By Debra Chong
Malaysian Insider
June 03, 2010
KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 — Datuk Seri Idris Jala’s plan to save Malaysia from going broke appears to be stillborn, as Umno’s constant attacks on the minister show that the Najib administration has no appetite for subsidy cuts.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak also appears to have distanced himself from Idris’ proposal, after he told the Perkasa-led Malay Consultative Council meeting last week that proposals to save RM103 billion in subsidies were not yet finalised.
“Idris’ proposal is stillborn. I don’t think the Najib administration has the courage to carry out the cuts… not across the board and not as Idris planned it,” DAP publicity chief Tony Pua said.
Analysts contacted by The Malaysian Insider agreed.
Ibrahim Suffian, from the independent Merdeka Center, observed that a lot of politicians were resisting the proposal because they know it is an unfavourable measure and will impact the way the public will vote at the next elections.
“The biggest impediment to Idris’ proposal is that the move is unpopular. People are getting upset. Why should they have to pay for someone else’s expenditure?” Ibrahim said.
“My sense is that given the unpopularity of this move, I think it will be shunted to one side,” he added.
The Barisan Nasional (BN), which has ruled the country since Independence 53 years ago, lost its traditional two-thirds control of Parliament in 2008 following a series of price hikes for petrol and other consumables announced by the Abdullah administration prior to the general elections.
The ruling coalition has yet to recover despite the number of opposition MPs crossing the floor and the spate of by-elections for federal seats in the last two years.
“It’s trying to commit suicide, politically,” said Dr Sivamurugan Pandian from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), repeating what politicians from both BN and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) told The Malaysian Insider previously.
The senior lecturer in social sciences added that Najib would not make any moves on the subsidy system unless he knows he has a strong mandate in the elections.
Najib, who is also the MP for Pekan, suffered a scare in the general election a decade ago and nearly lost the seat he inherited from his late father and Malaysia’s second prime minister, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Dr Agus Yusoff doubted the Najib administration had the political willpower to pull it off, noting the prime minister appeared to be distancing himself from Pemandu’s laundry list of proposed cuts
“It’s certainly not the right time… unless the government can come clean and take measures not to spend unnecessarily,” he said.
“Rakyat akan menolak (The people will reject it). There will be a public outcry bigger than the one in 2008,” Agus highlighted, referring to the shift in voting patterns in Election 2008.
“People can understand the economy and know we have to go for cuts, but they are not clear why… they can see from the by-elections [that the] government spends as if there is no problem with the economy, but after, they are told differently,” the academic related, referring to Idris’ sell on why the public has to bear the burden of increased prices after subsidies are cut.
The minister handpicked by Najib to head the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) has come under heavy fire lately since stating last week that Malaysia would be a bankrupt nation by 2019 unless Putrajaya slashed spending on subsidies soon.
The opposition bloc has been gunning at the ruling BN government over Idris’ pitch to the public on why they should shoulder Putrajaya’s increased spending.
But Umno politicians also appear bent on hanging Idris out to dry over his doomsday prophecy.
BN backbenchers say the Sarawakian minister’s prediction is “far-fetched”, Bernama reported yesterday, citing Umno MPs Datuk Seri Utama Shahrir Samad and Khairy Jamaluddin.
Former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad also entered the fray, saying Idris was “exaggerating” the country’s financial position even as he admitted the need for subsidies to be cut.
“Any cuts this year would be done piece-meal and involve only the ‘man-on-the-street subsidies,’” Pua said, describing the subsidies on petrol, sugar and flour, which are spread across a wider group of consumers.
“They’ll probably stagger the subsidy cuts, one every three to four months, as long as there is no by-election,” he predicted.