himpunan luahan perasaan anti establishment belanjawan 2011

1Budget + 1Tower + 1Legacy = 1Najib

The budget as a whole is going to sink the country faster. "Spending without Earning", just to gloss an overall scenic picture and claim a legacy.

"We need to cut subsidies or we will become bankrupt by 2019"

"We have not enough money for scholarship"

BUT

2011 budget

an integrated development project costing RM5 billion, which will include a 100-storey tower,
justification: "We need it because we can do it"

PM's residence gets RM65 mil facelift
Do you really need this facelift, can this RM65 mil be put into better use for the rakyat?

No toll hike on four PLUS highways for five years, says Najib
But did not tell the truth how much of the rakyat money will be used to compensate the highway robbers? Bear in mind that this compensation will use the rakyat's money "everyone" irrespective of whether you used the toll highway or not.

There are many other items in the budget that benefit not the rakyat but to those you know who. No point grumbling and shout about it. This is what you get from the government you elect.

This budget will get big applause from those who have interest and will gain something in one way or another. But a majority of the rakyat will not be too happy for these kind of short term gain just to garner for votes.
They give you 10 ringgit now but rob you of 100 ringgit later.
 
Semalam Belanjawan Negara telah dibentangkan oleh Najib Tun Razak. Kita sebagai rakyat menantikan apakah yang lebih baik untuk kita. Kita rakyat Malaysia yang semakin tertekan dengan harga barang yang semakin naik. Dengan kenaikan harga minyak maka semuanya pasti naik. Golongan yang paling terkesan adalah rakyat yang berpendapatan rendah.

Majoriti rakyat Malaysia yang tidak berniaga mengharapkan ada sesuatu yang dapat meringankan beban mereka. Mereka masih mengharapkan agar kerajaan yang memerintah dapat menurunkan harga barangan runcit dengan memperuntukkan sebahagian berbillion ringgit itu kepada sudut itu. Kita tidak mahu mendengar projek berbillion ringgit bangunan pencakar langit. Kita hanya mahukan ekonomi yang bersifat kemanusiaan.

Saya bukan pakar ekonomi. Tapi apa yang penting bagi saya sebagai rakyat Malaysia mahukan kualiti kehidupan yang lebih bermakna. Dari sudut kesihatan, pendidikan, dan poket kami yang semakin kering ini. Pergilah tanya pada mereka yang benar - benar bebas dari pengaruh politik. Semuanya kecewa dengan bentangan belanjawan kali ini. Saya bukan berbual kosong tapi inilah hakikatnya. Rata - ratanya mempersoalkan apa yang diperuntukkan kepada rakyat. Mereka mempersoalkan rasional kerajaan memperuntukkan ratusan juta yang entah kemana hasilnya.

Sebagai contoh apabila kerajaan menghapuskan cukai pembelian telefon bimbit sebanyak 10%, janganlah kita seronok dengan penghapusan cukai tersebut. Apakah kita akan membeli telefon setiap hari? Jangan ada yang kata bagus sebab orang kampung boleh pakai blackberry Torch dan IPhone. Semua itu tidak pernah menjadi keutamaan kepada mereka. Jangan samakan kampung di Kuala Lumpur dengan kampung di Kuala Nerang. Jangan samakan kampung tersusun dengan kampung yang berselerakan. Mereka ini tidak sama. Mereka perlukan keperluan asas yang lebih banyak contohnya harga beras yang lebih rendah, gula, tepung, ayam atau daging dan sayur - sayuran. Ini yang mereka perlukan. Ada kerajaan BN memberi peruntukan sedemikian rupa?

Tapi antara perkara yang paling menyakitkan hati kita sebagai rakyat apabila berjuta - juta duit kita rakyat yang sepatutnya diberikan kepada saluran yang betul mengenai pendidikan disalurkan kepada satu badan yang tidak ada kena mengena dengan kerajaan. Sebanyak RM111 Juta telah diberikan kepada PERMATA. PERMATA merupakan kepunyaan Rosmah. Apa pentingnya Rosmah kepada kita? Apa pentingnya Rosmah kepada negara? Siapa Rosmah? Kenapa dia dapat keistimewaan yang melampau? Peruntukan itu meliputi projek pembinaan fasa II Kompleks Sekolah Permata Pintar, bagi membina 32 Pusat Anak Permata Negara (PAPN) serta membiayai operasi 52 PAPN yang telah siap.Peruntukan itu turut meliputi program Permata yang lain seperti PERTAMA Pintar, Seni, Insan dan Remaja. Kenapa tidak disalurkan kepada Kementerian yang bertanggungjawap?

