DAP supports PSC on Electoral Reforms with reservations

The DAP welcomes the setting up of this Parliamentary  Select Committee on Electoral Reforms  though we have many  doubts and reservations.

Since 70s in Parliament, DAP MPs had  been calling for free, fair and clean general elections, making proposals such as the following:

•	a clean, honest and comprehensive electoral list where every eligible voter is on the list which could be simply achieved with an automatic voters registration system for every citizen who comes of voting age and the cleansing of phantom and illegal voters;

•	eradication of postal vote abuses;

•	Reduction of eligible voting age from 21 to 18 years;

•	fair campaign period to allow voters adequate time to make informed decisions on their choice from competing candidates and political parties.

•	eradication of electoral offences and corrupt practices, as  money politics to buy votes;

•	introduction of the concept of caretaker government to carry out day-to-day administration of the country between dissolution of Parliament and polling day where the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers are legally barred from abusing and misusing their public offices,  resources or funds for any party electioneering campaigning on pain of disqualification despite election – like the case of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi whose election to Parliament was declared null and void in 1975 on grounds of electoral malpractices  because she had used government resources including helicopter for campaigning.

•	An independent, credible and professional Elections Commission to carry out the constitutional duty to conduct free and fair elections, and not one which  claims that its responsibility is to conduct elections with no powers to ensure it is clean, free and fair.

•	Free and fair access to media;

•	Fair and democratic redelineation of constituencies to give meaning to the principle of “one man, one vote, one value”.

For four decades these calls for a free, fair and clean electoral system had been ignored by UMNO and Barisan Nasional because they have been able to perpetuate their political power through such an undemocratic, unfair and even corrupt electoral system.

Is there now a genuine “change of heart” by the Prime Minister, UMNO and BN represented by the formation of the PSC for electoral reforms before Parliament today?

Although Datuk Seri Najib Razak is now wearing the mantle of political and democratic reform, Malaysians are entitled to question the bona fides of the Prime Minister’s sudden conversion to the cause of electoral reforms.

This is because of the government’s repression and undemocratic handling of the 709 Bersih 2 peaceful rally for free and fair elections.

If someone had been assigned beforehand to a special task to script the worst-possible scenario for the Najib administration in relation to the July 9 Bersih 2.0 peaceful rally for fair and free elections, nobody could be so creative as to pre-plan the basketful of faux pas committed by the Barisan Nasional government before, during and after “709”.

Before 709

The basketful of faux pax before 709 included:

1.	Arbitrary declaration of Bersih 2.0 as unlawful.

2.	Ban on Bersih T-shirts and paraphernalia, to include even yellow T-shirts, coupled with indiscriminate arrests.

3.	Reneging by the authorities of the proposed compromise of a stadium rally instead of a march – accepted by Bersih 2.0.

4.	Police roadblocks causing infernal traffic congestions in and out of Kuala Lumpur and police lockdown of the federal capital on 709, alienating the general public.

5.	Intemperate, extremist threats of counter-demonstrations and racial riots, even another May 13.

6.	Abuse of court process in securing an ex parte injunction to ban 91 Bersih and Pakatan Rakyat leaders and activists from key areas in KL on 709.

7.	Baseless invective and vicious campaign to demonise Bersih leaders, particularly Bersih Chairperson S. Ambiga, with wild and reckless charges to incite religious and racial hatred and tension.

8.	Daily incitement of hate and campaign of lies by BN msm, both printed and electronic, particularly Utusan Malaysia.

9.	Gross abuse of power in the arrest of Sungei Siput MP Dr. Michael Jeyakumar and other PSM activists first on the ridiculous charges of “waging war against the Agong” and “reviving communism” and later on EO detention-without-trial for being Bersih activists.

10.	Refusal/failure of the Election Commission to respond to Bersih 2.0’s eight demands for free, fair and clean elections.

During 709

1.	High-handed police action of mass arrests and individual cases of police violence and brutality.

2.	Causing death of Baharuddin Ahmad.

3.	Reckless and indiscriminate firing of tear gas without notice and into KL Sentral tunnel – an enclosed space – heedless of the safety of the Bersih and Pakatan Rakyat leaders and the public.

4.	Wanton and criminal firing of tear gas and chemically-laced water cannon into Tung Shin Hospital grounds.

After 709

1.	Najib’s fire-breathing speech to 6,000 UMNO leaders the morning after 709.

2.	Further plunge in public credibility with police and Umno leaders disputing that 50,000 people had gathered in support of Bersih 2.0 rally, with IGP claiming that it was only 6,000, upped to 10,000 by Home Minister Hishammuddin with Najib later topping it to 15,000 in London!

3.	Denial of responsibility for gross mishandling of 709 Bersih 2.0 rally, in particular denial of police brutality and violence and unwarranted tear gas and water cannon attacks at Tung Shih Hospital (by Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai) and KL sentral tunnel despite mountain of evidence whether eye-witnesses or video.

4.	Warning by the Deputy Finance Minister, Awang Adek that Bank Negara could freeze the assets of Bersih leaders.

5.	Censorship of Economist article “Taken to the cleaners — an overzealous government response to an opposition rally”.

6.	Continued BN msm campaign of lies and falsehoods about imaginary “ghosts” and “foes” to the extent that the Prime Minister’s Department had to issue a rare statement directed to the foreign media only distancing itself from Utusan’s preposterous charge of  Bersih-Jewish link to topple the BN government – which also illustrates the impotence of the PM and UMNO President to exercise check and control over Utusan, UMNO official organ.

How is it possible for any government to commit such a basketful of faux pas before, during and after the 709 Bersih 2.0 peaceful rally if it is genuinely committed to democracy, human rights and clean electoral system?

As a result, the overseas visit of the Prime Minister to the United Kingdom, the Vatican and France proved to be quite a disaster with the Prime Minister pursued by the international media over the government’s mishandling of the Bersih 2.0 rally.

Has the Prime Minister finally woken up the fact that he had grossly mishandled 709 Bersih 2 rally, which had further alienated Malaysian voters as a whole?

DAP, Pakatan Rakyat, the civil society and Malaysians as a whole have therefore more than legitimate grounds to doubt the government’s sincerity and real purpose with this PSC proposal – whether there is a genuine change of heart or political ploy.

Since we are setting up the PSC, this motion is not the proper occasion for a full debate for the reform of a free, fair and clean electoral system as this should be addressed by the PSC, but Malaysians are entitled to firm assurances that the PSC is not a political ploy but a genuine ‘change of heart’ to reform the electoral system.

Can the Prime Minister give such assurances, which should include the following:

1.	A firm undertaking that Parliament will not be dissolved and the next general elections held until PSC recommendations and  reforms for a free, fair and clean electoral system have been fully implemented?

2.	Bersih 2.0’s Eight Demands for Free and Fair Elections to be integral part of the PSC’s terms of reference;

3.	Revokethe government ban  on Bersih 2.0 and full consultation of all national stakeholders and the civil society in the PSC deliberations and decision-making process.

4.	The PSC should not be excuse for the Election Commission from carrying out immediate electoral reforms which need not and should not await deliberations by the PSC, as cleaning up the electoral list, eradication of electoral abuses and ensuring that every eligible voter can meaningfully cast his or her vote in elections.

Let me declare that despite our differences, and what had happened in the past, including the recent 709 Bersih 2.0 episode, and whatever doubts and reservations about the bona fides of the proposed PSC, DAP, PR and Malaysians as a whole want the PSC to succeed in bringing about electoral reforms so that we have a free, fair and clean electoral system.

We pledge our full support to make the PSC a success and not a failure like the two Select Committees of the previous Parliament, one of National Integrity and the other on National Unity, with both unable to submit their full final reports when the Parliament was dissolved. In fact, in the case of the Parliamentary Select Committee on National Integrity, the Minister who chaired it, then Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, had to  resign in frustration when he encountered resistance, opposition and even boycott by government departments and senior government officers when seeking information, particularly on Project Mahathir on the illegal massive legalisation and enfranchisement of illegal immigrants in Sabah, through the issue of false  citizenship documents and the right to vote!

Can the  Prime Minister give an assurance that there will be no such resistance, opposition or boycott by any government department or senior government officer and that the PSC on electoral reforms will be given the fullest government co-operation including on Project Mahathir, the illegal enfranchisement of illegal immigrants not only in Sabah but throughout Malaysia?

While DAP and PR representatives on the PSC will fully cooperate to ensure that PSC is a meaningful, successful and historic exercise in the process of democratisation in Malaysia, we will not be a party if the PSC  turns  out to be a political ploy just to allow the Prime Minister and the BN to gain political mileage and score political points without any intention and sincerity to carry out meaningful reforms to  ensure a free, fair and clean electoral system  in time for the next general election.

I will conclude by calling on the Prime Minister by “walking the talk” of his recent statement of wanting to make Malaysia the “best democracy in the world” by retracting his “crushed bodies, lives lost” declaration (“walau berkecai tulang dan juga badan, walau bercerai jasad dari nyawa”) to the UMNO General Assembly last year and make a public commitment that he, UMNO and Barisan Nasional will accept the verdict of the people, including a change of government in Putrajaya in the next general election.

Speech  on motion to set up a Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reforms in Dewan Rakyat on 3 October 2011

                This entry was posted on Monday, 3 October 2011, 3:32 pm and is filed under
Bersih
,
DAP
,
Elections
,
Parliament
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #84

By
M. Bakri Musa

Chapter 10: Freedom, Justice, and the Law

Society and Individuals

Society and individual may be the two sides of the same coin; nonetheless our attitude or more importantly the attitude of those in power as to which side to be viewed first, involves more than just a simple toss of the coin. The difference between a totalitarian state versus a civil one is that with the former, the individual serves the state; in a civilized society, the state is there for the citizens. This seminal distinction makes all the difference.

The purported supremacy of Asian values that place a premium on societal goals over the dignity of the individual is in reality at best nothing more than a benign manifestation of authoritarian tendencies. It is no surprise that such societies are prone to militaristic and dictatorial tendencies, as demonstrated by Communist China and the Japan of World War II.

Indeed one can guess accurately the state of a nation by seeing how it treats its individual members, especially its intelligentsia and talented members. I see daily reminders of this in America. Visit any prestigious university in the West and you will find brilliant scientists and scholars from the Third World. The more backward the country, the more its citizens are represented. India and China are both backward, but America has an extraordinary number of their talented scholars and scientists.

