The coming revision of Budget 2015 in light of falling world oil prices should include a change in the finance minister, a DAP parliamentarian said.

 

“While I welcome the supposed presentation of a belated revision of Budget 2015, I know that the people - especially those from corporate Malaysia - are now hoping to see the appointment of a new full-time finance minister.

 

"The revised Budget 2015 should focus on cutting prime ministerial slush funds, and not to target (cutting) social expenditure,” said Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong ( right ) in a statement today.

He said the country needs a "full-time finance minister" who has the skills to tackle the country's economic challenges, for example, that posed by the falling crude oil prices.

"If you talk to anyone fairly involved in the corporate world and the financial market, they would tell you that having a revised budget is no longer satisfactory.

"We need a new full-time finance minister with deep knowledge of the economy and sufficient powers to make informed and enlightened decisions," he added.

Since coming to office, Najib has held the dual posts of prime minister and finance minister.

 

At one point he even held a third, the post of women and community minister, when the incumbent Shahrizat Abdul Jalil stepped down due to controversy.

'Slash PM's Dept budget'

Liew noted that the first thing the new finance minister should do is slash the “prime ministerial slush funds”.

 

Najib’s administration has been highly criticised for the increasingly bloated size and proportionately obese budget for the Prime Minister’s Department.

 

“While Budget 2015 has allocated only 18 percent or RM50.5 billion (of the total of RM273.6 billion) for development, the Prime Minister's Department has taken the lion's share, 25 percent of the total development budget or RM13 billion,” Liew pointed out.

He said the budget revision should not penalise basic and essential government expenditure such as education, health, welfare and other social expenditures.

Instead it should target expenditure "hidden mainly not only in the Prime Minister's Department, but also in the Finance Ministry".

Some of these more "outrageous" expenditures, he said, were:

  • (00102*) Projek Kemiskinan Semenanjung/Sabah/Sarawak - RM160 million
  • (00104) Penyusunan Semula Masyarakat - RM750 million
  • (00108) Program Pembangunan - RM1.1 billion
  • (93600) Projek Mesra Rakyat - RM670 million
  • (97000) Dana Fasilitasi - RM2.5 billion
  • (93000) Projek-projek Kecil - RM300 million
  • (93500) Projek Khas - RM1.6 billion
* Federal expenditure estimate item code

Vague expenses, scant information

"The above cost the taxpayers RM7.08 billion, far more than the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) payments. These items are just the tip of the iceberg and not inclusive of budget items in the Finance Ministry," he said.

Liew added that they were "particularly outrageous because it is so vaguely worded with scant information for any scrutiny".

"And, it is under Najib's total control as he can literally give it away by a stroke of pen," said the DAP lawmaker.

Meanwhile in a separate statement today, DAP Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang ( left ) questioned Najib for not convening a special parliamentary meeting to present the restructuring of the budget.

Lim stressed that it was the proper thing to do since it had been the Parliament which first approved the RM273.9 billion Budget 2015.

Najib said he will unveil his revised budget on Tuesday, following calls to explain how the drastic fall in oil prices over the past month is affecting the running of the government.