MP SPEAKS | PKR's Budget 2023 proposals for the government

MP SPEAKS | MPs Nurul Izzah Anwar (Permatang Pauh), myself - Wong Chen (Subang), and Fuziah Salleh (Kuantan) represented PKR at a recent pre-budget meeting with Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

The meeting was on Sept 13 in Putrajaya and was billed as a pre-budget meeting between Pakatan Harapan and the minister. It was held on my initiative after I contacted the minister on Aug 29.

After the meeting, the parties agreed to have at least one more meeting before Oct 7, the day slated for Budget 2023 to be tabled in Parliament.

As some parties have issued separate media statements on the meeting, PKR is now issuing one as well. Unlike other parties, PKR started its dialogue with Zafrul differently by focusing on the fundamental fiscal problems of revenue.

On that front, PKR asked the government to ensure that revenue projections for 2023 are accurate, true and fair. We have also urged the government not to repeat previous mistakes of projecting revenue too optimistically or illogically. 

PKR is very firm on this matter; a wrongful projection of revenue will not only disrupt the operations of the government next year but also cause a negative cascading effect on the overall expenditure.

Subsidies, Petronas, among others

Noting the recent spike in the cost of subsidies to RM77.7 billion, PKR urged the government to start exploring in earnest other sources of revenue such as the progressive capital gains tax on shares and inheritance tax and to come back with some models for us to consider.

We also suggested the government direct Petronas to revamp and reduce the high profit margins of all of its vendors.

By implementing a more competitive, transparent and accountable vendors policy, PKR believes that Petronas’ profits should dramatically improve. We argued that these increased profits will be crucial to help reduce the unsustainable national debt level.

On development expenditure, we cautioned the government to tighten up on all mega projects, irrespective of whether these are directly funded or via private finance initiatives, and only pursue those which are already ongoing for completion or deemed absolutely necessary.

These projects should be done on a strictly competitive and open-tender basis, priced fairly and most importantly, ensure that they are able to generate real economic multiplier benefits.

For too long, the costs of mega projects have been corruptly inflated, resulting in no, or at best, minimal economic multipliers.

On operating expenditure, we are aware that there is in fact limited capacity of the government to pursue new policies, and as such PKR urged the government to focus more on subsidies for 2023.

We are aware that a sizeable portion of most subsidies is lost to abuses and smuggling activities. We are also of the view that the current universal petrol subsidy is unsustainable and benefits the rich much more than the B40, and as such suggested the government explore tiered pricing and cash transfers as possible solutions.

On currency and inflation, we asked that Bank Negara be given freedom from undue political influence to pursue a prudent monetary policy. We also asked the government to direct GLICs to reduce their foreign equities portfolio and to return the money to Malaysia, so to defend the ringgit.

After sharing our views on the bigger fiscal and economic issues, PKR then presented a list of 12 economic, political and social policies to help the rakyat. We took the position of explaining and highlighting these policies and then we asked the government to consider the same and indicate possible budget allocations in the next meeting.

The 12 policies are:

(1) to expedite the approval of migrant worker permits to help SMEs and employers recover from the pandemic;
(2) to address the learning loss of our students during the pandemic;
(3) to help the tourism industry with workers and capital as the industry can be a good income source to help defend our currency;
(4) to be much friendlier to foreign residents who bring in much-needed capital, skills and economic consumption;
(5) to address food insecurity by empowering farmers and fisherfolk, and improving supply chain logistics;
(6) to boost technical and vocational education and training, and address the perennial underemployment issues;
(7) to prepare now for floods and to set aside a sizeable fund for rescue and relief efforts;
(8) to improve on gender-responsive budgeting and to ensure ministries comply in terms of reporting;
(9) to budget and prepare for the passing of the Parliamentary Services Act, and to move the constituency development funds to Parliament from the Prime Minister’s Office;
(10) to ensure the full rollout of HPV vaccines for girls in all schools;
(11) to further promote the implementation of sustainable development goals at all levels of government; and
(12) to allocate an adequate budget to properly monitor climate change and prepare for carbon trading.

WONG CHEN is Subang MP.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.