Many of the “hi-tech” startups in Silicon Valley are the brainchild of Chinese and Indians entrepreneurs. The Egyptian Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry (1999), Caltech’s Dr. Ahmad Zewail, did his formative research in America. The Egyptians recognized him only after he made a name for himself. The Pakistani-born 1979 Nobel laureate in physics, Abdus Salaam, too did his pioneering work in the West.

Visit any leading American medical center and you will see many luminaries from such countries as Pakistan, Ecuador, and Ethiopia. While every year America routinely grabs the lion share of Nobel prizes, what is not commonly recognized is that many of these geniuses are foreign born. These talented individuals had to leave their native land to maximize their potential.

When I see how Indonesia treats its gifted writers like Pramoedya Ananta Toer, I am saddened not so much for him but for the Indonesians. Here is a talented writer, God’s gift to the Indonesians, and their leaders treat him like a criminal. They fail to respect much less appreciate his precious talent. While eminent American universities like Cornell and Cal Berkeley laud him, back in Indonesia his books are banned. It is instructive that he was nominated by his Malaysian admirers for the prestigious Maysaysay award which he won in1965. Meanwhile back in Indonesia the military rulers were debating whether he should be allowed to leave for Manila to receive the award.

Reading his autobiography, Nyanyi Sunyi Se Orang Bisu (The Mute’s Soliloquy), I am struck at how callous and cruel the authorities are towards their citizens. Pramoedya’s fate is in stark contrast to how writers are treated in America. For one, their intellectual property is well protected and they get generous royalty payments. Two, they are honored and rewarded with offers from universities to be their writer-in-residence or such similar program. In Indonesia however, Pramoedya was tortured, his private property and invaluable manuscripts confiscated, and he was banished to a remote island.

What Indonesia is saying to its citizens especially its talented ones is this: We do not respect your skills and ability; and if you become too smart, we will show you who is smarter!

The genius of modern Western civilization is its fine balancing between respecting individual freedom and rights on one hand, and the needs of society on the other. A salient feature of Western democracy is the freedom it affords individuals to pursue and fully develop their talent and abilities. Only modern democratic societies have successfully resolved the continuing dilemma of reconciling the needs of the individual with the claims of society. Totalitarian societies that prize the supremacy of society (or more correctly, the needs of those in power) have repeatedly proven to be disastrous failures. The abject failure of present day Islamic societies is precisely because their rulers have subjugated individual freedoms to the needs of society and its leaders. They have confused obedience to the state and its leaders as being the same thing as obeying God. The one common feature of many Third World countries today is their callous disregard for the dignity of their citizens.

The Golden Age of Islam was attributable to the remarkable freedom afforded to individuals. Such freedom resulted in the intellectual fervent that produced such giants as Imam Ghazali, Ibn Rashid, and Ibn Sinne. Historians now recognize the pivotal contributions of these early Muslim thinkers to the later European Renaissance.

To the extent that modern Islamic reformists would like to bring Islam back to those pristine values of the past, especially the respect and dignity for the individual, I am all for it. But present day Islamic “reformists,” especially those in the Third World as represented by PAS in Malaysia and the Taliban in Afghanistan, would have their citizens be subjugated by the state. They have the supreme arrogance to believe that their state is divinely sanctioned, and thus holds supremacy over the individual. These leaders ought to be reminded that Islam thrives only in an atmosphere of freedom.

An All-Knowing God (Al-Aleem) has also bestowed upon each person an intellect, akal, and with it the capacity to think and reason. This divine gift is unique only to humans; it enables us to decide between good and bad, right and wrong, and whether to believe or not to believe. With this attribute man is also capable of creative knowledge. In short, man is not a robot. This human potential would be stunted if we do not have freedom in the broadest sense of the word. Or as Mahmoud Taha put it, “free from all the dehumanizing influences of poverty, ignorance, and fear.” Today only in Western democracies have these fears been alleviated, and thus only in a democratic system does individuals have the potential to reach their full promise.

Left alone people will do what is best for themselves and their families. The role of the state is to encourage, not thwart, this natural instinct. When individuals progress, so would society.

Next:Personal Liberty in Malaysia

                This entry was posted on Monday, 3 October 2011, 10:38 am and is filed under
Bakri Musa
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Press freedom, a la MCA

by
Thomas Lee Seng Hock

COMMENT

MCA president Chua Soi Lek has declared that his party wants the current restrictive and oppressive Printing Presses and Publications Act scrapped, to keep up with the increasing public demands for more openness and freedom of expression.

Chua said at the recently concluded 58th MCA annual general assembly that the aspirations of the new generation of Malaysians for a more liberal and democratic society means that the Barisan Nasional government should be bold and confident enough to dump the intolerable piece of harsh and authoritarian legislation, not just make amendments to it.

“We must work towards abolishing the Printing Presses and Publications Act and set a time frame for that. The government has to be bold and confident enough to take such a step,” he said.

Chua pointed out that there is no level playing field now in the communication and information arena between the traditional main stream media (MSM) and the fast expanding and influential cyber media.

“The print media is subject to various laws, but the new media seem to have a free hand. There should be no such discrimination,” he said.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had announced in his Malaysia Day message to the nation on 16 September 2011 that the Barisan Nasional administration would amend the Printing Presses and Publications Act to exempt newspaper publishers from the current mandatory obligationto apply for a new printing permit annually.

The MCA proposal to go beyond just making adjustment to the intensely unacceptable and undesirable legislation iscertainly commendable and deserving of praise and support.

But, an honest and objective look at the current attitude, policy and practice of the party in the area of press freedom surely exposes the hollowness of the Chua proposal, and the insincerity,and even hypocrisy, of the party leadership.

If Chua and the MCA are truly and sincerely in favour and supportive of the real and pragmatic practice of press freedom, advocating the unrestrictive, unregulated, and unreserved media culture in the country, then the very first thing the MCA must do is to divest itself totally of its control of The Star and other related publications, by selling its shares in these media companies to the general public. At the same time,the party must remove all political appointees currently running the editorial operation of The Star and the party-controlled Chinese newspapers.

Chua Soi Lek should shut up about the issue of press freedom if he is not able to make the MCA give up the control of The Star and other newspapers it currently owns.

The political control of the nation’snewspapers is surely the most glaring and conspicuous of a bad press culture,of which the MCA is among the top two culprits, the other being Umno which controls the Utusan Malaysia and other Bahasa Melayu newspapers.

Chua Soi Lek wants to project himself as one who believes in and advocates the practice of a free press culture, yet he is not prepared to lift the political control and abuse of the newspapers owned by the party.

If The Star can publish in full Chua’s presidential address at the MCA assembly, it should also publish in full the policy message of DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, if it is truly a free and independent paper, with the catchphrase tagline “The People’s Paper”.

The political slant in its news reporting and political commentaries is very obvious. Anything spoken by the MCA bosses must be published in full, while anything from the DAP or other opposition groups, especially those critical of the MCA, will not see the light of day.

Editors at the MCA-control newspapers practise self-censorship to ensure nothing detrimental to the party and its leaders is published. Such a bad press culture in these newspapers is largely responsible for the eroding of the independence and freedom of the media in our nation.

I challenge Chua Soi Lek to walk the talk on the matter of press freedom by freeing The Star and the MCA-owned Chinese newspapers from the party control. The test of his credibility and sincerity is not just in the talk advocating a free press culture, but in a determined, decisive, and deconstructive effort to deactivate the political control and abuse of The Star and other MCA-owned newspapers.

Until Chua Soi Lek liberates The Star and other MCA-control newspapers, he has no moral right to talk about the freedom of the press and freedom of expression.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 3 October 2011, 6:42 pm and is filed under
MCA
,
Media
,
Thomas Lee
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Allow the re-introduction of English medium schools

— by Hussaini Abdul Karim

The Malaysian Insider

Oct 04, 2011

OCT 4 — Our New Education Policy, introduced in the early 70s and revised two or three times over the last few years, allows for national-type Chinese and Tamil schools where the mediums of instruction are Chinese and Tamil, respectively, up to secondary school level besides the national primary and secondary schools where the medium of instruction is Bahasa Malaysia.

All students are required to sit for the SPM examination in Form Five and Bahasa Malaysia is offered in all schools at all levels and it is a must-pass subject in order for students to qualify for the UPSR, PMR and the SPM. Looking at it, our New Education Policy is almost perfect. What is lacking, to make it perfect, is that the government does not allow national-type English schools to be set up. Otherwise, our New Education Policy and the whole school system would be the envy of almost every country in the world including some developed countries.

It is difficult to fathom why Chinese and Tamil are allowed as mediums of instruction in national-type vernacular schools, but the government does not allow the re-introduction of English-medium schools. Even the popular PPSMI syllabus where English was used to teach mathematics and science subjects will be abolished and come next year, all students in national primary and secondary schools will start with the all-new MBMMBI syllabus where the medium of instruction is Bahasa Malaysia.

Many concerned citizens, professionals, semi-professionals, the people in-between, and laymen, men and women, boys and girls, from all walks of life, the young, the not-so-young, the not-so-old and the old folks, including me and some foreigners, have written arguing in favour of English medium schools to be re-introduced but the government is adamant and has refused to allow the re-introduction English medium schools.

It is also difficult to fathom why the government disregards the demands of the majority to have English medium schools re-introduced where there are many advantages including helping to expedite the country’s general and economic transformation programmes.

Please allow the re-introduction of English medium schools for the sake of the people and the country’s future.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 4 October 2011, 6:21 pm and is filed under
Education
,
English
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Hudud: Federal vs state legislative powers

Art Harun
 | October 04, 2011

The Malaysian Insider

OCT 4 — I have stated in my article, “Of wet dream, nightmare and Marty McFly” that the implementation of hudud is a Constitutional impossibility until and unless two-thirds of our Members of Parliament would vote to amend the Federal Constitution to allow it to happen. I also grimly stated in that article that the time when such Constitutional amendment is moved would be the first time when our Members of Parliament would vote solely or predominantly along racial and religious lines regardless of party policy or party whip.

The Bar Council has since issued a statement which basically echoes my opinion. Lim Chee Wee, the Bar Council’s President was quoted as saying:

“Hudud cannot be implemented within the current constitutional and legislative framework.”

