Published: Wednesday September 4, 2013 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Wednesday September 4, 2013 MYT 3:40:04 PM
KUCHING: The petrol and diesel price hike announced two days ago has been described as “the first phase of how Malaysians would be helping the Barisan Nasional government pay the country’s burgeoning debts”.
Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen said despite earlier warnings by several international rating agencies that the country’s rating would be downgraded should it continue its election spending spree, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak did not take heed of the call and continued to spend unnecessarily to ensure his victory in the general election.
“The price hike is the result of the uncontrolled spending by the Barisan government for the general election this year.
“For instance, the Government had spent excessively for the Barisan’s advertisement which cost RM500mil and the Bantuan Rakyat Satu Malaysia (BR1M).
“Najib has said the reason for the price hike is to stabilise the economy, and my question is: why is the economy in unstable?
“This is because the Government has incurred so much debt due to its overspending.
“And who incurred this? It is the Barisan who has overspent,” he told a press conference here yesterday.
Najib announced two days ago that the price of RON95 petrol and diesel would be increased by 20 sen as one of the measures to rationalise subsidies by the Government to reduce the country’s fiscal deficit.
Chong anticipated that the Government would soon introduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which he described as “the second phase” for Malaysians to pay off the debt.
“It will be introduced next year as the Treasury Department is pushing for GST to be implemented next year.
“It will be presented in the coming Budget in October,” he said.
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