Belanjawan Pakatan [against Belanjawan Negara]

None of the above understands economic or public finance
says A Voice in ... Turned on by a meaningless budget

Updated:  I didn't call it a stupid budget ..

Bukan Belanjawan Negara ...

Original Article:
I was hoping that Anwar Ibrahim & Co will have more to offer in their "shadow" 2013 than just entertainment value. So far, it has inspired some OK jokes on Twitter. But like I pointed out to YB Nazmi, it should be Belanjawan Negara and NOT Belanjawan Pakatan. If you think I'm trying to be petty, just imagine if the Umno guys decide to call it Belanjawan Umno, gelak tak?

On Twitter, someone feigned surprise that Anwar did not propose the setting up of a Pakatan Airways. I didn't catch the joke at first, until someone had to thrown in the  broad hint: private jet, lah! Ah, so ... My bad. That private jet business is going to hurt like the Sept 16 failed takeover of Putrajaya back in 2008.

Underlying the jokes, the bantering and the outright quarrels over the "alternative" budget Pakatan Rakyat is trying to use to score points over Najib and the real Belanjawan Negara he will be tabling tomorrow is a simple fact: the lack of credibility. There's also a dire lack of experience. Anwar was Finance Minister and Dr Mahathir got him to table some Budgets as a preparation to make him his successor during the mid 1990s, but apart from the appendix of tough Malay words that he had made a feature in "his" Bajets, he has not made a major impact. Nowhere near what Daim Zainuddin suceeded in pulling off each time.

In the 2013 Budget, Anwar will be seen as desperately trying to dismantle, abolish and undo whatever achievements made by the ruling Government. In doing so, he even overlooks the fact that some of those policies were agreed upon or devised when he was in the Government, when he was in a hurry to become the PM. The GST, for example, was already talked about when he was Finance Minister. Strangely, now Rafizi, his strategic thinker, says GST is a "ploy" to conceal the ills of the economy, an economy that has many in the developed West green with envy!

What's most disturbing is Belanjawan Pakatan's appetite for abolishing successful schemes (such as PPPTN, which has benefited thousands of students from poor families) and demolishing growth agents (such as 1MDB, which is undertaking the Tun Razak Exchange which will rival Singapore's financial centre). I could not help to tweet that perhaps Anwar is out to destroy everything that starts with "1" because of its association with the Prime Minister's 1Malaysia concept. But then his wife is 1Azizah, no? Hehe.

In any case, 1MDB must be doing all the right things for Anwar Ibrahim to fear and want so much to kill. Perhaps Pakatan Rakyat should think again: some 1.5 million people benefit directly or indirectly from 1MDB's CSR programs alone. Must these people be collateral damage for one man's political survival?

Of course, the answer is no, they shouldn't. But then, this is Belanjawan Pakatan Rakyat, not Belanjawan Negara or Belanjawan Rakyat after all ...

May be continued ...