Sakit hati rakyat tidak pernah diambil kira. Kita mahu harga barang turun. Kita mahu harga makanan ruji turun. Tapi yang turun? Beg tangan, kasut, sut, baju kanak-kanak, dompet, pewarna rambut,pakaian malam, seluar dan seluar dalam serta wangi-wangian, termasuklah kelambu. Apakah ini yang kita mahu? Apakah ini yang orang kampung mahukan? Apakah ini yang mampu menaikkan taraf ekonomi negara. Apakah keperluan ini hari - hari kita beli?

Belanjawan kali ini hanya untuk golongan tertentu. Soalan kepada Najib? Apa peruntukan kepada golongan petani dan nelayan? Apakah sumbangan kepada golongan pekerja swasta? Tiada satu pun peruntukan diberikan kepada mereka. Mungkin ada yang kata ekonomi apa yang kita mahukan. Idealistik atau realistik. Ya kita mahu yang realistik. Realistik agar rakyat dapat tersenyum lebar dengan penurunan harga barang. Realistik rakyat senyum apabila harga ubat atau yang berkaitan dengan kesihatan diturunkan.

Itulah yang realistiknya selain daripada menyuntik wang untuk memacu ekonomi negara. Sudah berapa lama kita merdeka. Sudah berapa banyak bangunan tinggi yang kita ada. Sudah berapa banyak gedung - gedung membeli - belah kita ada. Sudah berapa banyak sekolah bestari yang kita ada. Tapi jujur dengan diri kita, apakah pencapaian kita? Malu kita jika dibandingkan dengan Cuba. Cuba sebuah negara yang tidak punya bangunan pencakar langit. Namun dari sudut pendidikan cuba meninggalkan kita jauh. Kita yang hebat dalam bangunan hanya dapat 88.9% peningkatan dalam pendidikan jauh tertinggal di belakang Cuba yang mendapat 99.8%. Ini yang kita mahu. Ini yang rakyat idamkan. Itu belum bicara soal kesihatan dimana dari semua sudut Cuba jauh meninggalkan kita. Ya, sebuah negara yang mundur bangunan tapi rakyat senyum dan sihat.

Ramai ahli politik kata ini Belanjawan PRU. Saya katakan ini Belanjawan Rosmah atau Belanjawan Hari Kiamat BN. Kenapa? Belanjawan yang tidak menguntungkan rakyat. Belanjawan yang hanya bermanfaat buat golongan tertentu. Tak semua orang menjadi Ketua Kampung, tak semua menjadi Tok Batin, tak semua orang jadi Guru KAFA. Majoritinya orang kampung. Kasihan orang biasa macam kita. Tepuk dada tanya selera. Apakah ini yang kita mahukan?

(The New Felda Towers at Platinum Park)



This is a frightening budget that is laced with potential asset bubble creation, the Najib’s administration seems to be throwing caution to the winds with increased spending on the economy and on implementation of more mega-projects.

The mega-projects that is on stream in the country is frightening and we will name them as we go on, Najib is making Mahathir look small as compared to the numerous mega multi billion expenditure during his short administration, when other nation are being cautious in this time of global economic uncertainty, Malaysia is all go like in an F1 Race.

One thing you can take note of the Malaysian budget is that they will always for certainty, spend all of the budgeted expenditure. The budget will be fully draw on or many a times overspend the budget with objectives falling short. They will spend all the budgeted expenditure and will fall short of economic objectives and a example will be the NEP after more than 30 years and the objectives are still reportedly far behind but the monetary allocation budgeted for the objective have all been spent many times over and today the majority of the household are living in hardship, much worst of than before.

We are a nation consistently recording a budget deficit and is borrowing huge amount to finance this deficit, although they have announced a reduction in deficit slightly to 5.6 percent of GDP for 2011 but the borrowings will be the same if not more due to the growth of the GDP of 7% in 2010. This will add to the national debt which will surpass the RM400 billion in cumulative debts. And we will have to finance this debt and interest payment alone will easily be over RM 25 billion per annum.

Note that the national debts are for direct government borrowings and other indirect borrowings on federal government guarantees might not have been accounted for like the PKFZ as an example, that is to say that other borrowings from GLCs and other agency or private entity which might have financed their mega-projects through government guarantees might not be reflected in the government accounts and could be contingent liabilities and are not reflected in the books..

On top of this deficit the operational expenditure will yet again increase by 7 per cent or 10.6 billion ringgit from 152.2 to 162.8 billion ringgit, this is just administrative expenditure and does not contribute directly towards the development of the economy but instead shows a lack of prudence and operational inefficiency in the administration despite of projecting a slower economic growth of 5 to 6 per cent in 2011. Operating expenditures has more than doubled since 2004 when it was at about RM80 billion and now it is more than RM160 billion.

