Gerakan will not blame Pakatan Harapan for failing to comply with its election manifesto if the move benefits the people.

Towards this, the party's national legal and human rights bureau chief Baljit Singh said he believes the Harapan government should reintroduce the goods and services tax (GST) which was implemented at six percent by the previous BN administration.

He said he respects Harapan's wish to abolish the GST in accordance with its manifesto but said the document is not a bible.

"Most important thing is will the policy benefit the people? If Harapan wishes to modify it (the manifesto), I will not hold it against them.

"After all, the manifesto was created before GE14, without them knowing the real situation," he told Malaysiakini today.

Newly minted Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng had said the GST was more effective but proposed the 10 percent sales and services tax (SST) as it is more transparent.

He had said that the SST would enable the government to collect RM21 billion in revenue per year and return about RM23 billion to the people.

"We have always been saying that GST is a good initiative," Baljit (below) said.

“Since it was in place, the country managed to collect RM48 billion in revenue a year.

"Why not reintroduce the GST but reduce it to two or three percent? Mathematically, the country would still be able to collect RM24 billion a year."

"When GST was abolished on June 1, honestly, politics aside, prices did not really go down."

"By reintroducing GST, prices will not be hiked up and traders have no choice but to reduce prices while the government will still get to receive the same amount of revenue as the SST.

"Meanwhile, the GST system has already been in place, so it would not be a hassle to implement a new system," he said.

He added that by imposing the 10 percent SST, everyone regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation will be affected.

Fiscal deficit

Baljit was responding to Lim's warning to the opposition-controlled Senate of the consequences of not supporting the SST bills.

The warning followed the tabling of the Sales Tax Bill 2018 and Services Tax Bill 2018 at the Dewan Rakyat to replace the Goods and Services Tax Act 2014.

The SST bills are expected to be tabled during the Dewan Negara session commencing Aug 20.

Lim said if the bills are not passed, the country may face a fiscal deficit which will impact the ratings by the world's big three rating firms.