My friend, the learned Professor Aziz Bari was reported to have disagreed with the Bar Council’s view. The learned Professor was quoted to say:

“The key here is Islam, not criminal law.”

The learned Professor pointed out that the Federal Constitution has set out the respective jurisdiction and powers of the Federal and State legislature. As the powers to legislate on matters pertaining to Islam rests with the State, he argued that the State, including Kelantan, may pass hudud laws accordingly. He also refuted that such a move would result in double jeopardy for Muslim wrongdoers as, in his words:

“In other words, two systems is not a problem and we are not the only country in the world where this duality prevails.”

I have the highest respect and regard for the learned Professor but I beg to differ on his opinion on this matter.

While I acknowledge and admit that the respective State Legislative Assembly (“SLA”) has the power to legislate on matters pertaining to Islam, I am somewhat doubtful that the SLA may pass any kind of law which creates offences and prescribes punishment for those offences in accordance with the tenet of Islam, especially when such offences and punishments are already created and prescribed by the Parliament.

The Federal Constitution divides the legislative powers between the Parliament and SLA quite clearly. The Parliament, or loosely, the Federal government, has the power to legislate over matters specified in List 1 (or otherwise known as the “Federal List”) of the 9th Schedule of the Federal Constitution. The SLA on the other hand may legislate on those matters in List II (also known as the “State List”) of the 9th Schedule. In addition, there are matters which may be legislated by both the Parliament and the SLA. These are contained in List III of the 9th Schedule (also known as the “Concurrent List”).

Included in the Federal List is, among other things, “civil and criminal” law; the constitution of all courts other than the Syariah Courts and the jurisdiction and powers of all such courts.

That much is clear. All this while, it is the Parliament which creates and defines all criminal offences as well as prescribing all punishment for those offences. There is no doubt about that. (In this respect, there are already laws governing murder, theft and slander, which are three of the hudud offences prescribed by the Quran. The only hudud offence which is not criminalised by the secular law is adultery).

In the meantime, the SLA may pass laws relating to several Islamic matters. Let’s reproduce the whole paragraph 1 of the State List, so as not to cause any confusion*:

Except with respect to the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Labuan,

i. Islamic law and personal and family law of persons professing the religion of Islam, including the Islamic law relating to succession, testate and intestate, betrothal, marriage, divorce, dower, maintenance, adoption, legitimacy guardianship, gifts, partitions and non-charitable trusts; Wakafs and the definition and regulation of charitable and religious endowments, institutions, trusts, charities and charitable institutions operating wholly within the State; Malay customs. Zakat, Fitrah and Baitulmal or similar Islamic religious revenue, mosques or any Islamic public places of worship;

ii. creation and punishment of offences by persons professing the religion of Islam against precepts of that religion, except in regard to matters included in the Federal List;

iii. the constitution, organisation and procedure of Syariah courts, which shall have jurisdiction only over person professing the religion of Islam and in respect only of any of the matters included in this paragraph, but shall not have jurisdiction in respect of offences except in so far as conferred by federal law;

iv. the control of propagating doctrines and beliefs among persons professing the religion of Islam;

v. the determination of matters of Islamic law and doctrine Malay custom. (emphasis is mine).

* The above provision is actually contained in one paragraph. I have broken it into several parts denoting the different areas of Islamic matters which the SLA may legislate to maintain clarity.

The learned Professor opined that “power on Islamic law belongs to the State.” He then referred to the decision of our Supreme Court (then, the highest Court in Malaysia) Mamat bin Daud vs Govt of Malaysia where the Court held that a provision in the Penal Code which impacted on Islamic law was invalid as the Parliament had no power to legislate over Islamic matters. The learned Professor therefore challenged the Bar Council’s view that the Kelantan State does not have the power to enact the hudud law.

It is quite clear from the State List reproduced above that various Islamic matters are within the purview of the SLA. The decision in Mamat bin Daud reinforces the view that strict adherence to the respective lists by the Parliament and the SLA in enacting laws is called for. In that case, a provision was included in the Penal Code by the Parliament which makes it an offence for anybody to cause religious disunity. The purport of that section was to maintain public order, a matter which is quite obviously within the purview of the Parliament. However, in a 3-2 majority decision (with the late Eusoffee Abdoolcader, among others, dissenting), the Supreme Court held that that provision impinges on Islamic matters, which is in the State List and consequently the Parliament had no power to legislate on it.

It follows from that decision that the Court jealously guarded the purview, width and breadth of the respective Federal and State lists. No amount of encroachment will be allowed by either the Parliament or the SLA on each other’s powers. Although the offence created by the Parliament in that case falls under public order, which comes under the purview of the Parliament, the Court still viewed that as an encroachment of the SLA’s power to legislate on Islamic matters.

It is therefore clear and obvious that the Court took a strict and stringent approach in determining the rights and powers to legislate of the Parliament and the SLA.

Applying that strict rule, it is my humble opinion that the Kelantan State Legislative Assembly does NOT have the power to legislate on hudud laws or the power to create criminal offences and prescribe “Islamic” punishments for those offences. Matters concerning civil and criminal laws are clearly within the power and purview of the Parliament by virtue of the Federal List.

To allow the Kelantan State Legislative Assembly to enact a law to create hudud offences and prescribe punishment for those offences would amount to the usurpation by the Kelantan State Legislative Assembly of the Parliament’s power to legislate over criminal matters. Applying the strict approach in Mamat bin Daud case, any law passed by the Kelantanese State Legislative Assembly as such would be void for being ultra vires the Federal Constitution.

Is it true that hudud comes within the State List and therefore the SLA has the power to legislate on it? We have to analyse the above State List to answer this question.

Paragraph (i) above concerns family, personal, inheritance and trust matters. That much is clear. Hudud does not come within the ambit of paragraph (i) above.

The bone of contention is paragraph (ii) above. It states that the SLA has the power over the creation and punishment of offences by persons professing the religion of Islam against precepts of that religion, except in regard to matters included in the Federal List.

There are three important points to be made about this provision.

Firstly, the said provision is far narrower than the power given to the Parliament. Paragraph 4 of the Federal List spells out in the widest term possible the power of the Parliament to legislate over “civil and criminal law.” That includes everything under the sun. The only exception is “Islamic personal law relating to marriage, divorce, guardianship, maintenance, adoption, legitimacy, family law, gifts and succession, testate and intestate.” Any other matters would come within the power of the Parliament to legislate.

Contrast that provision to paragraph (ii) above. Paragraph (ii) does not say “Islamic civil and criminal laws.” Nor does it say “the creation and punishment of offences IN the precepts of that religion.” It also contains a very important exception, namely, ”except in regard to matters included in the Federal List.”

That brings me to my second point. Paragraph (ii) above only gives the SLA power to create and punish offences AGAINST the precepts of Islam. It does not give power to the SLA to create and punish offences IN the precepts of Islam. The established hudud offences, namely, murder, adultery, slander and theft are not offences against the precepts of Islam. They are offences within or in accordance with the precepts of Islam.

The failure to observe and appreciate this aspect of the provision has often led to a misconception that the State has the power to create any kind of offences as long as those offences are regarded as offences IN Islam. That is entirely wrong.

No less than our Federal Court, in Sulaiman Bin Takrib v Kerajaan Negeri Trengganu & Anor has, with respect, fallen into such interpretational misdeed when it held that the SLA had power to create offences “against the precepts of Islam” although by doing so, a criminal offence would be create so long as no such offence has been created by the Parliament. Former Chief Justice Abdul Hamid in his judgment says:

“In the instant case, as the offences are offences against the precept of Islam, as there are no similar offences in the federal law and the impugned offences specifically cover Muslims only and pertaining to Islam only, clearly it cannot be argued that they are “criminal law” as envisage by the Constitution.”

It has been my absolute pleasure and honour to have appeared before the learned CJ on some occasions. FCJ Abdul Hamid was a learned Judge for whom I have the highest of respect. However, his Lordship’s test in the above case is, in my humble opinion, wholly unsatisfactory.

The test is not whether there has been an offence created by the Parliament on the issue at hand. Rather the test is whether the offence created by the State Legislative Assembly is “against the precepts of Islam.” In this respect, offences AGAINST the precepts of Islam are totally different in nature and manifestation from offences IN the precepts of Islam.

This brings me to my third point. Paragraph (ii) above clearly prohibits the SLA from legislating on matters which “are included in the Federal list.” How clearer can that be? Is there any ambiguity there?

The prohibition is as clear as daylight. As long as the matter sought to be legislated by the SLA is included in the Federal list, the SLA is prohibited from legislating on it. That prohibition is absolute. Applying Mamat bin Daud above, that prohibition must be strictly observed. It does not say the prohibition only applies if the matters are included in the Federal list and they have been legislated by the Parliament. CJ Abdul Hamid is wrong in Sulaiman Takrib case in this respect.

It is clear therefore that the State list does not vest the Kelantan State Legislative Assembly, or any other SLA for that matter, the power to pass hudud laws or to create criminal offences. The law passed by the Kelantan State Legislative Assembly on hudud, in my humble opinion, is void for being ultra vires the Federal Constitution.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 4 October 2011, 5:39 pm and is filed under
Constitution
,
Islam
,
Parliament
,
PAS
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Pakatan Rakyat Budget 2012 (Part 1 of 10)

Snapshots

1. Kesejahteraan Untuk Semua

Belanjawan Kesejahteraan 2012 is a continuation of the collective effort by Pakatan Rakyat to chart a new future for Malaysia, following the releases of the Common Policy Platform in December 2009 and the Buku Jingga in December 2010.

Kesejahteraan Untuk Semua can be only achieved with political will to effect genuine and comprehensive institutional reforms guided by the principles of transparency and good governance.

Malaysia’s diversity is our strength. Our economic growth depends on the solidarity of all people regardless of gender, ethnicity or religion. Only through a budget which is gender responsive, and one that empowers ordinary Malaysians to live a dignified life full of opportunities , will we unleash the full potential of our people.

Recognizing the inflationary pressures on the Malaysian public, Belanjawan Kesejahteraan 2012 creates growth for all through providing policies and frameworks aimed towards uplifting the 60 percent of Malaysian households earning less than RM3,000 monthly.

Introduction of minimum wage, reduction of unskilled foreign workers, upgrading of skills and productivity will massively benefit the Malaysian workforce. In particular, special attention is given to improve women’s participation in the workforce. Wage, skills and productivity will improve in tandem.

