National budget is full of propaganda, says Chong

KUCHING: Sarawak DAP has described as propaganda Prime Minister Najib Razak’s proposed budget which he claims will be the driving force to drive Malaysia into a high income society in 2012.

“This is a mere propaganda,” said Chong, DAP Secretary, when commenting on the proposed budget 2012 announced by the Prime Minister.

Najib had said that the budget would be inclusive, people-centric and accelerate the transformation efforts.

“It will be another milestone towards a developed and high income economy by 2020,” Najib said.

Reacting to this Chong said: “Since Najib made the announcement of new economic model (NEM) back in March 2010, Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and other plans, we have not seen any benefit coming out from the announcement of such economic models.

“A lot of slogans and a lot mega economic models and yet we have not seen the benefit coming from such announcements.

“Instead we feel the pinch with the increase in prices of sugar and RON97,” said Chong who is the MP for Bandar Kuching.

He said that sugar was RM1.45 per kilo in December 2009, but now it is RM2.30 per kilo. Likewise, RON97 was RM2.10 per litre in July in 2010. Today it is RM2.90 per litre.

He said that car owners are forced to change to use sub-standard petrol.

“My questions to Najib are. Has he overspent during the Sarawak state election in order to lure voters to vote for the Barisan Nasional?

“Has he spent too much in 1Malaysia parties, 1Malaysia gifts, and 1Malaysia lucky draws so much so that now he has to increase the petrol and sugar prices in order to pay the debts over the expenditure of 1Malaysia parties,” he said.

That seemed to be the case especially when the prices of sugar and petrol have been increased just after the Sarawak state election, said Chong who is the newly elected Kota Sentosa assemblyman.

Asked whether it is an election budget, he said that every year Najib made slogans saying that ‘1Malaysia: the people first and performance now’.

He said that in the proposed budget Najib also mentioned the same thing that ‘people first and performance now’.

“This is May and five more months before the budget will be presented, he has already made the same slogan ‘people first performance now’.

“This is all hot airs,” Chong added.

Quoting a report of the World Bank, he said that brain drain from the country continues, and Sarawak is one of the worst scenario cases.

“In the report, Sarawak’s brain drain is among the worst of the worst. This is because it lacks job opportunities and high costs of living with very low pay,” he said.