Alternative Budget shows Pakatan viability, says PAS leader

By Melissa Chi

Tuan Ibrahim urged voters not to be taken in by the “morphine injections” in the 2012 Budget. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 — As Pakatan Rakyat (PR) prepares to unveil a comprehensive alternative Budget tomorrow, PAS information chief Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man today urged voters consider the momentous step as a sign that the opposition pact was ready to govern in Putrajaya. PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli said yesterday that PR will release its alternative Budget around noon tomorrow.

The unveiling will pre-empt Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s expected tabling of his Budget 2012 in Parliament on October 6.
“Take this opportunity to study which budget will ensure peace and prosperity for all, instead of the budget that only injects morphine to ‘numb’ the people from the pain until the next general elections,” Tuan Ibrahim said today.
“Once the morphine effect is gone, every raise given will be taken back in the form of price hikes and GST (goods and services tax), which will be implemented if the Umno-BN rules again.”
Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has said PR’s Budget will allow Malaysians to compare the economic policies of the two political opposites using the same yardstick.
The alternative Budget will include income and expenditure projections, allocations for government ministries and will highlight policy differences between the rival coalitions.
The prime minister said last month that Budget 2012 would focus on tackling the surge in living costs and strengthening the local economy.
The Malaysian Insider understands that Najib is also mulling a hefty bonus or pay increase for all 1.3 million civil servants to counter higher living costs and shore up support among government staff ahead of possible snap polls next year.
source : The Malaysian Insider