By: Ramesh Chander, Murray Hunter, and Lim Teck Ghee
Last year’s Malaysian budget, which could only be characterized as racially contorted and politically driven, served neither the short- nor long-term needs of the nation, which has spent the better part of the past two decades in deficit and paying no attention to the revenue side. Now that an ostensibly reform-oriented government is in power, can it deliver a spending plan that addresses the shortcomings of earlier budgets which have squandered the nation’s considerable financial resources with relatively little return?
This upcoming fiscal package is the first real test of the Pakatan Harapan government and of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who has taken the finance portfolio for himself. This budget will be the test of how much of a reform government it can really be. For reform to begin in earnest, the new government must tackle the major challenges facing the country. Otherwise, this year’s exercise could end up as another instrumental agency misshaping the country’s socio-economic development further,…