Sin Chew, Editorial, Oct 8, 2014
A survey by “#Bajet 2015” shows the three top issues of public concern. They are rising cost of living, employment, urban living and house prices. The website, set up by Prime Minister Najib is to poll public opinions on the 2015 budget and provide a forum for suggestions and exchange of views, covering16 categories.
Besides the three top concerns, others are education, social welfare, public security and corruption, GST, healthcare, environment and agriculture, transport and basic amenities.
What the polls reflected are practical concerns related to their day-to-day living. The impending GST has not been the focus possibly because it has not been enforced and people are not quite sure of its impact yet in their daily life.
However, GST will surely lead to rising cost of living. Say it in a clearer language, people must prepare themselves for another round of rising prices. Besides the unavoidable imported inflation, the implementation of GST, rising fuel prices and higher electricity tariffs also cause inflation. This is the price people have to pay under the subsidy rationalization scheme.
Looking at the current situation, the trend of rising prices is unavoidable; it is only a question of how much the increase is. What the Government should and can do now is to carry out concerted efforts together with the private sector to cut down unreasonable price increases and to minimize them when we cannot avoid such increases. This will soften the adverse impact on the lower-middle and lower income group.
We understand the Government’s good intention in the implementation of the subsidy rationalization scheme in order to strengthen government finances. However, we must point out that subsidy rationalization is not a panacea in solving our financial problems.
To members of the public, it is a policy that hurts them immediately rather than brings them benefits because it leads to rising prices. With higher cost of living, their burden becomes heavier and their grievances and discontent also grow deeper and louder. The Government must take this discontent seriously and solve the growing social problem.
In fact, if the Government wants to strengthen its finances, subsidy rationalization scheme is not the only solution. There are many alternatives such as stamping out corruption in government departments, enforcing better control of expenditure, modernizing management, and improving productivity and efficiency.
At the same time, we can also attract more foreign investments, create more employment opportunities and create a more conducive environment based on fair competition.
This is what the people want and expect from the Government. This is also an appeal from people who cannot depend on subsidy anymore!
Original Source: “合理化津貼＂政策不是萬靈丹