Improvements to public transport, housing and healthcare will contribute to increasing disposable income of the people. Higher disposable income will enhance domestic consumption, which is increasingly more important in the volatile global environment.

Monopolies and oligopolies will be broken up, enhancing competition while helping Malaysian businesses to reduce costs. A competitive environment will mitigate inflationary pressures and generate more choices for the people.

Therefore, the five key imperatives of Belanjawan Kesejahteraan 2012 by Pakatan Rakyat are:

To immediately assist the majority of Malaysians in times of increasing economic uncertainty.

To ensure sustainable financing of government coffers with a focus on deficit reduction.

To economically empower Malaysians in both the short and long term via technical and vocational trainings, as well as a reasonable living wage.

To battle corrupt practices and wastages to ensure every cent spent is done efficiently.

To immediately implement political reforms, which are the prerequisite to smooth economic transformation to bring Malaysia forward.

2. Rich Country, Poor People?

Malaysia is resource-rich. But how have the gains from our natural resources- which we have in abundance- trickled down to the average Malaysian? Presently, Malaysians are not earning as comfortably as we should be. The bottom 40 percent of households earn an average income of RM1,500 per month while the middle 40 percent of households earn an average income of RM3,500 per month.

Overall, 80 percent of households earn only an average income of RM2,500. In terms of qualification, a staggering 70% of the population has only SPM as their highest qualification whilst in terms of employment, more than a third of household heads are in the informal sector. It is not a surprise then, that income inequality in Malaysia is significantly high where the bottom 40% takes only 15% of total income while the top 20% take nearly half with 49%.

The symptom of the malaise of a trapped Middle Income nation is without a doubt present in Malaysia due to outmoded policies and poor management of the economy that favours a few. Presently, what we are seeing includes (i) the inability of a significant amount of Malaysians to cope with rising cost of living (ii) high unemployment among local graduates although concurrently, employers complain of skills and talent shortages (iii) a subsidy bill that has ballooned 10 times and (iv) both domestic and foreign investments are less than optimal, resulting in Malaysia being the only ASEAN country to experience net FDI outflows.

This doesn’t help when con-currently, the global economy is entering into another period of turbulence. Capacity of US and Eurozone to generate further growth is now severely limited. Exporting to Western nations is no longer a source of growth for Asia. We need to find new sources of comparative advantage.

Belanjawan Kesejahteraan 2012

Belanjawan Kesejahteraan 2012 by Pakatan Rakyat emphasizes empowerment, opportunities and dignity for all Malaysians whilst doing so within a financially and environmentally sustainable framework. Belanjawan Kesejahteraan 2012 chooses to focus on developing Malaysians, not mega-projects and bloated plans. It emphasizes entrepreneurship, productivity, dignified jobs, not handouts and goodies for cronies or vested interest groups.

3. Responsible spending

Pakatan Rakyat will maintain expenditures at RM220 billion in 2012 but will spend the people’s money in a more responsible, accountable and effective manner. The deficit will be lowered to 4.4% of GDP from 6% in 2011. 1.6% reduction in deficit equals to RM14 billion.

Revenue can be raised without further increasing the burden on the rakyat by extracting the full value of government concessions and permits. For example, raising the issue price of APs could raise an additional RM1.2 billion in revenue.

Effective spending, by eliminating the current practices of wastefulness, misdirection and inefficiency, will generate for the rakyat 20% more in benefits for the same amount spent. For example, Pakatan Rakyat will be able to deploy RM4.4 billion to:

Enhance education. All teachers will enjoy the RM500 per month special teaching allowance as promised in Buku Jingga.

A minimum wage that will benefit approximately 300,000 civil servants and raise the overall salary scale of the civil servants.

The practice of arbitrarily demanding large dividend payments from Petronas will be replaced with a reasonable dividend formula. Even though oil prices are higher, the dividend for 2012 is budgeted at RM26 billion, lower than the RM30 billion in 2011.

4. Raising income

Pakatan Rakyat will prioritise policy initiatives aimed at raising the income levels of households and skills of the workforce.

Wages are low in Malaysia. The bottom 40% of households earn RM1,500 per month. And, low wages are a function of:

Large supply of cheap unskilled foreign labour

Lack of skilled labour

Disincentives for private enterprise to raise productivity

While recognizing that wages can only grow sustainably with productivity gains, it is also a reality that the wage setting mechanism has become dysfunctional. Pakatan proposes that:

A minimum wage of RM1,100 per month (total compensation) will be implemented together with holistic labour market reforms including strengthening the worker safety net, centered on retraining and upskilling, job search and relocation assistance, and unemployment insurance. Two years for Sabah and Sarawak to fully implement.

A minimum wage is the legally enforced floor wage to ensure that all workers at the lowest level receive a humane subsistence wage while the rest will experience a consequential increase in pay.

RM2 billion will be allocated to a special Facilitation Fund to help entrepreneurs, SMEs and small firms retool, mechanize and adjust their operations to create new jobs.

RM1.6 billion will be set aside to expand technical and vocational training to upgrade the skill base of the workforce.

10 000 teachers will be trained and RM 200 million will be allocated to address the shortage of Chinese, English, Tamil and religious teachers, as well as an additional RM 200 million to be immediately disbursed to improve existing buildings of SRJK (C), Sekolah Agama Rakyat (SAR) and SRJK (T) schools in particular.

5. Ending monopolies

Pakatan Rakyat will herald a new era by implementing wide-ranging policy and regulatory reforms to reduce cost of living, encourage SMEs and investments.

An open tender policy for government procurement will reward know-how instead of know-who.

Affirmative measures for bumiputera and other disadvantaged groups will focus on strengthening the capability of such groups to compete through education, training and financial support.

A Unfair Public Contracts Act will be enacted to empower a review into lop-sided concessions and agreements that are deemed to be against the public interest.

The professionalism and glory of the civil service will be restored to better serve all the rakyat, from individuals to small traders and large investors.

GLCs will be freed from political interference and allowed to operate based on commercial priorities. Ultimately only GLCs in strategic sectors will be retained.

The Competition Act will be extended to all sectors of the economy, including telecommunication companies, pay-tv services and the power sector.

The following monopolies (not an exhaustive list) that erode disposable income of ordinary Malaysians and result in high business cost will be to restructured in 2012:

Abolishing Padiberas NasionalBerhad (BERNAS)’s monopoly for the import of rice. Instead, import licences will be awarded via a competitive, open and transparent process;

Telekom Malaysia (TM) will be instructed to release its stranglehold on the “last mile” market of broadband internet service and focus on its backbone business – data and telephony – thereby creating a robust and competitive “last mile” market. This will subsequently lower costs and enable enhanced broadband penetration;

Telecommunication companies’ cartels will be dismantled;

Press and media cartels will be dismantled;

Airline services cartel will be dismantled;

Astro’s monopoly of direct broadcast satellite pay television service will be broken up;

Taxi licences will be given directly to individual taxi drivers.

6. Ensuring dignity in difficult times

Pakatan Rakyat shares the anxiety of the people to live a dignified life in confronting the demands of daily life before policies to raise income take hold.

The following immediate measures are proposed:

A senior Malaysian bonus of RM1,000 a year for the elderly;

Payment of RM1,000 in 2012 for qualified homemakers;

Supplementing hardcore poor household income to RM550 a monthand enhance social safety net by increasing direct welfare payments to RM550 per month to ensure alignment with assistance to hardcore poor households; and

A childcare allowance of RM1,000 a year for children below 12 years old from households earning less than RM1,000 a month and establishment of certified childcare centres through special loans and tax incentives will be facilitated. Pakatan wishes to see that female labour participation rate will increase from 46 percent to 55 percent within five years. Other policies to increase the participation of women in the labour force, through training and greater flexibility in working hours will be deliberated.

Pending the uplifting of rakyat incomes, the existing subsidies on goods and services will be maintained at RM22 billion. Subsidy and price control policies will be overhauled to rationalise government expenditures:

Subsidies to monopolistic corporations will be stopped;

General subsidies will be restructured to benefit directly the needy target groups.

Pakatan Rakyat will not implement the Goods and Services Tax until and unless Malaysia departs from the Middle Income Trap.

7. Narrowing the Urban-Rural Divide

Pakatan Rakyat will increase incomes and employment opportunities for Malaysians in rural areas.

Regional and rural development will be boosted through administrative decentralisation.

BERNAS’ monopoly for the import of rice will be abolished. Import licences will be awarded through a competitive and transparent process. Subsidies will be delivered directly to farmers via farmers’ institutions.

RM100 million will be allocated to small businesses to improve cleanliness and sanitary facilities to create more conducive and healthy environments for customers.

8. Improving the Quality of Life

Pakatan Rakyat will champion a better quality of life for all Malaysians.

The police force will be refocused on crime prevention and enhancing public security.

A “Build, then Sell” policy for low-medium cost housing developments will be implemented, protecting house-buyers. Allocation for public housing projects will increase by RM1 billion.

A National Transport Policy will prioritize public transport following the principle of “moving people, not cars”. Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) will be transferred from the Prime Minister’s Department to the Ministry of Transport.

Increasing use of green technologies to foster better energy use, efficiency and savings for the people on utilities and other household expenses and for industry to raise productivity and profitability.

9. Reforming The Political Landscape

Pakatan Rakyat will strengthen our parliamentary democracy and federalism.

Pakatan Rakyat will strengthen the principle and practice of federalism enshrined in the Federal Constitution in which states will be accorded with a more equitable formula of power sharing and resource distribution.

Pakatan Rakyat will also introduce the following reforms:

To revoke all existing emergency proclamations and repeal all laws that provide for detention without trial, as outlined in the draft Emergency Revocation Act (Akta Pemansuhan Darurat) submitted by Pakatan Rakyat in the March 2011 parliamentary session.

To restructure the Public Complaints Bureau (Biro Pengaduan Awam) into an Ombudsman institution.

To place key public institutions including the Auditor-General’s Department, Department of Statistics, Judicial Appointments Commission, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (SPRM), the Election Commission (SPR), and the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM), and an Ombudsman institution under the purview of Parliament.

To ensure freedom of the media by removing all discretionary licensing requirements via the repeal of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984. In lieu of this, an independent and self-regulating media council will be put in place.

Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) as an institution will be managed by media professionals, based on the example of the BBC, and placed under the purview of Parliament.

