It is not surprising that an intellect who has been elected as an MP thinks that government money does not belong to the rakyat as this is a widely-held belief of the BN/Umno government, it is just that some of them are too smart to say this aloud. They just spend it as they see fit as they know it does not belong to rakyat and the rakyat can’t do zilch about it.

I have a simple question, if it is not taxpayers’ monies, then why on earth should the expenditure be approved by way of annual budget by elected representatives of the rakyat? The government can just spend what they collect right? In fact why then we even need MPs, surely there are there elected to represent the rakyat? Or do they believe once elected they serve the party and not the electorate? Well, I suppose in Malaysia, this is 100 percent correct, right?

In the last 10 years (let’s just limit to that span) has any of the government spending plans been aborted due to the rakyat’s feedback or displeasure?

No, they just continue spending as if money is going out of fashion. To satisfy this appetite to spend and spend, subsidies been cut (which I agree with), hospitals and education allocation been cut and taxes increased (which I don’t agree to). Have they reduced the expenditure on supplies and emoluments, have they stopped creating new entities so that failed and retired politicians can be given cushy jobs with massive perks?

Let’s recall other examples of the recent past.

1. When the exco bungalows were in the limelight, the then-MB very smartly said that it was not built from taxpayers money but from state investment income. DUH!

2. When objections to the new Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) tower were raised , the FT minister said it was not from the taxpayers monies but from their invested investment incomes.

3. When the Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) was criticised for excessive board remuneration, the same excuse was brandished, it was not taxpayer’s monies but money made from investment income.

They always use terms such as market studies we have done, benchmarking was done and so on to justify expenses, but these reasons are never used for expenses that are related to the rakyat such as education and health which is reducing and alarming for the nation’s future.

Not only monies but with assets, the government always labels it as government property rather than public property which is the norm in all democratic countries, only absolute monarchies such as Brunei can call their money and assets theirs and not the rakyat’s, which is far-fetched already.

What if people are chased out of Hyde Park or Central Park?

That’s why DBKL think they can chase people out of Dataran Merdeka as if it belongs to DBKL and not the people of KL. Can you imagine what furore there will be if people are chased out of Hyde Park or Central Park?

How about government buildings, do you notice they are more often than not surrounded by high fences or expensive ornamental fencing? Why, who is going to break in or intrude, again this is the building belongs to government rather than the public mentality at play.

The most amusing me for me is how even police station is surrounded by massive fencing, whatever for, who is going to intrude into a police station? When I was in Melbourne, I could walk up to the door of the Victoria Parliament to view and take photos, there were even guided tours, can you imagine the Malaysian Parliament being open to public viewing in such manner?

However it is not only the government which think so, in my opinion, many Malaysian, by virtue of not being taxpayers (direct that is via income tax) also seem to believe that the money belongs to the government and not the rakyat. Why not, as they don’t pay taxes but get all sorts of subsidies and hand-outs and that is how the BN government has been able to win hands down again and again.

In the recent Tamil Nadu elections, the same concept was brutally in play, the incumbent just won again in spite of sort of allegations, but the opposition, who allegedly had better plans and nation-building aims, did not win a single seat.

I digress, coming back to the motherland, those who think that taxpayers and voters are a five-year-once hindrance are the one controlling everything in our country now.

Unfortunately, these like-minded fellows are driving our country towards economic chaos and severe austerity measures in the future.

If you read the news from Europe, Japan, the USA and even China and India, the governments and economic planners are working very hard daily discussing and releasing plans for economic reforms and strategy to strengthen their countries’ futures.

Do we see the same level of activity in that field in Malaysia? Go judge for yourselves.