We will not go into details of the budget here as it is already written in by the various media and it is the intention to focus on the various multi billion mega-projects from the Najib government. And as usual they will not provide details like how the project is being funded until only when something goes wrong or when someone exposed some wrong doing.

As usual no details of any tender of the mega-projects are undertaken and are probably awarded on a friendly basis.

Let’s look at some of the mega-projects as announced today as follows:

• Mass Rapid Transit System: RM 43 billion transportation system for Kuala Lumpur and surrounding. Question: How is this project being funded and will the federal govt guarantee the funding?

• Kuala Lumpur International Financial District: This is a RM26 billion 34 hectares development in the Jalan Davis bordering the Imbi area which was earlier mistaken for the old Sungei Besi airbase project. A 1Malaysia Development Berhad joint venture with the Abu Dhabi Mubadala group.

• Warisan Merdeka: Another iconic landmark mega-development of RM 5 billion to be completed by 2015. Another project to be undertaken by Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB). This project covering an area of 15 hectares in the old Stadium Merdeka and Stadium Negara surrounding will include the 100 storey tallest building in Malaysia.

• Sungei Buloh development: Land privatization development owned by the Rubber Research Institute (RRI) of an area of 1350 hectares to be develop by EPF Employees Provident Fund with a value of RM10 billion.

• Nexus Karambunai, Sabah: An integrated eco-nature resort development at a cost of RM 3 billion. Question: RM3 billion to build a resort is a huge sum, is the federal govt providing the funds?

You can see that non of the above projects are private sector initiatives and all are government projects undertaken by government controlled entities like PNB, EPF, Khazanah and the new 1MDB or GLCs. And in the tradition of the Malaysian business culture, these projects are than handed out as usual to friendly parties with funds provided by or through the government. So where is the Private Sector as the engine of growth unless you deem PNB and EPF as private sector?

Some mega multi billion budget allocations are:

·        Education: For Restructuring and Strengthening RM 29.3 billion to the Education Ministry. RM 10.2 billion for the Higher Education Ministry and RM 627 million for the Human Resource Ministry.

·        Education: Another RM 6.4 billion to build and upgrade schools and etc.

·        Health: RM 15.2 billion for new hospitals and etc.

·        Defence: Allocated a total budget of RM 9.1 billion which is a reduction from RM 10.5 billion.

·        Corridor: RM 850 million for infrastructure support to the corridor and regional development.

·        1Malaysia Training Program: Allocation of RM 500 million. What’s this?

·        RM 1 billion allocated for the launching of the Bumiputra Property Trust Foundation. (No details provided).

The Total Budget allocation for 2011 is at RM 212 billion which is an increase of 2.8 per cent from 2010.

BN has been churning out huge mega-projects and some are still in the incubation stage like the:

• 160 hectares old Sungei Besi air base with an estimated value of RM 20 billion which has generated much stories of Jho Low, the bright young man seen as companion to Paris Hilton having had a hand in this much coveted mega multi billion project.

• Another mega-project of the 150 hectares of Kampung Baru land within the city centre of Kuala Lumpur, and PNB is again undertaking the redevelopment of over RM 20 billion in value.

• Riverside Garden City a 25 hectares redevelopment of the former Pekeliling Flats with the proposed futuristic revolving 60 storey skyscraper with a value of RM 12 billion.

• 9 hectares of government land in the Cochrane and
  Peel Road
  area with an estimated value of RM 10 billion to be develop again by 1MDB and EPF.

More multi billion projects that have been approved and about to be started or in progress like:

• MATRADE centre with 25 hectares of land in the Jalan Duta area to be undertaken by the Naza Group estimated at RM 15 billion value.

• Platinum Park in KLCC also by Naza Group that will incorporate the new iconic Felda Towers and a new Naza Towers. This is a development of RM 5 billion now under construction.

• Old Pudu Prison of 8.5 hectares with a value of RM 5 billion scheduled to start work by early 2011 to be developed by UDA Holdings Berhad.

• Eco City with 10 hectares of DBKL land next to Mid Valley City with a value of RM 6 billion to be jointly developed by another GLC of SP Setia Bhd and DBKL.

• On going KL Sentral of 30 hectares land with a value of RM 12 billion being developed by Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad.

This are just some of the mega projects as listed above and there are many more in the Klang Valley that will be quite lengthy to list them all here.

Now the wonder of Malaysia is that most of these multi billion mega-projects will all come on stream at about the same time as though like they are in real hurry to get it off the ground, most of these projects are all in the Kuala Lumpur area and you be the judge whether all these projects are sustainable.