To restore academic freedom and autonomy of Malaysian universities by repealing the University and University Colleges Act (AUKU) 1971, thereby freeing students from the stranglehold of the Student Affairs Department (HEP). Leadership of public universities will be based on merit.

To abolish the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and enact a Freedom of Information Act at all levels of government, equipped with the necessary infrastructure. This will ensure access to all information of public interest, with the exception being matters genuinely connected to national security.

Pakatan Rakyat promises to strengthen the Parliament as an institution and rejects the practice of a Prime Ministerial dictatorship:

RM10 billion will be reallocated from the Prime Minister’s discretionary budget to the relevant implementing Ministries.

Proposed spending bills will be subject to rigorous scrutiny at parliamentary committee level. As a first step, seven Budget Parliamentary Committees will be set up to scrutinise ministerial budgets and allow better quality debate and appraisals.

Committee members and MPs will be given allocations for parliamentary research assistants to improve their effectiveness in reviewing the budget submissions and monitoring their implementation and outcomes.

10. Youth at the Forefront For Change

Pending a thorough review and comprehensive investigation on the expenditure and curriculum structure, the National Service programme will be replaced with a school-based extracurricular or community programmes. The RM 747 million, as was allocated to the National Service in the previous year, will instead be channelled into this new initiative.

A total amount of RM 100 million will be allocated for a YouthChoice programme (PilihanAnakMuda), involving Malaysians under 30 years old, to implement projects and programmes of their choice through a balloting process.

RM 50 million will be allocated to a special fund to promote youth involvement in creativity and in the creation of more recreational spaces for young people.

The forthcoming newly installed Pakatan Rakyat government cannot carry out these essential and game changing policies by itself and in isolation. The rakyat, as employees and employers, as housewives, caregivers and students, and most importantly as contributing citizens must play their individual and collective roles and take their place in advancing this brave inaugural agenda to move Malaysia forward to stand tall globally.

[
Pakatan Rakyat Budget 2012 released by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on behalf of PR in Kuala Lumpur on 4th October 2011. Part 1 of 10
]

[Part 2 >>]

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 4 October 2011, 6:48 pm and is filed under
Budget Debate
,
Economics
,
Pakatan Rakyat
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Pakatan Rakyat Budget 2012 (Part 2 of 10)

CONTENTS

1 The Key Thrusts of Belanjawan Kesejahteraan 2012

1.1 Opportunities and Dignity for All Malaysians

1.2 Sustainability

1.3 Empowering Malaysians

2 The Global Backdrop

3 Malaysia Today

4 Policy Highlights

4.1 Spending RM220 billion more effectively, while reducing the deficit

4.2 Prosperity through higher skills, incomes and opportunities

4.3 Subsidy policy to be overhauled: The poor to be uplifted

4.4 Immediate Measures to Help Malaysians

4.4.1 Senior Malaysian Bonus for the elderly

4.4.2 Support for home-makers

4.4.3 Eradicating hardcore poverty

5 Thrust 1: Empowerment, Opportunities and Dignity for All Malaysians

5.1 All Malaysians and government must collaborate to restore dignity

5.2 Raising incomes through skills, productivity and a minimum wage

5.3 Unlocking private sector potential

5.4 Rewarding innovation and productivity via procurement policy

5.5 Increasing incomes and employment opportunities for Malaysians in rural areas

5.6 Civil Service Excellence and cutting red tape to serve the rakyat better

5.6.1 Restoring the glory of the Civil Service

5.6.2 Less red-tape eases life for the rakyat and promotes economic activities

5.7 Lowering costs – curtailing lop-sided concessions, monopolies and oligopolies

5.7.1 Remove lop-sided concessions

5.7.2 Monopolies and Oligopolies: The Great Reducer of Average Malaysian’s Income

5.8 Enabling GLCs to soar free

6 Thrust 2: Sustainability

6.1 Inclusive growth

6.2 The Environment – Keystone to Quality of Life

6.3 Security – let’s have more active policemen, not more policemen

6.4 Boosting regional and rural development through administrative decentralisation

6.5 Meeting our most fundamental need – affordable food

6.6 Homes – The foundation of communities and nationhood

6.6.1 Build, then Sell

6.6.2 Affordable housing will be built

6.6.3 Affordable housing is a joint-responsibility of federal and state governments

6.6.4 Existing legislation will be fully-utilised to protect home-buyers

6.7 Public transport – moving people, not cars

6.8 Education – empowering all regardless of background

6.8.1 Strengthening our religious and vernacular schools

6.8.2 Skils-based careers will be made desirable

6.9 Healthcare

6.10 Demand Management

7 Thrust 3: Empowering Malaysians

7.1 Political Reforms- Democracy Now

7.2 Sabah and Sarawak: Firm Focus on East Malaysia

7.3 Youths- The Forefront of Change

8 Public Finance Strategy – the Pakatan Rakyat budgetary framework

8.1 Rationalising Expenditures, Efficiency and Value for Money

8.2 Making more responsible use of our oil wealth

8.3 Making fuller use of our MP’s expertise, skills and talents

9 2012 Allocations

9.1 Auctioning APs, enhancing collections and higher oil prices will grow revenue

9.2 Pakatan Rakyat Expenditure Allocations

*******

1 The Key Thrusts of Belanjawan Kesejahteraan 2012

The three key thrusts of Pakatan Rakyat’s Budget 2012 are:

Opportunities and Dignity for all Malaysians; and

Sustainability.

Empowering Malaysians

1.1 Opportunities and Dignity for All Malaysians

Behind the façade of the massive, imposing infrastructure projects favoured by the Barisan Nasional government is a much more modest Malaysia. Hundreds of billions have been spent on showcase projects and master plans, but:

40% of Malaysians still live in households earning an average RM1,500 per month
1
. More than ¾ of these households – 77% – are Bumiputera
2
;

More than 1/3rd – 35% – of household heads work in the informal sector in jobs such as small traders, hawkers, smallholders and taxi drivers.

Income inequality remains high. The Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, is one of the highest in Asia and not far from Latin American levels, notes the World Bank
3
. On this measure, the disparity among urban Malaysians has not improved in 10 years
4
.

The extent of income inequality can be easily illustrated:

The bottom 40% of households, of which 77% are Bumiputera, take only 15% of total household income;.

The top 20% of households reap nearly ½ of total household income.

Chart 1: Bottom 40% of households takes only 15% of total income

The rise in domestic consumption has been often cited as a source of resilience. Between 2005 and 2009, personal consumption grew at 7.7% per year, faster than GDP at 5.4%.

However, much of personal consumption growth was driven by household debt, which grew by 7.1% in the same period.

While the total RM577 billion household debt as at the end of 2010, equivalent to 77% of GDP may appear modest and manageable, Pakatan Rakyat notes that the rate of its increase is worryingly high:

The ratio has more than doubled in 13 years from 33% in 1997 to 77% in 2010
5
;

By comparison, US household debt to GDP doubled from 44% to 100% in 27 years from 1970 to 2007 when the most severe crisis in recent history struck;

Furthermore, this level of household debt is of concern when viewed against personal disposable income.

This ratio is a better indicator of household debt sustainability because the ability to service debt is directly related to disposable income rather than to GDP;

For this ratio, Malaysia’s 140% is far higher than the US at 123%, Singapore at 105% and Thailand at 53%
6
.

Clearly, debt-driven personal consumption growth is not sustainable. We appear to be hitting the limits of personal consumption growth, going by recent federal government initiatives to increase subsidies and open thrift stores. These alleviate the symptoms of low-incomes and high cost of living, but are not viable long-term solutions.

Productivity, wages and incomes must rise for growth to be sustained. In this light:

Belanjawan Kesejahteraan 2012 focuses on developing Malaysians, not megaprojects and bloated plans;

Belanjawan Kesejahteraan 2012 emphasises skills, productivity, dignified jobs and entrepreneurship, not handouts and goodies for cronies or vested interest groups.

The Pakatan Rakyat government will invest in first-rate education and training; and create a genuinely conducive environment for entrepreneurs:

Improvements in education and training will enhance skills and productivity;

Better skills, productivity and entrepreneurship will result in higher incomes and induce competitiveness;

Higher incomes and competitiveness will give Malaysians the ability and confidence to face the two substantial challenges of today:

The rising cost of living;

The diminishing prospects of exports to rich western countries and the need to find new areas of comparative advantage relative to fellow emerging nations such as China.

1.2 Sustainability

Pakatan Rakyat will implement effective and bold policies to drive sustained quality

growth which is aimed at raising the income of the rakyat enduringly and not fleetingly.

But Pakatan Rakyat’s growth policies will give equal weight to initiatives for:

Preventing gross degradation of the environment and our habitat;

Preserving our natural resources from avaricious depletion practices; and

Safeguarding the bounty of our natural endowments by better stewardship of resources for the benefit of future generations of Malaysians.

Attention must be focused mainly on quickly achieving a better measure of

sustainability and balance in public finances at all levels of government. Pakatan Rakyat

is cognisant of the stretched state of Malaysia’s public finances after 13 years of

consecutive deficits by the Barisan Nasional government. Thus Belanjawan

Kesejahteraan 2012:

Emphasises maximising the effectiveness of government spending;

Addresses broadening the tax base by stimulating entrepreneurship;

Proposes better stewardship of our oil wealth;

Contemplates efficiency in use of resources such as energy and water; and

Redirects subsidies to those most in need.

1.3 Empowering Malaysians

Five decades on, democracy as practised in Malaysia today is little more than a shade of its former glory. Pakatan Rakyat believes that Malaysians should no longer be denied their rights to a full and proper democracy. Hence, reforms to restore democracy to its rightful meaning will be undertaken immediately.

Also, Pakatan Rakyat is aware that despite being equal partners with Malaya during the formation of Malaysia nearly half a century ago, Sabah and Sarawak has not enjoyed the level of development and prosperity that rightfully belongs to them. With the additional income acquired through the 20 percent oil royalty reserved for those two states, Pakatan

Rakyat plans to implement various reforms to strengthen and dignify the people of Sabah and Sarawak.

Furthermore, Pakatan Rakyat also recognizes the crucial role that the youth play in realising a better and more democratic Malaysia. Various initiatives and reforms will be put in place to train, encourage and empower the youths to be drivers and movers of change.

