7:00AM Jan 1, 2014
PM's cost-cutting makes not an 'iota of difference'
YOURSAY ‘You
want to do something effective, cut corruption and cronyism, then you
will see greater effects. As it is, this tiny cut won't even make a hair
of a difference.’
PM's allowance cuts 'do nothing' to stop wastage
Slumdog: The only people Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak will dupe and impress by cutting entertainment allowances for all ministers and deputy ministers in his cabinet by a paltry and insignificant 10 percent will be the kampung folks and Umno supporters.
Now we just wait for all the ministers to come out from under their rocks and make a big noise that they are making a big sacrifice for the benefit of the rakyat. Najib does not grasp what seems so obvious to the rakyat, to save expenditure by immediately ceasing direct negotiations in favour of open tenders, reduce the bloated civil service by 25 percent, end cronyism and nepotism.
Wonglo: The 11 so-called cost-saving measures are so ad hoc and piecemeal. They dare to splash it in the front-page headlines. I would have been ashamed to even announce it.
4dpeople: What good is this 10 percent cut going to do? How is it going to help the spiralling costs to be bourne by the rakyat? Instead of coming up with something firm, the PM of our country tries to hoodwink all of us with his show of self pity.
A reduction of 50 percent would be notable. Don't be silly lah PM, you can think of something better than this. The government cuts here and pockets from elsewhere. We all know this so please stop treating us like a bunch of kids.
Whatsup: What a joke! Not even enough to cover the electric bills. What about the billions of ringgits budgeted for the Prime Minister’s Office? Why not start from there instead of the negligible allowances? This only shows how insincere this PM is. We suffer while he, and all his family and cronies, continue their lavish lifestyle.
This could only mean one thing: we are in very serious situation, and coming right after GE13, also means that our situation was already worse before GE13 and yet this idiot continues to squander away our coffer. What a moron.
Cocomomo: Cut the bloated inefficient civil service by 50 percent to get rid of deadwood . For the balance increase their salary by 10 percent to 15 percent based on performance ratings to motivate them to work harder and more effectively .
Does BN dare to do this in the interest of the nation even though they will loose the vote of these deadwood? On the other hand, who else can these dead vote for and they will have to really go and find other other work and hopefully their attitudes will change for the better instead of living on the handouts paid our tax payments. Cut funding for programmes and government services that contribute to polarisation among the people. Mainly cut corruption.
Terjah: PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli, sometimes I respect you for making good statements. But this time I think you have overdone it. Please for God's sake don’t comment for the sake of commenting. You can look stupid if you keep on talking so much. I too disagree with Najib, on many issues, like price hikes, wastage of government funds etc.
But this time, Najib has does the ‘right' thing - cutting the allowances of cabinet ministers and senior government servants. At least he did this. What about Selangor MB Abdul Khalid Ibrahim and team, that increased their salaries up to 300 percent? This even angered Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim. He even suggested that the salary hike is too much and be reviewed to a more reasonable amount.
The best thing you in Pakatan Rakyat can do is to immediately announce a salary cut, say 50 percent of the hiked amount. Barulah nampak cerdik sikit (Then will you look a little bit smarter). Don’t just lambast Najib, but keep silent on Pakatan.
YUNoAnon: This "cut" is not even a needle poke in their expenses, much less a cut. You "cut" their benefits but they still gain from dirty means. You want to do something effective and efficient, cut corruption and cronyism, then you will see greater effects. As it is, this tiny cut won't even make a hair of a difference.
Onyourtoes: As I read through all these measures, they are nothing more than periphery measures that will not make an iota of difference to the national coffer. One open tender exercise instead of one opaque negotiated tender would have achieved all the saving the PM rant about. A proper supervision and monitoring of one mega project like KLIA2 to prevent cost overrun and delay would have overwhelmed all the puny savings he pretended to talk about.
One less overseas travel, one less executive jet flying around for fun, one less extravagant and white elephant projects, one less corruption, one less moronic privatisation exercise and concession given, one less devious and mispricing of bonds issued by the government and 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), and one less ceremonial and grandeur state investiture ceremonies will be sufficient to pay for all the fake savings he talked about.
The key is the national budget. The preparation and monitoring of our national budget is a sham. If the budget over provides, there will be over spending.
The PM should appoint me the director of national budget, provide me with 24 hours police security and I will balance the fiscal account for him in two years without addition tax measures. I am waiting for him to accept my offer. He just has to pay me Jusa C, without business class travel and with five percent cut in entertainment allowance.
Dark Knight: I agree more has to be done - not by cutting down on government expenditures resulting in inconsequential savings, but by firmly stopping wastage and leakages such as corruption and unnecessary projects and services that bleed the treasury. In short, the government must go back to the basics - of providing essential services to the people without the attendant wastage and leakages.
Lao kor: PM's cut on ministerial allowances is just peanut compared to well-known wastages and financial leakages from negotiated tenders. It helps nothing in relieving financial hardship the country is now facing. The right steps would be to cut expenses from area that can save huge amounts, which can reduce the country's debt situation and avoid cutting subsidies that causes price hikes at this bad time.
Tiredofsuchnonsense: Please don't fool us with your proposal to cut ministers' allowance by 10 percent. We would rather increase the salary and allowances of all ministers by 100 percent if you are able to quantify and cut leakages due to corruption by just 10 percent for a start. Allowances and salaries are not even peanuts compared to side income via corrupted means.
Louis: The public is not easily hoodwinked by this mere saving of about RM600,000. It is chicken feed. Rosmah's one-private trip overseas already account for 75 percent of the RM600,000. And what is the big deal in cutting only 10 percent of entertaining allowance? Many of them could reap much more outside from sponsors.