Anyway, the advice to any investor will be to wait patiently on the sideline, waiting to pick up on the cheap when things go Bang! So, hurry keep your cash safely er.. somewhere really safe that it won’t be devalued…

Budget 2011: A budget for the big boys and civil servants

By Dr Lim Teck Ghee
There are several ways to analyze the budget. One is to take at face value what the Prime Minister has written in his blog just before his budget speech where he promised that it is “a budget by the rakyat”. By it, he explained that he had read through the more than 1,000 comments and suggestions from his readers and forwarded them to the Ministry of Finance to incorporate.
According to the PM, there were three key issues raised – employment, taxes and subsidies, and education.
In his words, “employment was the most frequently discussed with some of you calling for the implementation of a minimum wage policy”. Also, he noted that “comments from the youth requested for increased tax rebates for young families or ways to provide financial assistance in managing the rising cost of living”. As for education, the feedback on his blog related to concerns with education quality and the rising cost of education.
Now that the budget has been unveiled, it is clear that the civil servants preparing the budget have completely ignored the Prime Minister. Firstly, the implementation of the minimum wage policy has been further deferred for the umpteenth time. The only beneficiaries of wage reform appear to be security guards who deservedly see their minimum wages raised and female civil servants who will now have longer maternity leave.

As for education, whilst there is a substantial allocation to cater for recurring operational expenditure and some new infrastructural spending, there is nothing new in the budget that can allay the number one concern of middle-class Malaysians. Especially disappointing is the failure to grant relief for private higher education costs which are rising steeply.
Given the trend, it looks like higher education will soon be affordable only to those that can get into the public universities or those who have wealthy parents – and also perhaps those that can draw on financing from family members and Ah Longs.
Affordable housing has been very much in the news even if there have been few letters to the Prime Minister on the topic. It is now beyond the reach of many in the younger age group living in the larger towns and especially in the Klang Valley. There is no evidence in the budget of any official concern to tackle the problem.
There are also no measures aimed at curbing the rising cost of living. Why is there a lack of attention to addressing the rising costs of housing, transport and health as well as food? Part of the reason is the government’s Alice in Wonderland estimate of inflation – it has projected a figure of 2-3 per cent for the year. Further, according to the government’s estimate, Malaysians will be quite a bit wealthier in 2011 compared with 2010. Per capita income is expected to go up by 6.1 per cent to RM28,000, and income in terms of purchasing power parity will hit US$16,000.
This is of course data which does not reflect real life – just a hypothetical average. The majority of Malaysians will, in fact, not only feel but will indeed be poorer rather than richer in 2011 given the relentless rise in cost of living that is not reflected in the inflation data.
One group though that will not be poorer will be the big guns benefiting from the slew of mega projects contained in the budget. They include the planned erection of a RM5 billion tower. This is a potential monstrosity which will serve little purpose except bring to a standstill traffic in that congested part of the city. It is obscene that this is being done in the name of honouring the country’s heritage.
Hopefully citizen groups, residents in the area and heritage organisations can organise and bring pressure to bear on the government to stop this project before it gets off the ground.
As evidence of how poorly conceived the budget planning process has been, it should be noted that the budgeted amount for the year for all the corridor projects – which is supposed to help decentralise development and increase rural incomes and well-being in the other parts of the country – is only one-third of that allocated for this massive planned erection.
Other big ticket items such as the MRT may be economically more justifiable but they have to be closely monitored for the way in which project design, contractors and partners are selected. Already, there is talk of pre-determined winners even before the process of proper technical studies, evaluation and selection has commenced.
It is disappointing that the budget does not deal at all with the procurement issue which has resulted in wastage, inefficiency and higher costs to the average Malaysian in the last 30 years. Presumably we are going to see business as usual in the tenders for Private-Public Partnership projects and the continuation of “privatized gain and socialized losses”.
Another concern is that much of the budget continues to go into operating a bloated civil service. As much as three quarters of the national budget is spent on paying salaries and other benefits to over 1.3 million civil servants.
This means that of every dollar spent in the budget, 75 sen goes towards manning the civil service, leaving little left to carry out development work that can benefit the country’s population. There is clearly something fundamentally wrong in the way the country’s budget is being spent when so much of the allocation goes to paying for a sector that is generally regarded as unproductive and standing in the way of efficiency.
Finally, this is a budget that is touted as being friendly to business. The question is not only which and what businesses will benefit but also whether the projects undertaken will benefit the country.
From the listed projects, it appears that we are returning to the era of mega high-status, expensive projects which will provide little value-added to the Malaysian economy. Projects such as the proposed RM5 billion tower should be scrapped, and the resources spent instead on the expansion of public housing, transport, health and other badly needed amenities and services that can truly benefit the ordinary people.

 di cilok dari:-
http://hawkeyejack.blogspot.com
 http://ousel.blogspot.com
http://dragsuperstar.blogspot.com