________

1
Extrapolated from 2008 data published in the New Economic Model, 2010 (pg 58). We assume 8% p.a. growth in average household incomes since then.

2
New Economic Model, 2010 (pg 90).

3
Malaysia Economic Monitor: Inclusive Growth. A report by the World Bank, Nov 2010.

4
New Economic Model, 2010.(pg 57).

5
In between, it rose to 47% in 2000 and 67% in 2006.

6
Household debt in Malaysia – Is it Sustainable? Lim MahHui, Penang Economic Monthly, Aug 2011.

[
Pakatan Rakyat Budget 2012 released by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on behalf of PR in Kuala Lumpur on 4th October 2011. Part 2 of 10
]

[<< Part 1]

[Part 3 >>]

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 4 October 2011, 7:33 pm and is filed under
Budget Debate
,
Economics
,
Pakatan Rakyat
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Pakatan Rakyat Budget 2012 (Part 3 of 10)

2 The Global Backdrop

The world economy is entering another period of turbulence and uncertainty following two years of tentative recovery. It now seems clear that the US-led response of easing monetary policy following the 2008/09 financial crisis bought only temporary respite.

The extensive monetary easing masked the structural imbalances in the world economy and allowed “business as usual” to continue. Asian economies continued to depend heavily on exports, particularly to the developed, western economies.

In the meantime, the US and EU governments recorded huge increases in sovereign debt as they eased monetary policy:

US government debt has more than doubled since 2008, ballooning from US$7.0 trillion in 2008 to bump up against its original ceiling of US$14.3 trillion in Aug 2011. The ceiling was raised only at the last minute after a bruising political battle between Democrat President Obama and the Republican-dominated Congress; and

In the European Union, sovereign debt worries are expanding. Starting with Ireland and Greece, concerns extended to Spain and, most recently, Italy. Total sovereign debt of the 27 Euro nations soared 26% in two years to €9.8 trillion in 2010 from €7.8 trillion in 2008.

The capacity of the US and Eurozone governments to fund further growth are now severely limited:

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s in August cut its rating for US government debt from AAA to AA+. It also reiterated its ‘negative’ outlook, warning that continued high spending, higher interest rates or “new fiscal pressures” could result in a further downgrade;

World Bank president Robert Zoellick observes there is less room to manoeuvre this time around, saying “Most developed countries have used up their fiscal space and monetary policy is about as loose as it can be.”
7

The Asian growth model of exporting to richer, wealthier western nations is now no longer sustainable. Those economies face slow growth as they unwind their massive debt burdens. Asian nations must now look towards home and promising emerging markets for growth.

________

7
World Bank chief warns of more woes. Sun 15 Aug 2011.

[
Pakatan Rakyat Budget 2012 released by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on behalf of PR in Kuala Lumpur on 4th October 2011. Part 3 of 10
]

[<< Part 2]

[Part 4 >>]

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 4 October 2011, 9:26 pm and is filed under
Budget Debate
,
Economics
,
Pakatan Rakyat
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Pakatan Rakyat Budget 2012 (Part 4 of 10)

3 Malaysia Today

Malaysia, too, has less fiscal options than before in weathering the impending turbulence:

In 2007, before the 2008/09 crisis, our federal budget deficit was RM21 billion and total federal debt was RM267 billion, equivalent to 42% of GDP;

For 2011, our federal budget deficit is expected to hit RM45 billion and total federal debt was already RM437 billion as at the end of June, equivalent to about 53% of GDP
8
;

Indeed, ratings agency Fitch downgraded our long term RM sovereign debt rating to A from A+ in Feb 2009. Malaysiahas not been able to secure a return to A+ even though the global economic situation subsequently stabilised and improved. The Barisan Nasional government continued to expand spending after prime minister Najib assumed leadership in Mar 2009, even though stimulus measures were no longer necessary.

The scope for pump-priming and stimulus measures in the face of another slowdown is now limited. But we still have strengths and alternatives:

Our crude and edible palm oil resource base gives us a foundation of stability – we have basic fuel and food;

Our potent, multi-ethnic mix of experienced, mature senior citizens, working families and young, enthusiastic youths can unify as Malaysians in the face of adversity and challenges, as shown by the Bersih 2.0 experience; and,

Very importantly, we have hidden reserves. These reserves are in the fat and overbloated expenses incurred by the Barisan Nasional government, which can, and must be channeled back to uses that benefit the rakyat.

The Pakatan Rakyat Budget is based on the expectation of GDP growing by 4-4.5% in 2012
9
.

________

8
Malaysian Economy, Second Quarter 2011, Ministry of Finance.

9
 A selection of forecasts for 2011 and 2012: World Bank 4.8% and 5.7%; MIER 5.2% and 5.5%; Maybank 5.1% and 5.5% and RHB 4.3% and 4.5%. These forecasts were published before the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in mid-September slashed its forecast of global growth to 4.0% and 4.0%from the 4.3% and 4.5% that it had made in June.

[
Pakatan Rakyat Budget 2012 released by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on behalf of PR in Kuala Lumpur on 4th October 2011. Part 4 of 10
]

[<< Part 3]

[Part 5 >>]

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 4 October 2011, 9:43 pm and is filed under
Budget Debate
,
Economics
,
Pakatan Rakyat
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Pakatan Rakyat Budget 2012 (Part 5 of 10)

4 Policy Highlights

4.1 Spending RM220 billion more effectively, while reducing the deficit

The global uncertainties and prospect of lack-lustre private demand would ordinarily call for pump-priming and stimulus measures by the government.

However, Malaysia’s finances, after 13 consecutive years of budget deficits by the Barisan Nasional government, no longer permits massive stimulus packages. On the contrary, the recent experiences of crises in countries with massive deficits eg the United States, United Kingdom and Greece, calls greater attention to reducing budget deficits.

Against this backdrop, Pakatan Rakyat will strive to maintain the total level of federal government spending at RM220 billion
10
 in 2012. Pakatan Rakyat practices of competency, accountability and transparency will result in:

Effective spending that generates for the rakyat at least 20% more in benefits.

The Barisan Nasional government has a record of wasted, misdirected and inefficient spending. Cutting corruption and improving efficiency will contribute additional benefits for the same amount spent.

For example, the Barisan Nasional government paid RM42,000 for a laptop
11
. Pakatan Rakyat policies will instead secure the best price. So, for a market price of RM2,500, the same amount of money will buy 17 laptops instead of just one.

The budget deficit will be brought down by measures including:

Maximising revenue collection (Selangor under Pakatan Rakyat administration has been consistently ranked as the best revenue collector by the Auditor General);

Auctioning APs (Approved Permits);

Minimising cost over-runs and completion delays.

This combination of revenue and expenditure measures together with economic growth will narrow the deficit as a percentage of GDP to 4.4% from an estimated 6% in 2011 under the tutelage of the Barisan Nasional Government (2010: 5.6%; 2009: 7.4%).

Over the medium-term, Pakatan Rakyat policies will aim at restoring fiscal space for meeting unexpected future contingencies.

4.2 Prosperity through higher skills, incomes and opportunities

While the Prime Minister lectured the people on kicking the addiction to subsidies
12
, his government has displayed a more benevolent attitude towards influential cronies and concessionaires that benefit from myriad corporate subsidies. This has caused a sharp deterioration in the nation’s finances and compromised its competitiveness.

But instead of explicit multi-prong policies to address the root causes of the need for subsidies and price control measures, the federal government has allowed subsidies to rise by nearly ten-fold in the last decade, from RM2.6 billion in 2000 to about an estimated RM22 billion in 2011. Even so, this amount excludes subsidies provided by other government agencies, such as Petronas. Government direct and indirect subsidy support to industry is several multiples of those enjoyed by the people.

Table 1: Selected Consumer and Industry Subsidies, 2006-2010

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Federal Government Subsidies

RM10.1b

RM10.5b

RM35.2b

RM20.3b

RM24.9b

Petronas Gas Subsidies

RM7.4b

RM14.2

RM19.7b

RM19.5b

RM18.9b

Power Sector Subsidies

RM6.2b

RM11.5

RM13.8b

RM12.7b

RM11.2b

Non-Power Sector Subsidies

RM1.2b

RM2.7b

RM5.9b

RM6.8b

RM7.7b

Sources: Economic Report 2010/2011, Ministry of Finance, Malaysia and Petronas Group Financial Results, FY2006-2010.

Pakatan Rakyat recognises that the root causes of the need for subsidies and price controls are the stagnant incomes of the rakyat arising from the failed policies of the Barisan Nasional. This is compounded by the increasing costs of living from rising prices of other essential products and services not covered by subsidies or controls, again reflecting in part the distortions in operations of markets perpetuated by the Barisan Nasional.

Pakatan Rakyat accepts that the current subsidy and price control polices would need to be kept in place while a holistic approach is developed that reduces the coverage and public costs of the national subsidies and distortions of the price controls system.

Pakatan Rakyat will prioritise policy initiatives aimed at raising the income levels of households and reducing the constraints on businesses and industry to dampen their costs and thereby diminish the unrelenting increases in the cost of living before the strain on public finances by subsidy payments can be diminished. This will require:

Policies to promote better salary or wage setting mechanisms to reflect labour productivity and to generate better paying jobs in higher value-added knowledgebased industries;

Emphasis on technical and vocational training to expand and upgrade the skill base of the workforce;

Reducing barriers for industry to increase investments and creating a greater competitive environment in sectors for new sources of growth to prosper and spawn high-income jobs;

More effective government expenditures on education, health, transportation and infrastructure to raise income and facilitate cost-effective worker mobility;

Emphasis on increasing use of green and environmentally friendly technologies to foster better energy use, efficiency and savings for the rakyat on utilities and other household expenses and for industry to raise productivity and profitability.

The Barisan Nasional government says it offers subsidies out of ‘concern and care for the rakyat’. Pakatan Rakyat agrees that the poorest and weakest in society must be helped. However, Barisan Nasional propaganda perpetuates the misperception that subsidies are largesse to be distributed by a benevolent government to the rakyat who must be ‘grateful’ for any tidbits received.

Pakatan Rakyat will show leadership and take brave and bold steps to restore dignity to Malaysians. Malaysians have proven time and time again our ability to overcome great challenges. Pakatan Rakyat is fully confident that the collective resolve of Malaysians to build skills, capabilities and incomes will bring us dignity, pride, confidence and independence.

