KUALA LUMPUR – Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (Pagoh-PN) accused Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (Tambun-PH) of being unserious about assisting those in need. The Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman denounced the prime minister for supposedly taking a flippant approach to addressing the current high cost of living.
Debating the Budget 2023, Muhyiddin decried the government’s alleged failure to take meaningful measures to resolve the issue, despite high hopes from the rakyat.
He said this is particularly unfortunate considering the public will have to endure financial suffering ahead of the school reopening and the Hari Raya Aidilfitri festive periods.
“By right, the issue of high cost of living should be the utmost priority of the prime minister and government,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat today.
“Unfortunately, Tambun (Anwar) appears to be taking a nonchalant attitude in addressing the problem.
“One example is the National Action Council on Cost of Living (Naccol), which last met on December 13. There has not been any meeting since. If you are serious, do it once every fortnight. But this has not been the case.”
Anwar had introduced, for the first time in the nation’s history, a specific Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry to ensure attention was given to this issue.
The government has also introduced a number of initiatives to reduce the cost of living and provide aid to those in the lower income group – most notably Menu Rahmah and the People’s Income Initiative.
Despite this, Muhyiddin suggested that Budget 2023 lacked programmes that would assist the poor and needy.
Chiefly, he took issue with the government’s decisions to slash the subsidy allocation from RM80 billion last year to RM64 billion this year and not allow targeted withdrawals from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
The Bersatu president said that despite Anwar’s commitment to implement a progressive, targeted subsidy, there has not been any update on its mechanism and how this would improve productivity among the rakyat.
On the EPF, Muhyiddin said the government’s plan to give a one-off RM500 “top up” to members aged between 40 and 54 with savings below RM10,000 would only benefit a small number of individuals, with the larger majority preferring further withdrawals.
“EPF members are not asking for the RM1 billion injection. They just want to be allowed to withdraw. If this is approved, the government can even save the RM1 billion and provide this fund to areas badly affected by the flood today.”
Felda punished for supporting PN?
Separately, Muhyiddin questioned if the government was deliberately punishing Felda settlers after the majority of them voted for PN during the 15th general election.
He said this is owing to the decision to put a halt to an initiative started by his government to write off a portion of Felda settlers’ loans amounting to RM8.3 billion, as well as the lack of allocations for the group.
“I’m quite disappointed that this initiative (loan write-off) has been discontinued, on the justification that it has impacted Felda’s cash flow.
“I don’t think this is the case as the debts in question are bad debts. So if you don’t repay them, there’s no cash flow.”
“The budget also made no mention about Felda settlers. Perhaps because in GE15, a huge number of them voted for PN. But I would like to remind you, don’t persecute them, they are only human and they want to live.”
Other than that, Muhyiddin also lamented the lack of Bumiputera-related policies in the recently tabled Budget 2023, and slammed the government for discontinuing the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030, which he noted included various agenda for the group.
“As such, the government ought to provide a detailed explanation on the current position of Bumiputera policies and agenda.” – The Vibes, March 6, 2023
