On any other occasion, the RM2
billion in wage hikes for the civil service and RM2.5 billion in direct aid
pledged by Datuk Seri Najib Razak in his budget speech last October would have
been considered a whopping sum.
But the Prime Minister was
pre-empted by the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (People's Pact) who proposed RM12.8
billion of direct stimulus in their alternative budget.
The race to throw money - real
or hypothetical - at voters is not unusual for any election year. But federal
polls that must be called by April 2013 will come after inflation persisted at
above 3 per cent since March last year before easing to 2.7 per cent in
January.
Since taking office in April
2009, Najib has steered economic growth to a 10-year high of 7.2 per cent in
2010. Conversely the consumer price index touched a 27-month high of 3.5 per
cent in June last year as his administration raised the price of controlled
goods such as fuel and electricity as it sought to keep its subsidy bill in
check.
A survey by independent
pollsters Merdeka Center last August found that Najib's approval rating was at
59 per cent, sliding down from 72 per cent the previous year with the rising
cost of living the foremost issue in the mind of voters.
Both coalitions have been quick
to respond with Najib's ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front) announcing
last July that cost of living would join crime and corruption as national key
result areas under his administration's Government Transformation Programme.
The government also put off the
introduction of a goods and services tax and said in January it would spend
RM200 million more on sugar subsidies this year, absorbing 54 sen instead of
the previous 20 sen per kilogramme of sugar to maintain the price at RM2.30
because the "global price of sugar is skyrocketing."
This came despite a
"subsidy rationalisation" plan put in place since 2010 to help cut
the fiscal deficit from a 22-year high of 7 per cent of GDP in 2009 and calls
to scrap sugar subsidies as the prevalence of diabetes in Malaysia had
increased more than seven-fold in the past 50 years.
Pakatan also promised in its
alternative budget that it was ready to roll out a RM1,100 per month minimum
wage nationwide and its government in Selangor, the richest state in the
country, committing to paying a RM1,500 salary to all employees of the state
and state-linked companies.
Barisan responded earlier this
month, saying it will unveil a national policy within weeks despite warnings
from employers that it would put up to four million jobs at risk.
But the eagerness to break the
bank comes in lean times and whoever takes power after the 13th general
election will be faced with the prospect of fulfilling promises while managing
a national debt that hit 54 per cent of GDP at the end of 2011, the third
successive year public debt was worth more than half the economy.
Jerome Martin is a
political analyst and humourist. Some might say both are the same. But he finds
that humour can in fact be used to reveal the truth.
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