Sarawak DAP has blamed the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) and the New Economic Model (NEM), launched by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak last year, for the escalation in the country's national debt.

"We are deeply concerned. From a figure of RM350 billion in March last year when Najib Launched the ETP and NEM, the national debt had escalated to RM400 billion at the end of last year, and it keeps on rising," its secretary Chong Chieng Jen said in Kuching yesterday at his daily press conference.

He asserted that the federal government had to borrow huge sums of money for the ETP and NEM.

chong chieng jen interview 141108 02 Chong ( left ), who is also the Kuching Bandar member of Parliament, said since the 1980s, the BN administration had been plagued with economic scandals which caused the taxpayers to lose billions.

"Najib's ETP is nothing but slogans and propaganda as it does not show any genuine institutional and economic reforms. The corruption, cronyism and leakages continue under ETP and are getting from bad to worse.

"For example, while Abdullah Ahmad Badawi spent millions to renovate the prime minister's official residence during his time, Najib is now allocating RM65 million for another round of refurbishment," Chong said.

'Heed of GFI's disclosures'

He also called on the federal government to take heed of that the Washington-based Global Financial Integrity had ranked Malaysia as the world No 5 in illicit financial outflows.

He said this was a record the people was not proud of.

"From the year 2000 to 2008 due to pervasive corruption and poor governance, an estimated total of RM889 billion was illicitly taken out of the country.

"While allowing cronies to profiteer from the corrupt system, the BN government turns to taxing the people," said the Kota Sentosa state assemblyperson.

He added that continued rises in the prices of goods brought about by the increases in the prices of petrol, diesel and gas, had created uncertainty among the consumers and sparked inflation in the country.

He did not believe that the ETP could increase the people's income, but rather it had increased, and continued to increase, the people's financial burdens and the cost of living.

He believed that only a change in the government could stop corruption, cronyism and leakages that had resulted in the country having so much debt and the people to suffer financially.

"We must stop the exploitation of the country's resources at the expense of the people," he said.