4.3 Subsidy policy to be overhauled: The poor to be uplifted

Subsidies should be directed towards the most needy segments of the community including women and the disabled. The existing subsidies are poorly delivered.

This calls for an overhaul of the subsidy regime. For this, three basic questions must be answered:

Who will be receiving subsidies;

In what form should they receive these subsidies; and

Should there be a time limit for these subsidies.

The key characteristics of the disadvantaged groups requiring support and the policies to meet their needs should be made known publicly:

The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development, working with state and local government authorities, will be tasked with further expanding, improving and updating the existing database to encompass the poorest 40% of households.

The Ministry will consult with stakeholders – community leaders, nongovernmental organisations and other interested groups – to formulate an enhanced social safety net that includes nutrition, housing, healthcare, direct cash payments, micro-financing, child-care, educational support and skills training.

The framework of subsidy and price control policies on consumer products and services would be gradually adjusted to rationalise government expenditures.

General subsidies to industry would be phased out. However, start-up incentives including tax expenditures (mainly tax and duty exemptions for selected industries) will continue to be granted to attract high-valued added industries. Subsidies to monopolistic corporations will be stopped;

General subsidies will be restructured to benefit directly the needy target groups.

In the meantime, the existing subsidies on goods and services will be maintained. However, some changes will be made to improve the fairness and efficiency of the system and make the subsidies stretch further. Accordingly, assuming energy and commodity prices in 2012 remain similar to 2011 levels, the Pakatan Rakyat Budget will allocate a similar amount of RM22 billion
13
 for subsidies.

4.4 Immediate Measures to Help Malaysians

It is obvious that it will take time for Pakatan Rakyat’s policies to take hold in overcoming the root causes for the need of subsidies by raising the income of the rakyat markets for essential goods and services.

In the meantime, because Pakatan Rakyat shares the anxiety of the rakyat in confronting the demands of daily life, an assortment of immediate financial support for the most vulnerable segments of the community will be introduced. Pending continuous consultations with the affected communities for urgent additional support, the following immediate measures are proposed:

A senior Malaysian bonus for the elderly;

Support for homemakers;

Supplementing income of the hardcore poor.

4.4.1 Senior Malaysian Bonus for the elderly

Among the more vulnerable of the disadvantaged segments of the population is the elderly group of citizens. In 2010 8.4% or 2.2 million of citizens were aged 60 years and above, of which half were female.

In particular, elderly citizens in the lower spectrum of the income range are disproportionately exposed to the vagaries of the rising cost of living; the limitations of a fixed income, if any; the demands of rising needs for medical services with aging; and an increasing disappearance of family and community support, particularly in an indifferent urban setting. Pakatan Rakyat’s inclusiveness will give recognition to the past contributions of the elderly during their working lives and not allow their desires to be ignored.

Pakatan Rakyat proposes a financial aid programme of RM1,000 per year for Malaysians aged 60 and older who earn RM18,000 or less annual assessable income and do not own property worth more than RM150,000.

It is estimated that this will cost RM1.7 billion
14
.

4.4.2 Support for home-makers

A payment of RM1,000 in 2012 will be given to a home-maker (non-working spouse of a working adult) whose spouse earns RM18,000 or less annual assessable income and where there is at least one child under the age of 18 in the family. This will be channeled directly to the EPF account of the home-maker for immediate withdrawal. This exercise will also encourage more Malaysians to maintain an EPF account, irrespective of whether they are wage earners or self-employed.

It is estimated that this will cost RM2.0 billion
15
.

4.4.3 Eradicating hardcore poverty

The Penang State government under Pakatan Rakyat has successfully implemented a policy aimed at eradicating hardcore poverty.

This was achieved by implementing a policy to ‘top-up’ the income of hardcore poor families to ensure that each family would have a minimum household monthly income of RM500.

It is proposed that this policy be extended nationwide, with the bar raised to RM550 per family. We propose an allocation of RM200 million for this exercise.
16

______

10
The federal government initially proposed a RM211b budget for 2011, as published in the Economic Report. However, the federal government over-spent, as usual and the total spend for 2011 is likely to be in the region of RM230b. Pakatan considers the RM220b mid-point as an appropriate base-line.

11
RM42,320 for a laptop. The Star, 22 Oct 2009.

12
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak told an audience at Oxford University’s Centre for Islamic Studies in May, 2011 that “Subsidies as a whole are like opium. Once you take opium it’s hard to kick the bad habit.”

13
BN originally allocated RM20.9b for subsidies in 2011. In May, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib said fuel subsidies, which make up the bulk of the total subsidy bill, had been revised upwards by RM7b from RM11b to RM18b due to high global crude prices. However, fuel prices subsequently fell.

14
Assuming 75% of the 2.2 million senior citizens aged 60 and above are eligible. Pakatan Rakyat recognises difficulties in the administrative framework for implementing this initiative, and will work with local authorities and NGOs for effective distribution, particularly in the rural areas.

15
Based on 2 million home-makers in this category.

16
Based on an average RM300/month per family up to an estimated 60,000 families. Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat said there were 32,271 hardcore poor families in 2010. Reported in Better lives for the hardcore poor, the Star 27 May 2010. The Government Transformation Plan defines hardcore poverty as households with incomes less than RM440 per month. We use 60,000 families due to our higher threshold of RM550 per month.

[
Pakatan Rakyat Budget 2012 released by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on behalf of PR in Kuala Lumpur on 4th October 2011. Part 5 of 10
]

[<< Part 4]

[Part 6 >>]

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 4 October 2011, 10:26 pm and is filed under
Budget Debate
,
Economics
,
Pakatan Rakyat
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Police fired tear gas, broke rules in Tung Shin incident

The Malaysian Insider

Oct 04, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 4 — Riot police broke their own standard operating procedures (SOP) by firing tear gas when dispersing Bersih 2.0 rally marchers at the Tung Shin Hospital on July 9, a Health Ministry investigation has concluded.

Home Ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Mahmood Adam said tonight that errant policemen would be referred to the police’s disciplinary board.

“The investigation results concluded that there were unethical actions which were beyond the SOP of the Royal Malaysian Police when enforcement was performed on rally participants who were wrongly using the hospital premises,” Mahmood said in a statement.

Putrajaya and police had earlier denied any wrongdoing despite proof given by Bersih and those at the rally.

The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) is now waiting for police to answer questions into the incident after a complaint from Bersih, which held the rally to call for free and fair elections.

Police had absolved themselves of any wrongdoing during the July 9 rally after setting up six internal teams to investigate claims of police brutality that followed after nearly 1,700 were arrested, scores injured and an ex-soldier died during chaotic scenes in the capital.

But Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai ordered a second probe into the Tung Shin incident on July 14 after a group of medical consultants had written to the media refuting the hospital board and police who claimed that no gas canisters or water cannons were fired into the hospital.

The DAP then accused the authorities of sweeping the incident under the rug as its eye-witnesses were told by the Health Ministry in August to join “the police in building an investigation report that will be held soon.”

Police finally admitted on July 21 that Tung Shin was hit with tear gas canisters and water cannons during the rally, but denied shooting directly into the compound.

But this claim flies in the face of various video clips uploaded on the YouTube video-sharing site showing water cannons and tear gas being fired into the hospital.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 4 October 2011, 11:48 pm and is filed under
Bersih
,
Elections
,
Police
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


RM2m spent on 11,000 cops to stop Bersih rally, Parliament told

By
Melissa Chi

The Malaysian Insider

Oct 04, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 4 — The government spent more than RM2 million to “handle” the outlawed rally by electoral reform group Bersih 2.0 in July, it was revealed today.

More than 11,000 police officers were also deployed in the days leading up to the rally on July 9.

In a written reply in Parliament to Teresa Kok (DAP-Seputeh), Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said today the total amount spent by the police to “handle” the rally was RM2,018,850.06.

He added that a total of 11,046 police officers from all over the country were stationed in the Klang Valley area, including 2,600 who were on standby outside the city.

“PDRM had to make preparations which included expenditure for additional fittings, food and drinks, lodging and other logistic needs,” he said.

The protest turned chaotic when the police fired tear gas and water cannon at thousands of demonstrators, resulting in nearly 1,700 arrests, scores injured and the death of ex-soldier Baharuddin Ahmad, 59.

Bersih estimates that 50,000 people showed up at the July 9 rally for free and fair elections despite government efforts to prevent it from taking place while the police have said there were only 6,000.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has since gone to great lengths to try and win back middle Malaysia after international condemnation of the clampdown on the rally.

In the wake of the rally, Najib had promised to reform the country’s election process, a key demand of Bersih 2.0, followed by sweeping changes to security and press laws, a move he said was to increase civil liberties in the country.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 4 October 2011, 12:29 pm and is filed under
Bersih
,
Elections
,
Najib Razak
,
Parliament
,
Police
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Pakatan Rakyat Budget 2012 (Part 10 of 10)

9 2012 Allocations

9.1 Auctioning APs, enhancing collections and higher oil prices will grow revenue

Pakatan Rakyat notes that prospective economic turbulence may reduce revenues from existing sources. However, Pakatan Rakyat also recognises that the ineffectiveness of the Barisan Nasional government provides headroom for revenues to be raised without further increasing the burden on honest, tax-paying citizens. For example:

The full value of government concessions and permits is not always extracted. These are instead offered at low valuations or prices to favoured parties who then reap super-normal and rent-seeking profits;

High levels of illicit activity are tolerated. For example, it is estimated that nearly 4 out of 10 packets of cigarettes consumed in Malaysia are illicit
43
 – taxes have not been paid. This illicit trade has soared by 67% in the 7 years between 2003-10. Illicit trade results in direct opportunity losses to the government from revenue foregone. In addition, it also impedes private enterprise and employment opportunities as legitimate tax-paying businesses grapple against the illicit traders.

Even in the absence of specific new tax measures but with amplifications from improvements in tax administration, Pakatan Rakyat expects total government revenue to grow by 9% in 2012 to RM181 billion. Key points:

An additional RM1.2 billion of revenue will be raised by auctioning Open APs. These APs are currently issued at RM10,000 each by the Barisan Nasional government. The main recipients are influential cronies. It has been reported that these can subsequently be resold for RM40,000-50,000 each
44
. If, in auction, the issue price is RM30,000 instead of RM10,000, an additional RM1.2b of revenue
45
 will be earned by the government;

Higher oil prices (US$103, based on the IMF forecast) are expected to lead to higher profits at Petronas. The Pakatan Rakyat government will continue to take the agreed share as per the Petroleum Income Tax (PITA). However, in the matter of dividends, Pakatan Rakyat will take less than the amount in 2009 following oil at US$97.

