Forget politics, if GST is good then bring it back, PH told
KUCHING: Swallow your pride and reintroduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) — that was what the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government was told to do yesterday.
Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said pride should not get in the way of any decision if that decision is good for the people and the country as a whole.
Abdul Karim, who was asked over the phone for his comments on Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s readiness to reconsider GST’s return, called for politics to be set aside in the interest of the general public.
Earlier yesterday Dr Mahathir was reported as saying, “If the people believe GST is better, we will study.”
One of PH’s promises to Malaysians in the run up to GE14 was that it would scrap GST if it took over Putrajaya, which it did last year.
However, ever since the implementation of the SST, Malaysians have expressed their disdain for it, saying it has failed to bring in the money that the government needs to improve the economy. Calls to bring back GST have grown louder in recent days.
A Bernama report on Wednesday for example said the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) chairman Tan Sri Kamal Salih had urged the government to reintroduce the GST in the 2020 Budget, but at a lower rate of three percent.
Kamal said the GST was the system that kept the government afloat when the crude oil price declined to below US$36 per barrel in 2015.
“The GST is a fair system — some people said it is regressive because the poor would be affected. But we have exclusion clauses that will protect the lower income group, or B40,” Kamal was quoted as saying.
Abdul Karim, who is also the Youth and Sports Minister, said: “GST is widely accepted and implemented worldwide, if they have to swallow their pride and reintroduce the system, so be it.
“Malaysians deserve the best system, so give them the best.”
The PBB vice-president declared his full support for the reintroduction of GST, saying, “If Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is willing to look back and study whether the system should be brought back in place of SST, I believe that is a good gesture.
“Swallow your pride, set politics aside and do the necessary.”
