Ever-growing PM's Department slims down
SMC77: I don't understand why we need so many ministers in our cabinet since Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak himself has set up so many units in the Prime Minister's Department to do the jobs of other ministers.
Ksn: The size of the PM's Department and the annually recurrent cost is really perplexing! There was only one unit, the Economic Planning Unit EPU, in the PM's dept those days.
This unit, as its name suggests, planned all development project plans together with the Treasury. The entire federal government machinery was at the beck and call of the PM for all the advice, information, details and statistics that he needed to make decisions.
He received them regularly. That is the way a government should be run.
This was, as I am told, the PM's Office. So why does the PM need such huge staff incurring huge sums of public funds? Is there so much of duplication? The PM has to justify to the nation his department's huge bill, right?
Anonymous: The size of the Prime Minister Department is not the real issue. If you have good people who can get the job done, then please pay them accordingly. Remove incompetent leaders! I hope to see more leaders like Idris Jala working diligently in the background and not drawing attention to them.
AnonymousB: It is time we, the people, put our foot down. Our system of government never intended to have so much power concentrated in the hands of the PM.
How can we have a PM who also doubles up as the country's finance minister? This only happens in a third world tribal country, not in the ‘world's best democracy'!
If the PM is the finance minister, who then shall act as the country's financial controller? Who then shall act to assess the financial and economic viability of government programmes and projects?
Not only that, now we are seeing the ever-increasing size of the PM's Department, which includes economic planning, implementation coordination, privatisation, national security, administrative modernisation, Pemandu and Pemudah, international treaties, national unity and many more.
We should stop this bad habit started by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, immediately.
Wira: Under Najib's father, former prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein, education used to get the top allocation in our budget. That was good because we were investing in our future. Today, no thanks to Najib and his wife, his department is soon going to be the number one spender.
Munificent budget: Spending beyond our means
Anonymous_3f94 : The BN, starting with Mahathir, simply spent the country's oil money to pay for what we have so far.
That will run out in a couple of years, especially since Petronas over pumped the fields during the '98 financial crisis to pay for Mahathir's crony bailouts.
There is nothing genius in spending oil money - any donkey can do that. But the country will not have the ability to pay the salaries of civil servants and their pensions in the future.
Idris Jala saw what others had already pointed out before. The current Umno leadership simply values their personal well-being, ahead of that of the country. They are able to sell this idea because there are enough people are willing to support them if they can also make a buck when the top guys loot the country.
Avatar 111: The ‘spend first' mentality is fully expended in this budget. Anyone who understands the economy knows that this is a budget with no regard to sustainability, and worse still, it encourages the people, particularly the civil servants, to continue to spend with no worries.
Playfair : Terence Netto, sir, I always admire your deadpan sense of humour and incisive writing. In this article, you have caught many us off guard with the PM's reply, "What good will it do for me to wait?" Making up his mind is not a strong point for this person, because invariably a flip-flop follows.
That is because with so much baggage, he is always jittery about issues regarding his personal survival. The budget, etc, is undoubtedly an election budget, but it is all going to fizzle out as it is all sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Who wants to be remembered as the first Umno president leader of the opposition?
No sir, the elections are a long way off so that the perks of office can be enjoyed to the fullest for as long as possible.
Lone_Star: The PM is at it again. The 2012 budget is a "I help u, u help me" one. Where is the transformation? Don't see it anywhere.
Hope: Terence, maybe you can help all us simple folk here, especially the over-50 year-olds on this site. Economics is hard to grasp.
You studied the financial crisis. Most of us had a simple solution and saved our businesses and a lot of lives.
So, tell me, how did Malaysia survive all these 13 years since the crisis and create more jobs than Malaysians can fill, and support migrant communities that support millions more at home in our neighbouring countries?
Also, tell us why we have not failed as yet and why people keep saying the worse is yet to come since 1998, and it's still arriving, or did it go past us like a ripple in the ocean, when actually underneath was a tsunami?
Alan Goh: The 13 th GE is just round the corner and it is time for the "Lu Tolong Gua and Gua Tolong Lu" (You help me, I help you) goodies to be splashed to certain categories of Malaysians.
As a retiree from the private sector and whose children are all grown-up, I do not see how this so-called friendly budget benefits us. With the national debt ballooning to RM455 billion, which is nearly half a trillion, a bloated 1.3 million-strong civil service and the massive corruption and leakages, we fear for the future of Malaysia.
It is scary to think of the debt servicing ratio to our country's GDP, but PM Najib is still taking it easy. It's time to change the government before Malaysia takes the same route like Greece into bankruptcy. Wake up, Malaysians!
Country weighed down by RM455bil debt
SMC77: Our national debt is at RM450 billion or several times more than RM450 billion after factoring in the contingent liabilities. Strictly speaking, the government should disclose its contingent liabilities in the same system of disclosure followed by our listed companies.
Concern Ctzen: Corruption is the key problem to debts in Malaysia. The rakyat's hard earned, money after paying tax, is siphoned off by the corrupt politicians and cronies.
I think it is time that all the rakyat wake up and vote the right people and right party to run the country. If not, our next generation will suffer. If only there was no corruption, Malaysia would have already been ahead of Singapore.
Changeagent : Last year, BN was forced to curb its swollen budget deficit by cutting the fuel and sugar subsidies in order to save RM$750 million.
Now, the PM is trying to tell us that the expected rise in interest payments for 2012 to RM$20.45 billion is 'manageable'? Najib is clearly delusional about the real state or health of the country's finances.
wfworker: Brace yourself for the general sales tax after the GE. Pensioners, your two percent adjustment will be eaten by the GST, which will multiply threefold before it hits you.
Kit P: RM455 billion debt? If this was a corporation, the shareholders would say it's time to replace the management.
MATIPUCAT : When a household can hardly survive with the kind of wages they have, borrowing becomes the way to survive for the present, putting everyone in peril.
Gerakan in dilemma over its president
Victor Johan : Gerakan adviser Dr Lim Keng Yaik said the party still needs Koh Tsu Koon to lead, more so after losing Penang. I agree. The party still needs Koh to ensure that it is removed completely from the Malaysian political arena. Only Koh and the other Gerakan scoundrels can ensure this happens.
Astraltraveller : In the early years, Gerakan was well-supported as an opposition party to Alliance/BN in Penang. Since joining BN, it has become a big disappointment, being constantly ridiculed and threatened by Umno. Its role is now redundant. Koh should just fold up the party and give support to DAP for the good of all Penangites.
Armageddon : Gerakan was strong in Penang and it was the only reason for the existence of Gerakan. Penangites got smarter and they voted for Pakatan, with DAP holding the majority of seats.
Since Pakatan, under the leadership of DAP is doing a superb job in Penang, the right thing for Gerakan to do is to dissolve the party to avoid further humiliation in the coming GE.
BN will definitely not allow Gerakan to field any candidate. Join PKR if it is too embarrassing for Koh to join DAP.
Geronimo: The leaders in Gerakan are actually clueless on how to lead the party forward, since the policies are made by Umno and not by them. With Gerakan in a straitjacket, what possible direction can it take? Nowhere!
They can think of so many things that would do the party some good, but their activities are constrained by Umno.
Look at Lim Guan Eng. He is not beholden to anyone, thus he is at liberty to decide what is best for Penang.
Just like Selangor, the island state is seeing a healthy cash surplus after so many decades of Gerakan rule. If Gerakan wants to survive, leave the BN and be your own party. Otherwise, it will be total annihilation come GE13!
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