Datuk Seri Najib Razak failed his first test in Parliament as Finance Minister as he was nowhere around this morning to present a revised 2009 Budget for debate or to explain why a revised 2009 budget is not necessary.
When the Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim spoke this morning, the two blocks of Cabinet benches were totally empty – not a single Cabinet Minister was present.
Not only the second Finance Minister even the two deputy Finance Ministers were absent.
Where have they gone to? What could be more important than the start of the parliamentary debate on the 2009 Budget unless Parliament is totally unimportant in their eyes.
In fact, as I pointed out to the House, there was not a single official representative of the government who was present in the House to respond to the Pakatan Rakyat demand that the new Finance Minister should present a revised 2009 budget because the whole set of the 2009 Budget data tabled in Parliament on August 29 had been made obsolete in the past six weeks by the worst economic crisis confronting the world in 80 years.
In fact, the Barisan Nasional government has lost all sense of direction and is presenting a spectacle of a “headless administration” in Parliament – may be this was why there was the need for an “agricultural” study tour of BN MPs to Taiwan last month!
Anwar said UMNO and Barisan Nasional Ministers are guilty of “arrogance of power”
They are also guilty of the height of irresponsibility and contempt for Parliament.
Umno Ministers are more preoccupied with the Umno crisis and party elections than the world economic crisis and its impact on Malaysia – when the party crisis of Umno and other Barisan Nasional component parties after the March 8 “political tsunami” must be completely subsidiary and subordinate to the larger economic crisis facing the country as a result of the global financial meltdown.
Sad and pathetic that Parliament will have to debate an outdated and obsolete 2009 Budget – which cannot inspire confidence in the new Finance Minister or the entire BN Cabinet. Debating history of budget instead of budget for 2009.
#1 by budak on Tuesday, 14 October 2008 - 11:32 am
Najis comfirmed nor better than Pak Lah… :-)
from afar Rakyat sense his arrogances…
from near only Saifool will knows…
#2 by khairi ali on Tuesday, 14 October 2008 - 11:49 am
Its a tit for tat situation. Formerly only opposition leave their benches, n now the disease spread to the ruling sector.
S a citizen I dont want this to continue. So can I have a confirmation from all sectors in parliament?
#3 by wesuffer on Tuesday, 14 October 2008 - 11:57 am
bodoh B. once again abuse of power to help to clean najis saying. he is nothing to do with altantuya.
he has not right to get involve and give comment.
he sure ask police to investigate fair and serious investigation
#4 by wesuffer on Tuesday, 14 October 2008 - 12:01 pm
next GE, rakyat will send hapuskan BN. cos BN with a murderer leader
#5 by Godfather on Tuesday, 14 October 2008 - 12:15 pm
Don’t call my bisnes partner Kasim Amat a retard. He’s just a little slow, that’s all. If he were to be as fast as I am, then there would be no role for me in our Ali Baba venture.
With the return of Mahathirism, we are looking forward to the renewal of our Alli Baba venture – he supplies the connections (no real brains needed) and I do all the work. Win-win situation. Long live UMNO !
#6 by Reborn on Tuesday, 14 October 2008 - 12:40 pm
The fact is …… people are losing confidence at both sides, government and opposition ! They are just about the same. Talk good for nothing.
#7 by waterfrontcoolie on Tuesday, 14 October 2008 - 12:46 pm
I was watching the ABC interview of Megalomania, and I can understand how much Anwar has been occupying his thought. If you listen carefully, when talking about AAB, he mentioned Anwar Badawi! so much for his confidence that Anwar would never become the PM of Malaysia!
#8 by ahoo on Tuesday, 14 October 2008 - 1:03 pm
Malaysia is probably one of the only country in the world that can weather the storm of the shocking financial meltdown. For we have the spirit of ” Malaysia Bolih ” mah ! In all things just shout bolih and it will indeed be bolih. How I wish it can be that simple and as such those in debts can just tell their bankers that they will surely pay, but someday when they have pysche up their bolih spirit.
Why they are not in Parliament, only they and their cronies know. Maybe busy cutting losses in their oversea investments or busy with their personal budgets. One of the first task for a new govt is to amend the parliamenterian act in allowing a select committee to sacked those absentee if they have missed parliament session too many times. This power should not be vasted only in the speaker alone as he is not being impartial as he is from a friendly camp.
Since the ministers are all not respecting the honour of the august house, can I as citizen also not respect the honour of the IRD, where paying taxes is indeed a pain for me when the minister involved with the country’s cashflow has no sense of interest.
#9 by Emily Pratt on Tuesday, 14 October 2008 - 1:24 pm
Godfather said: “Don’t call my bisnes partner Kasim Amat a retard. He’s just a little slow, that’s all. If he were to be as fast as I am, then there would be no role for me in our Ali Baba venture.
With the return of Mahathirism, we are looking forward to the renewal of our Alli Baba venture – he supplies the connections (no real brains needed) and I do all the work. Win-win situation. Long live UMNO !”
==============================================
The Funniest poster award goes to Godfather.
