Sunday, 16 February 2014

Kadir: Stop playing Santa, Najib

| February 15, 2014

Blogger Kadir Jasin says that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak may even risk losing his job if he does not stop bleeding the Treasury with his 'cash is king' approach.

PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak should stop playing Santa Clause or risk being booted out of office, said blogger Kadir Jasin.
In a blog post today, Kadir said that Najib must find a more sustainable way to help the poor as many Umno veterans he has met had voiced concerns on the prime minister’s ‘cash is king’ approach, which is bleeding the nation’s coffers.
“Najib has to acknowledge that things are not as rosy as being portrayed by the mainstream media. He has to stop lavishing scarce public funds on cash handouts and salary increases that do not contribute to productivity and sustainability,” said Kadir.
Since taking over as prime minister in 2009, Najib has introduced Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M), which is a RM500 yearly aid to those earning less than RM3,000 a month.
He had also offered a variety of cash aid to civil servants and other types of programmes, from time to time, prior to the 13th general election.
Kadir said that Najib should address growing unemployment rate among Malaysian youths, which is affecting the bumiputras and the Indian primarily.
“In the age bracket of 15 to 19, almost 25.7% of Indians, 15.6% of Malays, 18.9% of non-Malay bumiputeras and 9.9% of Chinese were unemployed in 2012.
“In the 20-24 age group, 14.1% of the jobless were Indians, 9.9% Malays, 13% non-Malay bumiputeras and 7.1% Chinese. This explains the disproportionate involvement of Indians in criminal activities,” he said.
Kadir also claimed that the income gap between Malays and the Chinese has widened since 2009, erasing whatever progress made in the past.
“And the rural households, the bedrock of Barisan Nasional, are worse off now than in 1957 when compared to the urban households. Umno must remember that almost all the 88 parliamentary seats it won last year are in the rural areas,” he said.
Kadir is a former editor in chief for New Straits Times Press and a staunch ally of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.