Anwar: PM was populist pre-GE, but not now

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim agreed with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's claim that the latter impose policies that are "not populist".

"He (Najib) is right. After the election he is no longer populist. He was very populist before the election," Anwar told a press conference today at the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya.

Anwar was responding to Najib's claim that he would pursue populist policies that were detrimental to the country.

Najib said this following outcry post-general election increase, or impending increase, in charges for fuel, sugar, electricity, property assessment and highway toll fees.

Anwar also dismissed government claims that there was no choice but to cut back on subsidies in order to reduce the government's budget deficit.

Cut government wastage first

The former finance minister said what the government is doing now forcing the public to bear the burden of the government's penchant for extravagance.

"Okay, you can say that doing this takes longer, but what is stopping them from taking drastic action to stop the wastage?

"This is a desperate attempt to bring down the deficit by burdening the rakyat without evidence of rising (household) income.

"You have a choice of getting rid of corruption and leakages prior to taking these measures. You can’t say it will take too long. What is stopping them from starting now?" he asked.

Anwar said that this stand is consistent with what he had told the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1998 when the IMF advised Indonesia to cut subsidies to improve its financial standing.

“The economic problems will only be resolved properly through good governance. Deficit is only one part of it. You can’t trying to tackle a deficit by being oblivious to the stark reality of wastage,” he said at a press conference at the PKR headquarters.

‘Stop buying the drunk guy drinks’

Supporting him, PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli said that the Malaysia does not have the same income challenges as other countries who are running deficits.

“Revenue from petroleum has gone up by 300-400 percent in four to five years, while income and indirect taxes collection have gone up 60 percent in the last four years.

“The problem is our spending... We have been spending excessively even though our income has been enough.

“To give more money, through the Goods and Services Tax (GST) or toll hike or other new income for the BN is like giving more alcohol to the drunk. He’s already drunk, you give him more alcohol, he dies,” he said.

Meanwhile, Anwar said Pakatan Rakyat will be running an awareness campaign on the GST, which will be launched on Dec 20.

The campaign includes providing “free courses” on the GST, which will kick in at 6 percent on April 1, 2015, for the public.

“I believe that the implementation of the GST can be halted if the people are united in blocking it...

“I agree that the GST is transparent and efficient but the question is the timing,” he said.

Pakatan has maintained that the GST is regressive and will hurt the poor, who are not paying income tax.

The BN government, however, said it is shielding the poor by exempting essential items from GST and that many consumer goods will be cheaper with GST, which is lower than the existing opaque sales tax.