Madani’s true colours are coming through
Murray Hunter
After 13 months of the Anwar Ibrahim administration, we have seen no changes in SOSMA and the defamation laws, the insistence of maintaining the quota system in education, continued political appointments to GLCs, and a clampdown on the freedom of speech. We are seeing economic policies which are not creating new wealth and sectors within the economy. They just placate the cronies and GLCs.
In fact, we have gone back to post the May 13 era, where it was forbidden to discuss the 3Rs (race, religion, and royalty). We are seeing lawfare used to silence the opposition. We have seen economic policies continuing to benefit corporations, rather than the B40. Even the Ramlah initiatives benefitted fast-food chains more than Machiks trying to sell their nasi lemak.
Two recent issues encapsulate the true colours of the Madani regime.
The first is the exemption of the imposition of capital gains tax and taxes on foreign sourced income from unit trusts on January 1. This indicates the Madani regime is favouring the rich over the poor, who are now burdened with an extra sales tax on imported items under RM500 from online purchases.
The policy aesthetics are wrong here. The grave position of many Malaysians is being ignored, while giving token relief to the rich who can afford to pay capital gains tax. The income gap needs to be narrowed and not widened.
The second issue is the charging of the producer of the indie movie ‘Mentega Terbang’ Tan Meng Kheng. This not only stifles the freedom of expression within the arts and entertainment world, but stifles the very essence of creativity in Malaysia, which future economic growth depends upon. This also shows the influence of JAKIM upon every section of Malaysian society today.
We can only expect brain drain to continue increasing across all the racial groups in Malaysia. The Madani regime is showing itself to be the most repressive in the history of the nation. The Madani regime is showing little concern for the poor, preferring to pander to the rich and privileged. Madani appears to be adverse to the concept of wealth taxes.
