After spendthrift label, Dr M tells Putrajaya to be prudent: KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 — Having recently rubbished criticisms by his successor for being a spendthrift former prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad came out today with advice for Putrajaya - be more prudent with government expenditure. The country’s former number one said in a blog posting here that while there is a need to reduce subsidies gradually, the government could not rely on this method alone to cut back on deficits. “Government need to be more prudent with regard to its expenditures,” he wrote. “They should be properly budgeted for.” “Giving money for people in order to help them financially is good. But the government needs to be more selective,” he added, referring to the Najib administration’s Bantuan Rakyat 1 Malaysia (BR1M) handouts to the poor. Dr Mahathir has in the past been critical of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s BR1M initiative, a cash handout for the poor that has cost the government over RM5 billion so far. Today, the former prime minister told Putrajaya that he had noticed some BR1M receivers sporting new cars and “decent houses”, appearing to suggest that the money may have fallen into the hands of those less deserving. “If the government wants to give money it should be to the really poor. It is not good to make the people too dependent on the government,” he said. “I am no expert in this matter but I do hope that some Government people might read this,” he added later. Dr Mahathir, the country’s longest serving prime minister, is known for having spearheaded many big ticket development projects during his time. In a book by the late Barry Wain released in 2009, the Umno leader was accused of squandering nearly RM100 billion in corruption and grandiose projects. Just recently, the former prime minister found himself the target of fresh accusations again, this time from his successor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. In an interview on the higly-publicised book “Awakenings: The Abdullah Badawi Years in Malaysia”, Abdullah or Pak Lah reportedly suggested that the country would have gone bankrupt if he had gone ahead with Dr Mahathir’s projects. But Dr Mahathir later bit back and lavished criticism on Pak Lah’s frugality with government funds, saying the fifth PM may have saved the country from bankruptcy but it was the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition and its anchor party, Umno, that paid the price. “It must have been a very rich Government which went for the 12th General Election. Sadly the people did not appreciate the billions that were saved. “They rejected the Government party, giving 5 states and one federal territory to the opposition, and just a small majority to the thrifty party,” Dr Mahathir wrote in his chedet blog. In today’s posting, Dr Mahathir, touching on the latest hike in fuel prices, also suggested that the domino effect of the move would not translate into anything more than a five per cent increase in prices for goods and services. Explaining, he said the price increase on goods and services would be entirely dependant on how much oil and transport costs enters into businesses or certain products. On Tuesday, the price of RON95 petrol and diesel was raised by RM0.20 per litre, to RM2.10 and RM2.00 per litre respectively. RON97 petrol also went up by 15 sen, allegedly due to various global issues such as the United States’ planned strike on Syria and the ringgit’s recent poor performance. “Assuming oil makes up 10 per cent of the input into their products or services. This will mean 10 per cent of 10 per cent, that is 1 per cent,” Dr Mahathir said. “It is a per centage in terms of increase in cost which most business can easily absorb. There need not be any increase in prices of their products or services.” For products or services where more than 50 per cent or more of fuel is needed, Dr Mahathir said the price increase on the end products should only be at five per cent or slightly more. “For example transport business. Even here the fuel needed is not 100 per cent. There are other costs to bear. The increase in cost should therefore not be 50%. It should not be even 10 per cent. It should be only 5 per cent or only slightly more,” he said. Malaysians must accept that over time, prices will increase, Dr Mahathir continued, adding that it would be impossible for prices to remain fixed over such long periods. Incomes have been increasing, he said, and the increase should sufficiently pay for the hikes in living costs. But Dr Mahathir also suggested that the government monitor the effect of the fuel price increase on major industries, saying this as necessary to prevent runaway inflation caused by profiteering. “I think it is imperative that subsidies be reduced. But it should be done slowly so as to allow people to adjust,” he said. dlvr.it/3wPFbR
Posted on: Fri, 06 Sep 2013 13:48:30 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015