Some Netizens are seeking a comprehensive fiscal policy to ease their heavy burdens following the recent fuel price hike that is producing a domino effect for greater inflation, according to the suggestions given on the #Budget 2014 website.

NONE On the website , Netizens have proposed price reduction for houses, cars, toll and petrol under the ‘cost of living’ category.

Among the ‘most agreed’ ideas that have drawn 242 ‘likes’ is one posted by a, anonymous respondent, urging the government to seriously view the main agenda faced by the people in their daily lives.

The respondent urged price reduction for petrol, toll, cars and houses periodically, should the government not be able to make it concurrently.

Another Netizen by the name of Hasnul Ariff Hamzan suggested listing baby milk powder and disposable diapers as price-controlled items.

azlan “The price increase of baby milk powder and disposable diapers has a negative impact on individuals and low-income families... the government should include the items among products where the cost is subsidised,” he said.

Meanwhile, Netizen Fadil Mohd Yusof proposed income tax exemption for those who earned less than RM5,000 a month.

“This is because of the rocketing cost of living. For example, I have two children and I’m forced to spend cautiously, and even have to cut costs (ikat perut) because of this,” he said.

The government raised the price of RON97 petrol to RM2.85 per litre (an increase of 15 sen) last Wednesday, just two days after the increase of RON95 petrol and diesel by 20 sen per litre, bringing the RON95 price up to RM2.10 and diesel RM2.00 respectively.

PM had urged public to provide input

On Aug 20, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had, in an update on his Facebook, urged the public to provide opinions and input on Budget 2014.

Najib, who is also Finance Minister, said the public’s input would be taken into account for Budget 2014 which is scheduled to be tabled on Oct 25.

The collection of input on the website had been closed on Sept 7.

As for the civil service, some Netizens requested for an increase of RM180 to their monthly housing allowance to RM400, and postings to government schools for some 15,000 education graduates who are now still unemployed.

Some had also echoed the government’s suggestion to have an allocation to hire extra staff to assist school teachers in their administrative duties.

azlan Among other ‘most agreed’ proposals under the education category were scrapping administrative fees and interest for National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) loans and replacing students’ RM250 smartphone rebate with a computer rebate.

Despite Pakatan Rakyat’s earlier promise to abolish PTPTN debts should the coalition came to power, a suggestion for this on the website had drawn a total of 141 ‘dislikes’ and only 50 ‘likes’, becoming the second ‘most disagreed’ idea.

Meanwhile, not all suggestions for the coming budget are being welcomed, with some ideas attracting a high numbers of ‘dislikes’.

Under the category of ‘transport and infrastructure’, a total of 90 Netizens disagreed with a post suggesting an exemption for vehicles duties, especially imported cars for fresh graduates.

A total of 96 Netizens did not agree with a recommendation to provide assistance on flight tickets for public university undergraduates in Sabah and Sarawak.

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