Pakatan Rakyat does not intend to increase sin taxes on cigarettes and alcohol as it is ineffective in curbing unhealthy habits. Instead, public awareness and education would be a better alternative.

Pakatan Rakyat will reintroduce the import tax for the 200 luxury items that were exempted by the Prime Minister in the last budget.

Pakatan Rakyat proposes a total RM220 billion expenditure billion budget for 2012. This will mean a deficit equivalent to 4.4% of GDP, which is a substantial narrowing from the estimated 6% in 2011 under the tutelage of the Barisan National government (2010: 5.6%, 2009: 7.4%).

Table 4: Federal Government Revenue (RM million)

2008

2009

2010

2011F

2012F

growth

Direct taxes

82,138

78,375

76,156

83,983

96,490

14.9%

Comments : Up on higher oil prices and more intensive collection efforts

Companies

37,741

30,199

33,248

36,210

39,686

9.6%

Comments : Slightly slower than 10.0% pa average growth from 2009-11

Petroleum Income Tax (PITA)

24,191

27,231

18,286

21,786

28,322

30.0%

Comments : Based on oil at US$103 (IMF forecast). Contribution should be higher than in 2009 following US$97 oil.

Individual

20,206

20,945

24,622

25,987

28,482

9.6%

Comments : Slower than 12.0% pa average growth from 2009-11

Direct tax (ex. PITA)

57,947

51,144

57,870

62,197

68,168

9.6%

Comments : Overall slower than the 10.8% average growth from 2009-11

Indirect taxes

30,760

28,129

30,936

31,518

33,283

5.6%

Comments : Slightly slower than the 6.0% average growth between 2009-11

Excise duties

10,068

10,068

11,832

12,026

12,699

5.6%

Comments : More intensive collections will help off-set economic slowdown

Sales and other indirect taxes

20,692

18,061

19,104

19,492

20,584

5.6%

Comments : E.g greater efforts to reduce illicit cigarettes and alcohol

Non-tax revenue

46,896

52,135

55,039

50,324

51,565

2.5%

Comments :

Licences/permits

11,101

10,686

10,239

10,012

11,314

13.0%

Comments : Auctioning of APs at market prices expected to raise at least RM1.2 billion more

Investment income

32,271

37,394

39,458

33,174

32,828

-1.0%

Comments : Primarily dividends from Petronas. Pakatan Rakyat will not take all expected proceeds from higher oil prices

Others

3,524

4,055

5,342

7,138

7,424

4.0%

Comments : Assume modest growth

Total Government Revenue

159,794

158,639

162,131

165,825

181,338

9.4%

Comments : Historical average not a good guide – volatile due to oil prices

Sources: Historical data from Economic Reports and other government publications. 2012 based on Pakatan Rakyat estimates.

9.2 Pakatan Rakyat Expenditure Allocations

Table 5: Pakatan Rakyat 2012 Budget Allocations (RMm)

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012 Pakatan

Change

National & International Affairs

38,359

40,245

44,797

50,252

57,616

45,947

(11,669)

Comments: Prime Minister’s Department will taken back to the 2008 level of RM5b from RM16b in 2011.

Economics & Finance

46,158

47,291

43,150

29,696

32,295

34,879

2,584

Comments: Reducing wastage and corruption should lead to at least 20% more in benefits. Includes Facilitation Fund.

Security

20,071

23,597

22,798

18,919

23,361

23,828

467

Comments: Expenditure will be spent on improving service conditions for personnel; not over-priced procurement.

Education, Talent & Employment

36,450

43,710

48,841

44,802

49,400

54,340

4,940

Comments: Teachers allowance, Vocational training.

Agriculture & Regional Development

7,260

10,355

12,499

12,910

17,025

18,728

1,703

Comments: Measures for agriculture including farmers.

Infrastructure, Resource Management & Environment

13,478

14,695

12,951

11,334

9,013

9,914

901

Comments: Allocations for energy efficiency and green energy.

Community Wellbeing

18,674

21,388

23,120

23,586

25,277

32,860

7,583

Comments: Senior Malaysian Bonus, Homemakers, Child Care, Hard Core Poor support, public housing and public transport.

Unexplained

–

–

–

30,087

–

–

–

Comments: BN showed a total RM221.6b allocated spend for 2010, but the individual Ministries totals added up to only RM191.5b, leaving this huge unexplained sum.

180,450

201,281

208,156

221,586

213,987

220,496

6,509

A deficit of 4.4% of GDP. Down from expected 6% in 2011.

% Growth/(Contraction)

11.5%

3.4%

6.5%

-3.4%

3.0%

Note: See next table for breakdown by Ministries

Sources: AnggaranPerbelanjaan Persekutuan and Pakatan Rakyat estimates

Pakatan Rakyat presents its spending allocations as per its framework for Budgetary Committees as described above. The key thrusts are:

Prosperity through higher skills and incomes;

The special teaching allowance and minimum wage will cost an additional RM4.4 billion per year, of which RM2.2 billion will go to teachers.

RM2.0 billion will be allocated to a special Facilitation Fund to help entrepreneurs, SMEs and small firms retool, mechanise and adjust their operations to create new jobs. This will be managed by the MITI and the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism, under our Economics & Finance umbrella.

RM1.6 billion will be set aside to expand technical and vocational training to upgrade the skill base of the workforce. This will be managed by the Ministries of Education, Higher Education and Human Resources under our Education, Talent & Employment umbrella.

RM1.6 billion for the RM700 child care allowance for children aged 12 years and below in households earning less than RM1,500 per month46. This will be managed by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development under our Community Wellbeing umbrella.

RM1.7 billion additional expenditure to be placed directly under the purview of the Ministries or Rural and Regional Development, Agriculture and Agrobased Industry and Plantation Industries and Commodities under our Agricultural and Regional Development.

More than RM10 billion will be reallocated from the purview of the Prime Minister’s Department (National & International Affairs) back to respective ministries better placed to oversee such activities.

Immediate measures to help Malaysians

RM1.7 billion for the Senior Malaysian Bonus for the elderly.

RM2.0 billion for Support for Homemakers.

RM200m for top-up payments for the hard-core poor.

The above payments will be managed by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development under our Community Wellbeing umbrella.

Sustainability

RM1 billion for public housing. This will be placed under the Ministry of Housing and Local Government under our Community Wellbeing umbrella.

RM30 million for state and local authorities to begin producing public transport masterplans and RM20 million to create a web and mobile-based public transport information system including journey planners for major urban areas and information and route maps at bus stops. This will b

Table 6: Federal Government Expenditure 2007-11 (RMm)

2007A

2008A

2009A

2010E

2011F

National & International Affairs

38,359

40,245

44,797

50,252

57,616

Prime Minister’s Department

6,877

6,899

10,187

12,194

15,856

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

614

656

656

579

683

Ministry of Information, Communication, and Culture

1,187

1,135

2,244

2,509

2,588

Ministry of Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing

646

512

567

973

585

Others – Mainly debt service and pensions

29,035

26,881

29,381

33,997

37,904

Ministry of Entrepreneur and Coop Dev (Abolished 2009)

–

3,322

1,529

–

–

Ministry Of Unity, Culture, Arts, Heritage (Abolished 2009)

–

840

233

–

–

Economics & Finance

46,158

47,291

43,150

29,696

32,295

Ministry of Finance

43,991

44,598

38,718

25,550

29,198

Ministry of International Trade and Industry

911

1,016

2,912

2,819

1,206

Ministry of Domestic Trade, Coop and Consumerism

379

664

503

428

1,047

Ministry of Tourism

877

1,013

1,017

899

844

Security

20,071

23,597

22,798

18,919

23,361

Ministry of Defence

13,629

14,693

13,611

11,014

13,824

Ministry of Home Affairs

6,442

8,904

9,187

7,905

9,537

Education, Talent & Employment

36,450

43,710

48,841

44,802

49,400

Ministry of Education

25,481

31,949

33,960

30,519

35,763

Ministry of Higher Education

10,077

10,798

13,982

13,023

12,607

Ministry of Human Resources

892

963

899

1,260

1,030

Agriculture & Regional Development

7,260

10,355

12,499

12,910

17,025

Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry

3,667

6,200

6,333

4,614

3,380

Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities

349

785

477

1,081

1,289

Ministry of Rural and Regional Development

3,244

3,370

5,689

7,215

12,356

Infrastructure, Resource Mgmt& Environment

13,478

14,695

12,951

11,334

9,013

Ministry of Works 6,644

6,576

4,915

3,520

4,106

Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment

2,157

3,115

3,481

3,555

2,330

Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water

2,717

2,991

2,274

2,448

1,335

Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation

1,960

2,013

2,281

1,811

1,242

Community Wellbeing

18,674

21,388

23,120

23,586

25,277

Ministry of Transport

3,522

4,296

4,082

3,094

5,072

Ministry of Housing and Local Government

2,540

2,319

2,258

3,714

3,006

Ministry of Health

11,243

13,036

14,713

14,763

15,223

Ministry of Women, Family and Community Dev

718

826

1,045

1,178

1,246

Ministry of Youth and Sports

651

911

1,022

837

730

Total as calculated from individual Ministries

180,450

201,281

208,156

191,499

213,987

Total given in Anggaran Perbelanjaan Persekutuan

202,641

208,155

221,586

213,987

Note the huge unexplained gap in 2010

-30,087

Source: Anggaraan Perbelanjaan Persekutuan

________

43
Tobacco: Tough environment but defensive. Maybank Investment Bank Research, 30 Sept 2011.

44
Mixed views on RM10,000 fee for open APs. The Star 28 Oct 2009.

45
Assuming 60,000 Open APs are issued. This is equivalent to 10% of motor vehicle sales as per existing policy.

46
Based on 40% of 5.6m children.

[
Pakatan Rakyat Budget 2012 released by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on behalf of PR in Kuala Lumpur on 4th October 2011. Part 10 of 10
]

[<< Part 9]

[Part 1 >>]

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 5 October 2011, 5:34 pm and is filed under
Budget Debate
,
Economics
,
Pakatan Rakyat
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.