Two days ago our Prime Minister Datuk Sri Najib Tun Razak had tabled the national budget for year 2012. It was very clear from his gestures that the budget which was loaded with so much 'goodies' was meant to buy votes especially from his strong 'fixed-deposit' voters-the malays especially among the FELDA settlers.
He mentioned that the budget deficit was anticipated to lower down to about 4.7% although i really doubt about that figure, simply looking at how 'generous' he planned to spend the allocation as well as there was no concrete proofs to back his claims and the fact that our budgets have been in deficit for 14 over years!!!
I am also suspicious in his motion to extend the mandatory retirement age from 58 to 60 years old despite the fact that there are many graduates who are still unemployed or merely employed in the fields that are deviating from what they are trained for. Is this move indicating that the government is facing a problem to pay pension? Rumors have been circulating that all this while, the government is forking out money from public funds such as KWSP and Petronas for paying salary and development expenditure. Even allocation promised to the Universiti Sains Malaysia under the APEX programme is overdue. No wonder why the positions of our universities in the world ranking have plunged considerably.
However, what concerns me the most is that, majority of the measures introduced in this budget are 'one-off' in nature. Concrete measures for combating the high cost of living suffered by majority of the rakyat are lacking. Giving out money to the rakyat is just a temporary measure. The government should come out with a long term plan.
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