Opposition parliamentarians criticised Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's second national budget, which was unveiled today, as having 'no surprises', 'nothing great' and 'no bold measures' to reinvigorate the economy.

Abdullah tabled the 2006 Budget in the Dewan Rakyat this afternoon in his capacity as the finance minister. Below are some comments from the Opposition.

Kamarudin Jaffar (PAS-Tumpat)

"It is only a partially caring budget. It has addressed and touched on the issues but it does not completely solve the major problems such as inflation, unemployment and others.

"The budget did not mention on how we are to achieve a better economic growth. We will wait and see how the government wants to face the challenges of foreign investment going to China, India etc.

"Although we welcome the increase in allocation for education, there is no mention on how campuses could be managed better. We are worried about the trend in campuses now with the students' dwindling freedom remaining the main question."

Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR-Permatang Pauh)

"It's a cautious budget, nothing drastic. We see that the government has done some good things like looking for alternative means for fuel. That's good but it's not innovative enough to attract foreign investment.

"There are no bold measurers to address the economic recovery. We expect a slowdown in the global economy but the government has not given sufficient incentives to attract foreign investment. There is also no sufficient investment allocation for research and development, as well as for public transport.

"We note that while there is an allocation to provide training for unemployed graduates, there is no safety net for those who lose their jobs or are retrenched due to an economic slowdown [...] there is no way to help them out."

Teresa Kok (DAP-Seputeh)

"We could say that some measures of the 2006 Budget are caring such as the RM100 increase in welfare assistance. But on the other hand, there are not much surprises, nothing great."

"When the prime minister talks about the increase in police allowances, I find it so shocking that it's just so little. For instance, the reimbursement given to policemen for uniform tailoring is only RM100 per uniform. There's no increase in salary or benefits.

"Even though the Budget quoted the (recommendations from) the Police Royal Commission's report, there's not much increase in allocation for the police force.

"The announcement to establish a new RM2 billion bumiputera property trust foundation with most of the contracts to be given to bumiputeras indicates the Budget still concentrates very much on the bumiputeras and other races may be sidelined," she said.

However, Kok gave the thumbs up for the government's proposal to encourage the use of alternative fuel sources to counter the rising prices of petrol and diesel.