PETALING JAYA, March 17 — Malaysia is not ready for the goods and services tax (GST) that is just weeks away, critics of the new consumption tax continue to insist.

At a forum on the GST here today, opposition lawmakers and activists said the tax cannot be implemented without adversely affecting low-income groups until wage levels in the country are increased.

“In developed countries, it is no big deal for them. Why is it a big deal for us? It is a big deal because wages in Malaysia... are among the lowest amongst middle-income countries,” said Azlan Awang, co-founder of Blind Spot, a group that discusses income disparity and government practices.

“If our salaries were four or five times higher, then it will be no problem,” he added when speaking at a forum here titled ‘Impact of GST on the people’ organised by “Gabungan Bantah Cukai GST” or Coalition to Protest the GST.

PAS research centre chief Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said that although the national debt is at an all-time high, the GST is not the solution to the issue.

“Debt now is RM600 billion, double than when he (Datuk Seri Najib Razak) took office. This is equivalent to 55 per cent of the entire economy that is the GDP,” he said.

He also pointed out that the World Bank has already labelled GST as a “regressive” and as such, will hit low-wage earners more than the affluent.

“This is a consumption tax. The World Bank came out with a study and proved that all the tax that is consumption in nature that affects all, regardless of age, income or wealth, is violent, inverse and regressive,” he said.

“It is clear that GST, as a tax, is very bad and a burden to the lower-income group,” he added.

Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar suggested that instead of the GST, which taxes everyone regardless of their economic standing, the government should implement a system that taxes the rich more than the middle- and lower-income group.

“They are just following the neo-liberalism thing and making it attractive to investors. Our government is still in the old framework, be friendly to businesses,” he said.

“We should tax the rich, from the corporate. We have to think of a way to redistribute tax, increase minimum wage, have universal pension welfare programmes,” he added.

Jeyakumar also questioned if the tax collection process could be done fairly and effectively, claiming that those in the Customs Department are susceptible to bribes.

“We don’t have a large enough or clean enough enforcement team,” he said at the sidelines of the forum.

“The GST will make those in Customs rich. It’s a good time to be in Customs,” he added.

Earlier today, Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh urged Putrajaya to defer its April 1 plan to implement the GST, claiming that Malaysians are not yet able to handle the added strain on their finances.

Tengku Razaleigh claimed that Putrajaya has not been forthcoming with the real reason for pushing the implementation of the tax regime, despite the fact that Malaysians rank as having among the highest levels of household debt in the region.

Former domestic trade and consumer affairs minister Tan Sri Shahrir Samad later argued, however, that conditions will never be perfect to implement the GST and that the country’s economy is more resilient than GST detractors give it credit for, even with Malaysians registering the highest level of household debt in Asia.