KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Xavier Jayakumar (Kuala Langat-Independent) took issue with his Parliament peers for apparently being so absorbed in demanding aid for flood victims but contributing little to suggest measures to increase revenue.
He noted that the issue of flooding has been among the main topics of discussion during the current Dewan Rakyat sitting, and that MPs are consistently pressuring the government to provide more assistance and embark on projects to mitigate the disaster.
However, he said this would be difficult to achieve without better revenue collection, with none of the lawmakers providing recommendations on this front.
Xavier also pointed out that the country’s statutory debt has now reached almost 65% of the gross domestic product, and warned of financial repercussions if spending continues to exceed earnings.
“Although we want to help the rakyat, my question to all my friends here is: what about our revenue?” he said when debating the king’s address here today.
“Whenever we speak, we ask for RM2,000, RM5,000, RM10,000 to be given to victims, but what about the revenue? Is it balanced with our expenditure ?
“The problem today is how we want to increase revenue, and I am not hearing this from the MPs.”
Xavier said while it is possible to implement measures to address flooding and other issues related to climate change, this requires huge spending.
“If I make a drastic proposal to increase income tax by 1% across the board, will this be acceptable? No? So how? We have to think and help the government to ensure it can help the rakyat in return.”
Separately, the former PKR lawmaker urged those in power to have the political will to enforce policies on floods that may be unpopular but are for the people’s betterment.
Among other things, he questioned the reluctance to implement a plan already on the table to address the annual flooding in Kelantan.
According to Xavier, the plan would require two separate locations in the east coast state to be flooded, which would affect certain Felda settlers and Orang Asli villages, in order to save other major towns there from being inundated.
The proposed plan would supposedly see 10,000ha of land be used as a massive flood retention area.
“Are we courageous enough to inform the people of Kelantan to say this is necessary to address the floods?
“Do we have the political will to do something or do we just wait for the floods every year? Is the loss of lives not an indication of the severity of the floods?” – The Vibes, March 10, 2022
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