The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers.
PM's allowance cuts 'do nothing' to stop wastage
Slumdog: The only people Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak will dupe and impress by cutting entertainment allowances for all ministers and deputy ministers in his cabinet by a paltry and insignificant 10 percent will be the kampung folks and Umno supporters.
Now we just wait for all the ministers to come out from under their rocks and make a big noise that they are making a big sacrifice for the benefit of the rakyat. Najib does not grasp what seems so obvious to the rakyat, to save expenditure by immediately ceasing direct negotiations in favour of open tenders, reduce the bloated civil service by 25 percent, end cronyism and nepotism.
Wonglo: The 11 so-called cost-saving measures are so ad hoc and piecemeal. They dare to splash it in the front-page headlines. I would have been ashamed to even announce it.
4dpeople: What good is this 10 percent cut going to do? How is it going to help the spiralling costs to be bourne by the rakyat? Instead of coming up with something firm, the PM of our country tries to hoodwink all of us with his show of self pity.
A reduction of 50 percent would be notable. Don't be silly lah PM, you can think of something better than this. The government cuts here and pockets from elsewhere. We all know this so please stop treating us like a bunch of kids.
Whatsup: What a joke! Not even enough to cover the electric bills. What about the billions of ringgits budgeted for the Prime Minister’s Office? Why not start from there instead of the negligible allowances? This only shows how insincere this PM is. We suffer while he, and all his family and cronies, continue their lavish lifestyle.
This could only mean one thing: we are in very serious situation, and coming right after GE13, also means that our situation was already worse before GE13 and yet this idiot continues to squander away our coffer. What a moron.
Cocomomo: Cut the bloated inefficient civil service by 50 percent to get rid of deadwood . For the balance increase their salary by 10 percent to 15 percent based on performance ratings to motivate them to work harder and more effectively .
Does BN dare to do this in the interest of the nation even though they will loose the vote of these deadwood? On the other hand, who else can these dead vote for and they will have to really go and find other other work and hopefully their attitudes will change for the better instead of living on the handouts paid our tax payments. Cut funding for programmes and government services that contribute to polarisation among the people. Mainly cut corruption.
Terjah: PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli, sometimes I respect you for making good statements. But this time I think you have overdone it. Please for God's sake don’t comment for the sake of commenting. You can look stupid if you keep on talking so much. I too disagree with Najib, on many issues, like price hikes, wastage of government funds etc.
But this time, Najib has does the ‘right' thing - cutting the allowances of cabinet ministers and senior government servants. At least he did this. What about Selangor MB Abdul Khalid Ibrahim and team, that increased their salaries up to 300 percent? This even angered Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim. He even suggested that the salary hike is too much and be reviewed to a more reasonable amount.
The best thing you in Pakatan Rakyat can do is to immediately announce a salary cut, say 50 percent of the hiked amount. Barulah nampak cerdik sikit (Then will you look a little bit smarter). Don’t just lambast Najib, but keep silent on Pakatan.
YUNoAnon: This "cut" is not even a needle poke in their expenses, much less a cut. You "cut" their benefits but they still gain from dirty means. You want to do something effective and efficient, cut corruption and cronyism, then you will see greater effects. As it is, this tiny cut won't even make a hair of a difference.
Onyourtoes: As I read through all these measures, they are nothing more than periphery measures that will not make an iota of difference to the national coffer. One open tender exercise instead of one opaque negotiated tender would have achieved all the saving the PM rant about. A proper supervision and monitoring of one mega project like KLIA2 to prevent cost overrun and delay would have overwhelmed all the puny savings he pretended to talk about.
One less overseas travel, one less executive jet flying around for fun, one less extravagant and white elephant projects, one less corruption, one less moronic privatisation exercise and concession given, one less devious and mispricing of bonds issued by the government and 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), and one less ceremonial and grandeur state investiture ceremonies will be sufficient to pay for all the fake savings he talked about.
The key is the national budget. The preparation and monitoring of our national budget is a sham. If the budget over provides, there will be over spending.
The PM should appoint me the director of national budget, provide me with 24 hours police security and I will balance the fiscal account for him in two years without addition tax measures. I am waiting for him to accept my offer. He just has to pay me Jusa C, without business class travel and with five percent cut in entertainment allowance.
Dark Knight: I agree more has to be done - not by cutting down on government expenditures resulting in inconsequential savings, but by firmly stopping wastage and leakages such as corruption and unnecessary projects and services that bleed the treasury. In short, the government must go back to the basics - of providing essential services to the people without the attendant wastage and leakages.
Lao kor: PM's cut on ministerial allowances is just peanut compared to well-known wastages and financial leakages from negotiated tenders. It helps nothing in relieving financial hardship the country is now facing. The right steps would be to cut expenses from area that can save huge amounts, which can reduce the country's debt situation and avoid cutting subsidies that causes price hikes at this bad time.
Tiredofsuchnonsense: Please don't fool us with your proposal to cut ministers' allowance by 10 percent. We would rather increase the salary and allowances of all ministers by 100 percent if you are able to quantify and cut leakages due to corruption by just 10 percent for a start. Allowances and salaries are not even peanuts compared to side income via corrupted means.
Louis: The public is not easily hoodwinked by this mere saving of about RM600,000. It is chicken feed. Rosmah's one-private trip overseas already account for 75 percent of the RM600,000. And what is the big deal in cutting only 10 percent of entertaining allowance? Many of them could reap much more outside from sponsors.
The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers.
Comments
Post a Comment