The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, seemed bent on announcing his restructured 2015 Budget tomorrow.
This will mean that the revised 2015 Budget is made not only without parliamentary sanction or approval, but also without Cabinet approval or sanction.
This is because the Cabinet would only meet the day after on Wednesday, January 21 2015.
This is most irregular and improper, revising the 2015 Budget after the Dewan Rakyat had approved the original budget on Nov. 25 after more than a month of debate, both on general policy as well as during the detailed committee stage, by MPs from both the Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat in the Dewan Rakya
This could only mean that what the MPs from both BN and PR had said on the 2015 Budget, both during the policy and committee stage debate, were an utter waste of time, resources and effort as far as the Finance Minister was concerned!
Now Najib proposes to announce his revised 2015 budget tomorrow, when clearly it has not been cleared or approved by the Cabinet.
What all this means is that the Prime Minister had developed a most deplorable and regrettable disregard and even contempt not only for the views of BN MPs, but also BN Ministers as well!.
Just as the Federal Government had relied on series of pre-budget dialogues before the formulation of each year’s budget, there should also be a series of pre-Budge Revision dialogues to hear the views of the public as to how the government should react to the latest economic crisis.
Who is Najib relying on to review and restructure the 2015 Budget – his highly-paid army of international consultants and advisers who have already landed Malaysia in much grief because of the inappropriate and even ill-advised policies.
For over three months, Najib had simply ignored calls, including from DAP, to revise the 2015 Budget because of fast-changing international economic developments, especially the sharp fall in the prices of crude oil as well as other commodities.
Najib’s father, Tun Razak made a name for himself with his “red book” approach, making visits all over the country to uplift rural development.
But Najib’s most characteristic quality after more than five years as Prime Minister is to be hands-off rather than hands-on like his father, establishing general indifference as the hallmark of Tun Razak’s premiership!
DAP proposes a two-day special Parliament meeting on Jan 26 and 27 on the revised 2015 Budget instead of Najib unilaterally announcing restructuring of the 2015 Budget in utter contempt not only of Parliament but also of Cabinet.
From tomorrow onwards, the Federal Cabinet can conduct pre-budget revision dialogues to hear the people’s views and proposals on how best the country respond to the economic crisis.