#10 by jacksojulian on Tuesday, 14 October 2008 - 1:34 pm
human1,
We are arguing on the wise spending of our budget. Injection of monetary into the public has many ways and must serve the purpose, construction industry is one of the tools, and it always abused by the government of Malaysia.
Look into problems indepth:-
1. Contractors in Malaysia obviously divided into 2 groups, public job contractors that registered with PKK Class A (for unlimited contract amount) and CIDB G7. Another group is private development contractors and almost all in housing industry sector. If the government to implement more mega projects, the likely benefactors are the government appointed agents like UEM, MRCB, Putrajaya Holdings, Gamuda and etc. The subsequent sub-contractors with cut throat price after profits have been sucked up, are facing high possibility of making loss.
As for the private development, most developers will cut investment due to low demand on housing, their contractors and sub-contractors will left out from this monetary injection plan. If they have to wait until the economy stable and housing demand back to positive, this means they will be dead (or hibernated if they lucky) at least for this 1-2 years.
2. The average construction material costs and labour costs ratio is 70 : 30. This means 30% of the monetary injection will go to foreign workers like Indonesian, Filipinos, Bangladeshi, Indian, Chinese etc. If include the construction material factories, the percentage monetary of foreign workers received will be around 35 -40%. How about average Malaysian??
I am not against mega projects, but it must be worth for investment and make the economy “sustainable”. A wrong investment and waste of fund will burn a hole in our treasury’s pocket.
#11 by sham_turbo82 on Tuesday, 14 October 2008 - 2:53 pm
It is quite obvious that the BN gov is scared sh*tless and a good indication that they have no idea how to tackle the global financial meltdown. They can only spew out their rhetorics of ‘Malaysia is Stable, Good, Well Managed’ Yeah right!
malaysianagainstracism.blogspot.com
#12 by Emily Pratt on Tuesday, 14 October 2008 - 3:07 pm
Kassim Amat said:
“Absent from Parliament does not mean the government is afraid to face Anwar.”
=============================================
No, but it is highly irresponsible and almost verging on dereliction of duties.
Kassim Amat said: “It is because we feel totally unnecessary to debate with him on such matter which does not benefit anyone at all. Any responsible politicians will know that the budget has been approved and there is no need to have any revision just because of the financial meltdown in the US. The US has made a huge mistake and the consequences should go back to them and should not be shared by other countries.”
=============================================
You are not debating with DSAI, you are debating against another bone fide MP, who do not share the same views on the ruling bloc.
Budget is a piece of plan, and it must be flexible enough to accomodate changing economic and financial scenarios. Stubbornly adhering to the budget is being sheer lazy and abdicating responsibilities.
Kasim Amat said: “Furthermore, Malaysia’s economy is strong and robust enough to withstand any financial crisis. Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi also said Malaysia is not affected by this crisis.”
==============================================
I do not believe The Idiot’s statement anymore.. he has shown a consistency to lie.
Kasim Amat: “It is very obvious that the opposition is using it as an excuse to attack the government and later try to pass no-confidence motion. We feel tired to see this old trick being used again and again. We feel that they are totally wasting time to argue over something that was over and done with.”
==============================================
Obviously the opposition should attack the budget, because it is simply out of touch with the fast changing circumstances. The only wasting time I agree is that why the Pakatan is wasting time with Losers like BN and why they have not ask for the Vote of No Confidence yet.
Kasim Amat: “I believe our people are wise enough to see that so far, the only thing PR does is to argue over everything they could argue but did not come up with any that is constructive and sustainable. I feel ashamed for the people who still continue to give supports to this cunning liar and traitor.”
=============================================
Hey, YB LKS, didn’t MP PJ Utara (Tony Pua) did put up an alternative budget in his blog previously, are you guys going to use that as template and fine tune it to present it as an alternative budget for the country?
#13 by Emily Pratt on Tuesday, 14 October 2008 - 3:18 pm
melurian said: “though i want bijan down with aab together, but must be fair too with bijan also, he’s just recently promoted to finance minister, previously he’s defence, portfolio that no related with money – mana ada masa to study out the budget! you orang mesti gila punya to think he’s superman can absorb whole budget in 1 mth. even he’s economy background, he’s no lky or cambridge 1st stud lah….”
==============================================
We don’t expect him to be genius, but what about the economic advisors from the EPU? The Treasury? Bank Negara? What are these guys doing? Sleeping? If he is a serious PM material, he should already be well verse with the budget… instead he is too busy playing masak masak with The idiot/nincompoop/bodoh from kepala batas.
melurian said: “parlimen is for bbc only, menteri got important things to deal rather doing idle chat with oppos that kept goal shifting, tak bermatlamat langsung….. what’s more important to negotiate billion investment deal with potential investors and discussing peaceful power transfer than empty talks.”
=============================================
I just do not how to answer you when you treat the august house with such discontent… go play with your masak masak toys… let the adults do the talking from now on OK.
