'Don't hold the rakyat to ransom over RM362 billion debt'

TAWAU: A Sabah MP has charged that bad governance and widespread corruption in the country are the cause of the massive RM362 billion debt the country has accumulated over the years.

“It is wrong to give the perception that the accumulated debt of RM362 billion is due mainly to the subsidies given to the people," Tawau MP Chua Soon Bui said. She said the arguments by federal leaders for ending the subsidies were just a desperate measure to cover up for “their past recklessness in managing the country's resources”.

The government contends that its subsidy programme costs it RM74 billion annually.

Chua said by declaring that the country would go bankrupt if government aid is continued, the government is pinning the blame on the subsidy programme and holding the people to ransom.

Chua said the government should be transparent on how the nation had built up the huge debt.

“The people should be given the right perspective and the truth on how the RM362 billion debt was accumulated.

"For the past 10 years, auditing on government's wastage, misuse, and leakages of public funds is long overdue. The people deserve to know the truth.”

Chua was responding to a statement by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Idris Jala that Malaysia must cut its growing debt by 2019 or risk bankruptcy.

Grandiose and questionable undertakings

Chua, who is also a vice-president of Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), said that serious efforts should be made to identify and eliminate all the weaknesses and loopholes that lead to wastage and leakages of the taxpayers' money.

She pointed out that grandiose and questionable undertakings like the Perwaja steel project, Bakun Dam hydropower project, Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ), purchase of dubious military hardware and infrastructure projects like the Sapulut-Kalabakan road project in Tawau were just a few instances of government's wastage and extravagance.

Chua also said that while the Auditor-General's annual reports have identified various irregularities in government spending, little has been done to rectify them.

As such, she added, it is rather pathetic of the government to harp on the need to cut subsidies. Chua also dismissed the government's bid to gather feedback from the public on the proposed subsidy cuts to save RM103 billion as a ploy.

She said government has not bothered to get public feedback on other bona fide issues such as the planned increase in levy on foreign workers, the proposed construction of the controversial coal-power plant in Lahad Datu, Sabah , and the hastily withdrawn increase in penalties for traffic offences.

Rampant smuggling

Chua said it was disheartening to know that the authorities are still unable to stamp out the rampant smuggling of subsidised goods through Sandakan and Tawau to neighbouring countries.

She said the smuggling of subsidised essential consumer goods like fuel, rice, cooking oil, sugar and flour represented an extra loss to the government because it defeated the government’s objective of helping the poor and those from the low-income bracket.

Chua added that the government needs to "thoroughly review the proposed 10th Malaysia Plan and remove all those unnecessary mega-projects and implement only basic infrastructure projects such as power and water supply".

FMT