like handbags and branded clothes.

It also promised to give “top-up payment” to hardcore poor households to ensure that their monthly income would reach RM550, increase welfare aid from RM300 presently to RM550 and reduce the use of consultancy services by the Government.

“We aim to reduce the deficit to a reasonable level so that public services are not disrupted,” Anwar had told reporters after the Budget launch on October 4.