KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysians have expressed dissatisfaction on social media over the allocations put forth in Budget 2021.
Scraping through one million social media posts, SI Analytics, an arm of Sekhar Institute, found that 86.25% of netizens expressed negative views towards the budget.
“The most common thing netizens are questioning is the purpose of this budget as it defeats the purpose of recovering from the current downfall in the economy and how this budget is contributing in helping the people,” the statement read.
Among all the sentiments about the budget expressed online from November 6 to 15, 76.56% were negative.
However, from November 15 to 24, the percentage of negative posts rose by 9.69% to 86.25%.
The rise in netizen discontent, the study said, can be attributed to Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz’s statement about how the government cannot pay the salaries of civil servants and frontliners if Budget 2021 is not passed.
“The people strongly believe that it is unfair for frontliners to receive a one-time bonus as they are constantly putting their life at risk, in comparison with the allocations given to other organisations such as Penggerak Komuniti Tempatan (PEKT) and Jasa,” the institute added.
While there are Malaysians who expressed positive sentiments towards the allocations for Jasa and PEKT, they only stand at 2.101%.
The support for such initiatives is believed to come from the Perikatan Nasional administration’s supporters and cybertroopers.
Malaysians, however, feel more warmth towards suggestions posed by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and other opposition members with regards to the Budget 2021.
“Based on statistics, 97% of netizens agree with the opposition leader and other Pakatan Harapan politicians with their suggestions and arguments with regards to the budget,” the statement said.
Additionally, non-bumiputera citizens were left disappointed, as many were of the view that the budget was not fair to them, given the huge allocations set for the Malay and bumiputera communities.
However, all is not well among the bumiputera and Malay communities as some feel sidelined in terms of funds set for higher education – particularly, the decision to reduce Universiti Teknologi Mara’s budget by RM129 million compared to 2020.
Those in the middle class also feel that Budget 2021 favours the B40 and neglects the needs of SMEs and micro SMEs.
“As the CMCO continues, businesses are barely surviving and people are losing jobs. Equally tied down by loans and mortgage, they find it difficult to make ends meet,” said the institute.
“To top it off, the government places red tape in the extension of moratorium and withdrawal of their own KWSP/EPF savings.”
Most importantly, netizens questioned the government's decision to reintroduce the National Service programme, especially in the midst of a pandemic. –The Vibes, November 26, 2020
