KUCHING: Malaysia needs first to address issues of collusion, corruption, abuse of power, wastage and leaks in government agencies, as well as the bloated civil system, in order to become a high-income country, said Eric Tay Tze Kok.
The Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Youth chairman added that Malaysia must quicken the implementation of Industrial Revolution 4.0 reforms in order to modernise the industrial production value chain, boost production automation, and reduce its reliance on foreign labour.
Tay said this in response to former Pakatan Harapan (PH) Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng warning on June 22, 2019 that Sarawak’s only 30 billion reserves would be exhausted by the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) in three years and hence lead to the state’s bankruptcy.
“He (Lim) believes that only PH is capable of saving Sarawak from going under.
“Since then, three years have passed without Sarawak filing for bankruptcy, seeing a decline in its reserves, or witnessing a halt to foreign investment. The divisive political rhetoric of Lim Guan Eng demonstrates his lack of economic knowledge,” he said in a statement.
He went on to say that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) defines national bankruptcy in 2022 as a situation in which a country’s financial revenues are not enough to cover its need for foreign exchange to import goods, its sovereign debt exceeds its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or its government revenue is insufficient to cover its fiscal expenditure.
Tay added that when a nation declares bankruptcy, the consequences — which include inflation, unemployment, and currency depreciation — are borne by the people, placing political pressure on the defaulting government as a result.
“Recently, the Minister of Finance Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz reassured Malaysians that the country would not go bankrupt and that Bank Negara still had US$106 billion (RM472 billion) in foreign reserves.
“With the ringgit still strong, the government has repaid RM43.1 billion of debt this year, which accounted for 18.4 per cent of total government revenue.
“However, the political risk and the continuation of blanket subsidies and distribution of grants to please the people will place our economy in a vulnerable position as we are compelled to borrow more debts,” he said.
He added the people anticipate the upcoming 15th General Election (GE15) would result in a stable administration besides hoping that the new administration will pursue an open, merit-based policy, treat all races equally, and attract foreign investment to hasten the recovery of the economy.
“Malaysia’s economic dilemma must be resolved by this generation, not the next” he said.
In order to strengthen Sarawak’s negotiating position with the federal government on the MA63 issues and protect Sarawak’s rights and interests, he hoped that the GPS coalition wins the vast majority of the 31 seats in the GE15.
Recently Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob was reported to have said the Malaysian government has established a committee to address the inflation and keep the inflation at a rate of 3.4 per cent as of June making Malaysia the lowest in Southeast Asian countries.
Ismail Sabri had also reassured that Malaysia would have no trouble servicing its debts and purchasing imported goods.