#14 by melurian on Tuesday, 14 October 2008 - 3:54 pm
“We don’t expect him to be genius, but what about the economic advisors from the EPU? The Treasury? Bank Negara? ”
gila, the fact these advisors particularly dr zeti aziz din raise the flag that means semuanya ok. the fact finance ministry/cabinet din want to talk on current budget that means malaysia ok to overcome the storm… maybank is no lehmann, bnm is no bank of america, and bank rakyat just posted profit! the fact is anwar like his old antic enjoying gaining attention, particular his first day in parlimen (and greeted with empty seats from pm and dpm) after 10yrs of absense. and you orang termakan his trick, just like this 916 trickery (and not 128)….
parlimen is where oppos just talk but no do, where as cabinet meeting is action louder than walk. and instead of bickering with the attention seeker, why no channel the time and effort to attracting investors and peaceful power transition instead….
#15 by Stephenlsa on Tuesday, 14 October 2008 - 5:13 pm
Parliment is not a place for berbincangan only, parliment is a place for the representative of all Malaysian, the ahli parliment to raise out not only Pakatan Rakyat question but the all Malaysian concern. Menteri can not simply absent without reason since they need to answer the question of all Malaysian , not only Pakatan Rakyat. Since budjet 2009 is a concerned of many Malaysian, why not they go to parliment and membentang and answer the question. The absent of YB Najib, YB Nor Omar , the two vice menteri is terrible, is that all of them went to negotiate of investment which needed all four of them absent to gain busness for Malaysia. The time for parliment meeting is already short, if the member frequently absent, what for to choose them, PARLIMENT is one of the three most important substances of Malaysia, not just for suka-suka bincang then mari, tak suka tak mari.
#16 by Old.observer on Tuesday, 14 October 2008 - 6:06 pm
Kasim Amat Says:
Yesterday at 22: 46.42
“Absent from Parliament does not mean the government is afraid to face Anwar. It is because we feel totally unnecessary to debate with him on such matter which does not benefit anyone at all. Any responsible politicians will know that the budget has been approved and there is no need to have any revision just because of the financial meltdown in the US. ”
REPLY: Kasim, wrong. In a true democratic nation, the Parliament is not a mere rubber stamp. The debate is absolutely necessary to provide check and balance. The Budget may be approved by BN, but not entire Parliament. There is a huge difference. To claim it is approved by Parliament is arrogant at the least, and downright lie. Don’t lie Kasim!
“The US has made a huge mistake and the consequences should go back to them and should not be shared by other countries. ”
REPLY: Irrelevant. If other countries have invested in the toxic assets, they suffer. Not a question of should or should not, but an issue of fact.
“Furthermore, Malaysia’s economy is strong and robust enough to withstand any financial crisis. Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi also said Malaysia is not affected by this crisis.”
REPLY: Ass-u-me-ption. Dangerous. It would be stupid to blindly believe this propoganda.
“It is very obvious that the opposition is using it as an excuse to attack the government and later try to pass no-confidence motion.”
REPLY: No. It is very obvious the government MPs are being utterly and completely irresponsible when they skip Parliamentary sessions. Anyone can see this.
“We feel tired to see this old trick being used again and again. We feel that they are totally wasting time to argue over something that was over and done with.”
REPLY: Yes, I am sick and tired of BN MPs ignoring Parliament and ignoring the check and balance process. BN MPs think they are God is it?
“I believe our people are wise enough to see that so far, the only thing PR does is to argue over everything they could argue but did not come up with any that is constructive and sustainable.”
REPLY: There is an easy way to test this. Get BN MPs to resign, hand over power to PR, and we’ll see who is constructive.
“I feel ashamed for the people who still continue to give supports to this cunning liar and traitor.”
REPLY: I feel ashamed for the people who still continue to give support to irresponsible BN MPs who are not just total outright liars, but a true traitor to Malaysian Rakyats!
Old Observer
#17 by yau381 on Tuesday, 14 October 2008 - 6:44 pm
What we hear from the Finance Ministry, 2nd Finance Minister, each time when he need to say something for the pressman :
” Our banking sector is flushed with liquidity. We can weather the storm. We will not fall into a recession unlike the United States. Our GDP growth is stable and we are within the expected range forecasted earlier. We are resilient to this global meltdown crisis and this was supported by the BN Governor. Our exports have grown and we have a surplus in our balance of trade.”
These remarks are historical and a mismatch in present scenario. Everyday is a different scenario. Markets move very fast and we need to reevaluate the present indicators, like falling commodities prices, falling oil prices, our weak MYR vs the USD, tightening of banks’ lending policies, ….. where are we heading to as a trading nation with the big boys ?
Our performance for 3Q2008 and 4Q2008 would reveal some interesting figures for the KLCI to take a dive towards the 750 points level soon. Investors be cautious in your dealings as we are very near to it.
#18 by simon041155 on Wednesday, 15 October 2008 - 3:16 pm
Is it any surprise that Najib was nowhere around to present a revised 2009 Budget for debate or to explain why a revised 2009 budget is not necessary?
You think a revised 2009 Budget has been prepared? And you must have such high regards for Najib to think that he can explain why a revised budget is or is not necessary. I won’t be surprised if he can’t even understand the budget. So what better way to opt for than to do the disappearing act and be thought a fool, rather than open his mouth to confirm it, LOL.