The language Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak used
when presenting the budget was the kind often used by gamblers.
I don’t understand why there is so
much hype over the unveiling of a budget. It seems the politics is more
important than the contents, ramifications and implications of a budget.
There is
always this funfair atmosphere surrounding the presentation of our national
budget.
Everyone
thumps the table upon hearing this group will receive a one-off payment, that
group another lump sum payment.
The loudest
response of course came when Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, who is also
Finance Minister, announced that the allowances of all Members of Parliament
would also be revised.
A budget is
a solemn document. It’s an account of how much this country earned as revenue,
its sources and the proposals to commit that income.
It’s both a
revelation and reflection of an exercise in financial management and
discipline. Those are the things we must direct our attention to.
Biggest deficit in history
For
example, everyone clapped when Najib, said: “This year’s budget is a lower
proportion of our GDP (Gross Domestic Product).”
Yes, but
isn’t our GDP this year bigger than last year’s?
Look at the
absolute figure too. It’s still a deficit, suggesting perhaps financial
indiscipline and, even worse, unjustifiable leakages.
Have the
leakages been dealt with?
The budget
is humongous – RM232.8 billion which is a lot of money, especially with a 9.4
percent rise in expenditure.
Despite the
country’s deficit being reduced to 4.7 percent from 5.4 percent of GDP, the
fact remains that in terms of absolute amount, it would be the biggest deficit
in Malaysian history.
Hear this –
“biggest deficit” in Malaysian history!
While our
finance minister is confident that Malaysia will do a five to six percent
growth rate, the rest of the world will grow from a negative figure to maybe
three percent at the maximum.
So is the
finance minister’s five to six percent growth rate realistic and achievable? Or
is he pulling wool over our eyes?
Language of a gambler
I would
usually refrain from giving a spontaneous response; I would rather prefer
giving further analysis of the budget.
People can
easily be overwhelmed by the feel-good nature of an election budget.
Did I say
an election budget?
That’s what
it is really despite the Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s usual dour
rejection of suggestions that it is. But nowadays not many people take the DPM
seriously.
Nowadays
people are easily charmed by the form by which the budget is presented.
Hence,
people will comment on the language used by Najib, the way he presented it and
so forth.
The
language used is the language of a gambler.
No money,
but let’s spend. Hence, his minders leaked information that this is “a break
the bank” budget, a language more suited to the roulette table.
The house
doesn’t have sufficient funds to cover the value of the chips on the table. Yet
it lets people win to encourage more to play at the table.
Because in
most cases the house eventually wins, so the PM’s minders reasoned, the law
will also operate on Budget 2012.
So Najib
must gamble and spend. He is creating the illusion that voters can win by
getting money now, while the house is depleting itself. But in the end the
house usually wins.
The writer is
a former Umno state assemblyman and a FMT columnist.
Source : FMT
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