KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 — PKR has presented 12 economic, political, and social policies that it said would assist Malaysians recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as improve overall livelihoods, for the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to consider including as part of Budget 2023.
Subang MP Wong Chen said that these policies were presented at a meeting with Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz on September 13 in Putrajaya, during which Wong, together with Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar and Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh, also shared their views on bigger fiscal and economic issues.
“The meeting was billed as a Pakatan Harapan (PH) pre-Budget meeting with the MoF. The request for this meeting was actually initiated by YB Wong Chen who contacted the MoF on August 29, 2022.
“At the end of the meeting, the parties agreed to have at least one more meeting before the slated October 7, 2022 Budget Day,” Wong said in a statement today.
Wong said the 12 policies included expediting the approval of migrant worker permits to help SMEs; addressing the learning loss of students; helping the tourism industry with workers and capital; adopting a friendlier approach to foreign residents who bring capital into the country; addressing food insecurity by empowering farmer and fishermen through improvements to their supply chain logistics; and boosting Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) while addressing the issue of underemployment.
Other considerations put forward by PKR were improving flood rescue and relief efforts; improving gender responsive budgeting; preparing for the passing of the Parliamentary Services Act and the Constituency Development Act; ensuring the full rollout of HPV vaccines for all girls in schools; further promoting the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals at all levels of government; and allocating adequate budget to properly monitor climate change and to prepare for carbon trading.
Wong said that PKR had also urged the MoF to be realistic with the revenue projections and not be “too optimistic or illogical”.
“PKR urged the government not to repeat previous mistakes of projecting revenue too optimistically or illogically.
“PKR is very firm on this matter; a wrongful projection on revenue will not only disrupt operations of the government next year but also cause a negative cascading effect on the overall expenditure,” he said.
Wong said that his party has also asked the government to look at other sources of revenue, such as progressive capital gains tax or inheritance tax, while at the same time, asking Petronas to reduce the high profit margins of all its vendors.
“By implementing a more competitive, transparent and accountable vendors policy, PKR believes that Petronas profits should dramatically improve.
“We argued that these increased profits will be crucial to help reduce the unsustainable national debt level,” he said.
The PKR trio also cautioned the government to tighten up all mega projects, irrespective whether these are directly funded or via Private Finance Initiatives, and only pursue those which are already ongoing for completion or deemed absolutely necessary.
“These projects should be done on a strictly competitive and open tender basis, priced fairly and most importantly ensure that they are able to generate real economic multiplier benefits.
“For too long the costs of mega projects have been corruptly inflated resulting in no or at best, minimal economic multipliers,” he said.
They also said that they are aware of the limited capacity of the government to pursue new policies and urged Putrajaya to focus more on subsidies in 2023.
“We are aware that a sizeable portion of most subsidies are lost to abuses and smuggling activities.
“We are of the view that the current universal petrol subsidy is unsustainable and benefits the rich much more than the B40, and as such suggested the government to explore tiered pricing and cash transfers as possible solutions,” he said.
They also called for Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to be given freedom from undue political influence, as it pursues a prudent monetary policy.
At the same time, Wong said PKR recommended that the government direct government-linked investment companies (GLICs) to reduce their foreign equities portfolio and to return the money to Malaysia, to shore up the ringgit.
The highly anticipated Budget 2023 was initially scheduled to be tabled on October 28 but was brought forward by three weeks to October 7 after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob exercised his authority as prime minister under Rule 11(2) of the Dewan Rakyat’s Standing Order.
No reason was given for the date revision.
Ismail Sabri on August 30 said he might table the Budget 2023 in Parliament this October 7 himself, when the task has conventionally been carried out by the finance minister.
Political analysts have suggested that the reason Ismail Sabri pushed for the tabling of Budget 2023 earlier is that he will be dissolving Parliament the following day amid pressure from leadership within his party, Umno.
