Bankrupt?!?!

The government says they have to cut the subsidies otherwise Msia will go bankrupt by 2019. I'd like to say, if you can't manage OUR money well, please let me do the financing for you. Cut all the stupid projects like the water fountain in Bandar Sri Iskandar, the tilting arch (which is a failure) in Penang, and all the damn extremely overpriced quotations. I found an article in the The Sun newspaper which reflects how we, I assume all of you will agree with the writer, feel about the issue.

By Terence Fernandez; source The Sun; pg:11

Scare tactics that do little

The revelations made by KPI minister Datuk Seri Idris Jala at the Subsidy Rationalization Lab Open Day last Thursday may have been surprising but not entirely shocking.That the removal of subsidies would save us RM103billion in five years is definitely an acceptable rationale to remove the crutches that we have been so used to all this while.

But Idris’ warning that our continued reliance on subsidies would bring the country to bankruptcy in nine years (based on an annual deficit growth of 12%) is certainly cause for concern but it is not enough to convince us that the reliance on subsidies alone is bringing us to the brink of a Greek tragedy.This is because there is evidence to show that the lethal mixture of the actions of those entrusted with taxpayers’ money and the inaction of those responsible as watchdogs of public funds have contributed to bring us to our knees.

The annual Auditor-General’s report has been a testament to the leakages that have come to define our government procurement system and the questionable expenditures by federal and state agencies. The inflated cost of doing business – be it Rm300 for a RM20 screwdriver or RM1 billion for defense equipment that cost half the price – is regular fodder within the pages of these reports.

Usually, the revelations are not even worth the paper they are printed on because they get tucked away in the archives and no action is taken, with those who were cavalier with our money get promoted.Only recently did those entrusted with public funds act on the observations of the auditor-general, with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption commission (MACC) initiating investigations.

Even saving RM103 billion or even RM1 trillion by cutting back on the subsidies will not pull us out of the deep end if wasted spending is not checked.I for one have been all for the removal of subsidies or at least to ensure that the most deserving and vulnerable of our society benefit from them.

Why should I, who drive a RM90,000 car subsidize the fuel of someone who drives a Rm900,000 guzzler? At the same time, why should someone who drives a Kancil subsidize me?But if the savings from the subsidies are going to end up lining the pockets of a privileged few, then it is unfair and unjust to penalize the people for the government’s own mismanagement of taxpayers’ funds.

After what he did for the ntional carrier, I am confident that Idris was not only speaking from his heart but also from the numbers he personally crunched when painting the dire picture of our financial situation. As the ministry in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of the National Key Results Areas, he has been given the mandate to help initiate programs to make us more competitive and make us more fiscally sound.

But the question is, will he receive the support needed to implement the changes required to pull us back from the brink? Saving money is one, but to ensure that what little we have is put to good use is a tall order.

We can award a Rm20 million contract to a pharmaceutical company to build the Malaysian company at the Shanghai World Expo, but cannot spend RM8 million on lifesaving 3D health scanners.

We can throw Rm12.5 billion for the mega failure known as the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) but we cannot spend a mere RM25 million to build 100,000 low-cost houses that will help put an end to urban poverty and squatter settlements. Yes, the government’s scare tactics do work in making us think twice about subsidies but they also get us thinking into how we got to this precarious position in the first place? Will money saved go to legitimate national building programmes? I for one doubt it.

I think our money will continue to be misused by the well-connected and when the end comes, the ones who will end up paying the price will be the average wage earner, the small-time kedai runcit operator, the honest businessman who cannot et very far for the lack of connections and the next generations of Malaysians.

As a Malaysian, I strongly urge for a better Malaysia. Stop corruptions and please think of the next generations. Be transparent as possible in everything you do, and please do not put self interest ahead of others. We need to move up, and not stagnant or worse, sloping down the slope. I want to see the real "Malaysia Boleh".