The Malaysian Insight

PAKATAN Harapan has promised to scrap the goods and services tax (GST) within 100 days of taking Putrajaya, but voters in Penang are wondering if that is truly possible.

Without GST, they wonder, where will Pakatan get the billions to fill the government coffers?

“That is what they are saying now. But can it really be done? What happens when Pakatan realises that they lack money to run the government?

“Will they be forced to bring it back? Maybe they will have to introduce GST at a lower rate,” a Tasek Gelugor resident, who wished to be known as Pak Din, said.

The 62-year-old self-employed man was at last night’s “Save Malaysia, Eradicate Kleptocracy” 1MDB ceramah at Dewan Muhibah Merbau Kudung, where Penang Bersatu deputy chairman Shariff Omar and PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail pledged that Pakatan would scrap the GST after it took Putrajaya.

Shariff also warned the crowd that if Barisan Nasional stayed in power, it would tax more goods and services under GST, which the people were now paying from birth until death.

“Recently, the government listed 60 more items to be subjected to GST, but they postponed the decision. Believe me, if BN is not voted out, the list will becoming longer,” he said.

No GST, really?

Prime Minister Najib Razak has questioned how the opposition planned to raise money for government without the GST, which collected RM41 billion last year.

In his keynote speech at Invest Malaysia 2017 late last month, he said the government had diversified its sources of income, reduced its reliance on oil and gas revenues, and introduced the GST.

Admitting that it was unpopular but the “right thing to do”, Najib said the GST helped Malaysia to steadily reduce its deficit and was crucial in retaining the positive ratings by international agencies.

“Yet the opposition say they would abolish it. Tell me, from where exactly would they produce the RM41 billion collected in GST revenue last year? Out of a hat?” he had said in his speech.

No love for tax

Regardless of what Najib said, people on the ground are still angry about having to pay GST.

Pak Din said he would be very happy if Pakatan got rid of the GST, which was blamed for the rising cost of living.

“Living in the kampung may not be as expensive as living in the city, but we still feel the impact of the GST. Kampung folk like me also has to watch every sen we spend,” said the Kampung Merbau Kudung resident.

Mohd Shakli Ahmad, 47, from Kepala Batas, also said it would be great news if Pakatan could stick to its promise to scrap the GST.

“Everything has become more expensive since it was implemented,” said the father of three, who works in a factory that manufactures motorcycle parts.

“GST has made a lot of people angry with Umno and Barisan Nasional. The people can no longer rely on these parties,” Shakli added.

Faisal Mustafa, a 50-year-old operator, also criticised the tax, saying that it lacked transparency.

“From the wholesaler to the buyer, everyone pays GST. Doesn’t that mean we are paying the 6% multiple times?” he said.

Engineer Annuar Ismail, 38, and his wife Liyana Sudin, 35, from Sungai Dua, who attended the ceramah to hear what Pakatan planned to do after taking over Putrajaya, also lamented how GST had burdened the people by causing prices to increase.

“Almost everything has GST. We can’t escape it. Although it is 6%, you can feel the multiplying effects because almost everything you buy or deal with has GST,” Annuar said.

Liyana, a housewife, said she could hardly get much groceries with RM50 these days.

“After you buy cooking oil and rice, you don’t have money left. In the past, you can still have money left to buy some mackerel (ikan temenung). Now you just ‘termenung’ (stare into space).

“The fish is expensive now. It used to be RM5 a kilo. Now the price is more than double,” she said.

Liyana also said the people needed change and that the powers that be should not take Malays as fools.

“They (Umno) like to frighten the people with talk that the Chinese will rule the country if the opposition ever took over. Some rural folk may fear change but don’t think Malays are stupid,” she said.

Liyana was referring to Saifuddin’s speech earlier at the ceramah on how Umno and BN would use racial politics and scare the Malays into believing that they would lose their position if Pakatan took over the federal government.

“If Umno loses, there will be no more Malay rulers and Islam. The mosques will be empty and no more ‘khutbah’ (sermons).

“Nobody will speak Bahasa Melayu anymore because Umno lost. It is as if Umno is the saviour of the future,” Saifuddin said.

Other speakers at the ceramah were DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua, Amanah Youth chief Sani Hamzan and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s information officer Zaidi Ahmad.

Pua, in his elaborate presentation on the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal, tickled the crowd when he said Najib would have to work 200 years, without spending money, to buy the RM120 million pink diamond set in a necklace for his wife.

“Can Najib fund his wife’s shopping sprees with just his salary as prime minister?

“With his annual income of about RM600,000, he will have to work 200 years without eating or spending on anything to afford the jewellery?” he said.

Sani lamented how BN has been controlling government institutions and denying the opposition equal access to mainstream media.

Meanwhile, Zaidi called on the police to reopen investigations on the murder cases of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu, Ambank founder Hussain Ahmad Najadi and deputy public prosecutor Kevin Morais.

Najib’s detractors and political foes had previously linked him to Altantuya via his former advisor Abdul Razak Baginda; Najadi via his Ambank accounts that allegedly received deposits of billions of ringgit; and Morais who had supposedly drawn up a charge sheet against Najib over the 1MDB scandal.

The government had denied all the unproven allegations and dismissed attempts to link Najib to the cases.

“The cases need to be reinvestigated. Pakatan will have to take over Putrajaya to have these cases reopened,” Zaidi said. – August 20, 2017.