The government finally unveiled its subsidy rationalisation plan today, but without any indication as to when it will be implemented.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of working out the plan, Idris Jala, said he cannot set a deadline to finalise and carry it out as everything is up to the cabinet.

"We have now got quite a lot of public feedback. We will go to cabinet to take a decision on it.

"The cabinet may ask us to do further work, but we cannot predict what decisions the cabinet will arrive at," he said when met after the Subsidy Rationalisation Lab open day at the KL convention centre.

NONE Idris, ( right ) who is also Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) chief executive, said the plan will uphold Prime Minister Najib Razak's 1Malaysia concept of people first, performance now, but stressed that any benefit from the plan must extend to the future generation.

"There are a lot of rakyat who are not yet born, they will ask questions about us who are alive today... the decisions we make today, (we make) for them too.

"Quite a lot of discussions have to be taken into account by the government. This is a responsible government, not only for Malaysians today but also for Malaysians tomorrow," he said.

Teetering on brink of bankruptcy

Earlier when presenting the proposed plan to some 1,000 people attending the event, Idris said Malaysia needs to reform its subsidies system if it wants to pull itself back from the brink of bankruptcy.

He painted a bleak picture of the country's heavy debt problem, saying Malaysia needs to start cutting its RM362 billion " hutang " (debt) before it is too late.

"Malaysia has been borrowing every month for the past 10 years because we have been living beyond our means.

"We ought to live in the real world, and the party must cease," he said, noting that savings of some RM105 billion over five years with the subsidy cuts.

NONE At a later forum to discuss the subsidy rationalisation measures, a panellist, Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua (l eft ) pointed out it is important for the government to address other contributing issues to Malaysia's high deficit while it pursues reforms to its subsidy system.

He said it is not impossible to rectify lopsided deals such as the long-standing toll concessions issue, which Idris had said would cost the government nearly RM300 billion in total to buy over.

In his earlier presentation, Idris had said that it would be unfair to taxpayers in Sabah and Sarawak if the government buys over the toll concessions when the highways do not even extend to the two states.

The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers' former president Yong Poh Kon, another panellist, suggested that the government instead spend a small premium to engage a top-flight team of lawyers to renegotiate the toll concession contracts.

"Renegotiation of all (toll) contracts is essential, it must be done. Instead of buying back (the concessions), the government could pay RM20 to RM30 million for a good legal team to relook the contracts," he said.

Yong also suggested that the government waive road tax for Malaysians who use small-capacity vehicles, instead of dishing out cash rebates of RM126 for cars below 1,000cc and motorcycles below 250cc as proposed.