KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 — Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA), the Malay nationalist political coalition led by Parti Pejuang Tanah Air, will have no choice but to support the incumbent government’s 2023 federal spending plan, said its chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as he accuses Umno of using the budget to win support ahead of the 15th general election.

GTA said it could risk alienating voters if it attempts to block Budget 2023’s passage, which the two-time former prime minister commended as "seemingly good”. But Dr Mahathir alleged the incumbent government lacks the skills and funding to execute all the programmes, on top of rampant corruption that plagues the party.

"Budget 2023 is clearly an election budget. Opposition parties are not even granted the space to debate the allocations,” he wrote in a statement.

"GTA that is yet to be registered will have no choice but to support [the budget)] because voters would be disappointed and will reject us if we don’t. Nevertheless, GTA is questioning Umno’s ability to fulfil all pledges [made under the budget]. This is because the [caretaker] government lacks funding, is corrupt and has inadequate skills to implement these projects.”

GTA has four incumbent MPs, all of them from Pejuang.

The incumbent Umno-led administration unveiled a record RM372 billion federal spending plan on October 7 with RM95 billion allocated for development, the highest to date. Pundits said Budget 2023 was clearly "an election budget” meant to woo support ahead of a crucial general election.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob dissolved Parliament three days later to pave the way for national polls. In his speech announcing the dissolution, Ismail said voters would need to give Barisan Nasional a substantial majority if they want to see the budget approved.

The size of the budget had prompted critics of the government to question if the incumbent government would need to borrow more, citing the government’s already-high debt commitment. Total debt and liabilities as of June this year amounted to RM1.4 trillion.

Dr Mahathir said paying for the interest rates alone would cost taxpayers billions of ringgit, and that it would have to be paid with more borrowings.

"Now to pay for interest rates alone would require billions each year. The principal debt is not repaid. Too frequent the allocation for development is used to pay interest on the debt. Because of this, we have less development spending. Furthermore, costs are driven up by corruption,” he wrote.

Some economists argue that high government debt is not inherently bad.

"Good debt” is revenue regenerative if it is spent on productive sectors but a significant portion of Malaysian government borrowings go into servicing "unproductive debt”, money that is lost to white elephant projects or leakages because of corruption.