Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has received the most number of inputs on issues concerning employment for Budget 2011 on his blog, www.1malaysia.com.

"Of the wide range of topics raised, I noted that employment was the most frequently discussed, with some of you calling for the implementation of a minimum wage policy," he says in his blog.

Najib, who is also the finance minister, will table Budget 2011 in the Dewan Rakyat at 4pm tomorrow. The prime minister says the budget will set the pace for the transformation of Malaysia into a developed and high-income economy by 2020.

He says he has received over one thousand comments on his blog in less than two weeks after he called on the people to give their inputs for the budget.

"I have personally read these comments and forwarded a significant portion of them to the Finance Ministry for further study and possible incorporation into the budget or government programmes," he says.  

Second, he says, was the discussion on taxes and subsidies, where youths have requested for increased tax rebates for young families or ways to provide financial assistance in managing the rising cost of living.

Najib says the third most popular subject was education, where a variety of concerns over the quality and rising cost of education were expressed.

"There were also comments asking for more allocation to upgrade Internet and broadband services across the country.

"I also noted a number of suggestions to address issues unique to the states of Sabah and Sarawak," he says.

He says other requests were for increased incentives and programmes for the disadvantaged, control of the prices of consumer goods, increased development in rural areas to attract commercial opportunities for youths, incentives for green

technology development, increased allocations for national security, and programmes to address illegal immigrants, and many more.

Najib thanked the contributors, saying their input contributed to the process of transforming the nation.

"My office and I have studied these ideas and intend to explore the viable ones for implementation, whether or not they are incorporated into the budget.

"Some of you who have contributed comments to my blog will be able to recognise your ideas or a hybrid of those ideas in the budget," he says.

- Bernama