YOURSAY | Bring back the days of ‘Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah’.

'Courage to tell the truth' among PM's directives to civil servants

Good For All: This is a great start by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. If this can be sustained along with other new measures such as meritocracy, Malaysia will become a great nation.

Ipadder: Besides all the directives to civil servants, the government should also do away with the huge entourages for VIPs at visits and functions.

Those alone add up to a bomb, and they hang like plumed birds on people’s chests. Ridiculous.

Kikyo: Extravagant spending must be curbed not only for ministries, but also at government-linked companies (GLCs) and agencies.

Civil servants must not be asked to sacrifice when consultants and senior employees at GLCs continue to splurge.

Anonymous_3e12: As a cost-cutting measure, the titles conferred to public servants should not be used at work. Imagine how much ink could be saved when their names are printed.

Peace: The titles given to civil servants are not as bad as those given out to crooks and political parties, but still, a great number need to revoked. Do half of these people even deserve it?

NuckinFuts: This is great. Do away with the 1Malaysia slogan for the civil service, and bring back “Bersih, cekap dan amanah” (Clean, efficient and trustworthy).

XED: Also, there is a need for more civic-mindedness. No littering. No vandalism. Better behaviour on the roads and in other public spaces.

When Singapore left Malaysia, it embarked on strong measures to make its people behave better and to strive for excellence.

Jonah 2: I wonder, with all these high-profile terminations… if the chief secretary to the government is next in line, and does he address his resignation letter to himself?

Gov't to cut 17k political appointees, announces PM

A New Dawn: Excellent. Even at a very conservative estimate of RM50,000 per annum on average for each of these political appointees, the country saves RM850 million a year.

Furthermore, this will suck out the ‘oxygen’ from any Umno 'revival' as the 17,000 are political appointees who will no longer have any clout in the civil service.

But besides the tremendous cost savings, the housekeeping will be a big boost to the civil servants' motivation.

JayWai: If each paid RM10,000 per month it would cost us RM170 million a month and RM2 billion a year. But I bet these political appointees get paid much more than RM10,000 per month.

And we the rakyat were made to pay for such folks all these years? What else don’t we know?

XED: Also, to be removed should be the political has-beens who are holding advisory positions with ministerial rank.

And there appear to be remnants from the old regime in the Election Commission, propagandists in government positions, all receiving money and perquisites and benefits at the expense of the taxpayers.

No GST but less corruption, less waste and inefficiency.

Dr M instructs gov't to halt GST, impose fixed petrol price

Anonymous: Even though removing GST may be positive news for many, I worry if it can be done at such speed. Each decision made must be sustainable.

As far as I am concerned, paying taxes are fine, provided the money collected is given back to the people for healthcare, education and efficient infrastructure. But not, if it’s going back to pay interest on 1MDB’s massive loans.

Muruga: I bought stock in the first quarter of the year and have paid GST on April 30.

Now, if I can't charge the GST to customers, we will have to increase price by six percent to recover for stock already paid.

How about supermarkets, shops and restaurants, will the GST they paid in the first quarter be refunded?

Anonymous_d395a08d: It seems to imply business no longer need to pay the government on the GST collected. But it doesn't say that business should stop collecting GST from its customers now.

Anyway, that's not possible, as we don't expect it can be simply done like turning off a switch.

But it can create two potential problems: the business overcharges its customers from this moment onward if they stop charging GST now.

Also, businesses paid GST to its upstream suppliers when buying inputs (like raw materials). They now cannot recover by netting off against GST to be collected from their customers later. Do they have to shoulder the interim loss?

It is best that Mahathir provides clarification and task subordinates to explain the technical details.

Anonymous_d395a08d: Despite my respect for Mahathir, I think he made a mistake here to abolish GST in such a haste without everyone knowing how to handle the interim transition.

As a consumer, of course, I will be happy to pay less. But if I were to own a business I will be confused. Does it mean from this moment onwards I stop charging GST? Will I get into trouble with the Customs Department later?

Do I need to call my system vendor to update the system right away? Do I antagonise my customers who refuse to pay at this moment?

As a foreign investor, should I sell Malaysian bonds expecting uncertainty in fiscal health, as I just learned the opposite after reassurance from former finance minister Daim Zainuddin that it would be done with due consideration? Will it affect ringgit strength?

As a citizen, will this confusion create unnecessary harm to the economy? In this case, it seems like we’re paying GST only to be served confusion in return.

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