Who subsidies who?

BN government wants to stop the subsidise to Rakyat but Rakyat has to continue to subsidise the F... Proton. The car prices in Malaysia are the highest in the world. All because the Rakyat is forced to subsidise Proton and the AP King.

Stop subsidies to Umno-BN leaders, says SAPP. FRI, 04 JUN 2010 11:31

By Queville To

KOTA KINABALU: The government has been advised to end the subsidies it grants Umno and BN leaders before considering changing its socio-economic policy.

Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Yong Teck Lee said that subsidies such as the lucrative

approved permits (APs) given to Umno leaders to import vehicles, cost the government much revenue.

He also pointed out that public funds were wasted when Umno and BN government leaders travelled around the country at government expense for their political activities.

"Shares in public listed companies issued to Umno leaders and public works contracts worth billions of ringgit are much talked-about ways that Umno divisional leaders are rewarded.

"As such, tax payers have been subsidising the high-flying, extravagant lives of some Umno and BN leaders all over Malaysia,” he said.

"For Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Idris Jala, a successful corporate leader, to warn of national bankruptcy in nine years is cause for great concern.

“But, before the government forces its so-called subsidy rationalization plan on ordinary people, it must first remove all subsidies for Umno and its leaders at various levels,” he stressed in a statement issued today. Remove all the subsidies for Proton and remove the indecent excise duty on all cars, local and imported.

Yong also questioned the country’s careless manpower policy, its over-reliance on cheap foreign workers and what he said was a failed education system which has resulted in "a low-wage, low productivity local work force".

He said this was highlighted by the fact that the salaries of general workers had remained stagnant the past 20 years.

"University graduates get about RM1,200 per month, non-graduates start at RM800, factory and plantation workers get much less. The failed education system has produced many graduates whom are good only for clerical jobs. On the other hand, the cost of living has gone up.

“It is no longer possible for school-leavers to rent a house. They have to squeeze into an urban flat," said Yong.

“Working families can no longer pay off their 15-year housing loans if they want to have a car and send their children to university. Some have to refinance their houses for their children’s education."

Yong: 'People living from hand to mouth'

Yong noted that Balung assemblyman Syed Abbas Ali had stated recently at the last state legislative assembly that even middle class families now found it difficult to make ends meet.

"Injustice and hardship would be inflicted on these ordinary people if the government continues to subsidise its political leaders but removes the subsidies on basic necessities for the people," he said.

Yong said it was hard to understand why the government has failed to reduce the cost of living in Sabah, which is already the poorest state in Malaysia.

Prices of goods in the state are generally 30 percent higher than in the peninsular. Food, clothing, medicine and car accessories are more expensive than elsewhere in the country.

“At a village in Sandakan, I saw villagers buying cooking oil and sugar at 20 cents per plastic tube, the size of an ice cream stick. The hawker told me that it is because the villagers cannot even afford the 1 kg packet at RM 2.50," said Yong.

"This is literally “kais pagi, makan pagi, kais petang, makan petang (living from hand to mouth) income for some people.

"Some motorists now fill their tanks at RM2 to RM5 each time. The government spoke of the subsidised ST15 rice but this ST15 is not available in the market. There are many other examples of hardship in Sabah,” he added.

“This is what I mean when I say that the rising cost of living is hurting many ordinary people. Schoolleavers cannot find jobs to sustain themselves let alone support their parents. Poor families do not even have money to buy zinc to repair their leaking roofs.

"If any of their family members fall ill and needs medical expenses, their hardship is compounded. The inevitable consequence is malnutrition and untreated illnesses. This is real,” he stressed.

Yong argued that if the subsidised extravagant life style of Umno and BN leaders remain, and the subsidies for ordinary people are removed, then it is a gross injustice that is definitely not in line with Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak's 'People First' slogan.