AUGUST 22 ― I am alarmed and disheartened by some of the nonsense being spouted by our politicians about our economy.
The way they talk, it's as if we're pre-bailout Greece, rudderless and run into the ground, and soon forced to pray for bailouts and submit to painful austerity measures.
Can we can the bullshit?
Besides the obvious financial mismanagement by the previous government, we are not actually suffering that much.
We are in many ways, in a better position than some of our neighbours.
Must we also forget that even before Najib, previous Barisan Nasional prime ministers allowed a lot of wastage and questionable spending?
Some of the proposals that have come out from politicians show little thought, research or any regard for a big picture view.
Tony Pua and his soda tax.
Tun and his national car.
Yet we're not hearing from the politicians the suggestion we start charging rich people more. Instead, the ideas seem to be mainly about how we can squeeze more money from those who don't have that much to spare.
What about a capital gains tax? What about taxing interests on deposits? Inheritance taxes?
The problem with Malaysia's taxation system is that it's lopsided ― the very poor pay nothing, which angers the rich who think they pay for everything. The very rich, however, give very little back (in proportion to their incomes) and pay much less tax than they would in, say Europe.
Then we hear our finance minister talking about “painful measures.” That usually means austerity. And austerity benefits only our creditors while bleeding the people.
We complain about brain drain ― but cut scholarships.
We wring our hands about our education system ― and yet waste money on ridiculous “cheap laptops” while cutting funding to universities.
We worry about the future of our healthcare system ― and yet we don't look after newly graduated doctors and keep cutting funding to hospitals.
If this is a new Malaysia then it's time we stop making it a Malaysia for the people with money, and Hell-asia for the people who don't.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
