23 April 2019

Pakatan downscale and sell national assets, but where did the cash go?

The government has been selling assets and downscaling in an effort to cash out, while simultaneously, the aid for the people has diminished, so the question is, has all the funds generated simply vanished into thin air?

Meanwhile, Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional has planned to deliver more cash to the government by cutting costs in non-strategic assets and reducing its offshore presence in places such as London.

Since PH came into power, they have constantly quoted the national debt as an excuse. However, now even as both local and foreign assets are sold off, with the implementation of new tax systems, downscaling of government, all claimed to be steps taken to pay off the national debt, yet no visible change has occurred to date while the national debt remains high. Even by making efforts to generate funds while pruning unnecessary expenditures, the national debt did not show signs of receding but has increased further, thus it shows that PH’s economic plan is ineffective.

Even with Petronas’ large dividend of RM26bil to the federal government, and cancelling various aid program for the people, the financial debt continues to rise. The financial deficit of 2018 came to be RM 52.67bil, equating to a 3.7% deficit ratio.

Various short-term solutions have been taken such as the selling of national assets, namely IHH Health Bhd shares to Japan’s Mitsui Group, the Royale Chulan Bukit Bintang Hotel owned by Boustead Holdings Bhd of which the largest shareholder is the Armed Forces Superannuation Fund (LTAT), shares of CIMB bank, Menara Felcra, TM Annexe 1 and Annexe 2 buildings as well as Malaysia Legoland, but these sales have had little impact on reducing the national debt.

Even as the financial deficit continues to climb, the government debt has increased by RM54.2bil, amounting to RM741.1bil in 2018. Also, external debt has also increased from RM885.2bil in 2017 to RM924.9bil in 2018.

Where is the money claimed to have been saved? Has it been channeled into the 3rd national car project, or to rebrand the previous government’s various aid initiatives?

Aside of hurting the country’s welfare from assets sale, halting the operations of foreign assets will also impact the country’s outlook in the long run.

With the failure of PH in mitigating the economic debt through sale of valuable assets, the group which ultimately suffers is still the country’s economy and the rakyat.

Datuk Tan Teik Cheng
MCA Vice President

-MCA Online-