DESPITE the nation being ravaged by a deadly virus, which also led to an economic meltdown, the Government still found it fitting to enact race-based policies in Budget 2022.
“To put it bluntly, it is blinded by a race centric approach. For example, the exclusive RM 100 mil matching grant for Bumiputra entrepreneurs in the aerospace industry.
“In developing any sector of our local entrepreneurship, the Government should take pride in doing so without regards to a favoured group. That sentiment would stand as the hallmark of a Government that subscribes to the ideas of providing a level platform to all who have the capacity to contribute to technological progress of our home-grown businesses.
“Unfortunately, this Government seems to have abrogated it’s moral commitment in the said matter,” said K Veeriah told FocusM.
Yesterday, the Government unveiled Budget 2020 at the Dewan Rakyat, offering a slew of goodies to the masses.
Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz announced a whopping RM233.5 bil for operating expenditure alone, with RM75.6 bil allocated for development expenditure.
Apart from the RM100 mil for Bumiputera aerospace players, the Government also announced a staggering RM11.4 bil for Bumiputera empowerments related policies.
Veeriah said that based on statistics, more than 600,000 households have slid down from M40 to B40 due to the devastating effects of COVID-19; triggered by job losses and massive pay cuts.
Despite unavailability of proper data, he added, many from the T20 group had also slid down to become M40 due to the coronavirus.
“Given the dire situation, any right-thinking Government would have adopted a holistic approach in addressing real problems facing our society.
“However, that was not the case with Budget 2022, which provides little remedy to those caught in the vicious cycle of low- and middle-income trap,” he mentioned.
Veeriah also criticised the Government for not increasing the minimum wage, let alone adopting the living wage concept to better the lives of working-class Malaysians.
“If the Government is truly committed to the Malaysian Family concept, it would have been incumbent of them to have extended their goodwill to the marginalised segment of society but have failed to do,” said Veeriah, who is also Penang Malaysia Trades Union Congress secretary.
Contract workers gets ignored, again!
On related matter, the unionist also hurled brickbats to the Government for failing to address the plight of contract medical officers (MO), who had been fighting to get permanent posts despite sacrificing their health and safety during the pandemic crisis.
“All they got was a thank you from the finance minister, showing apathy over the matter. Plus, there was nothing mentioned on addressing the plight on contract cleaners and security guards who had tirelessly worked hard to the extent of disregarding their own safety.
“This came about despite many quarters describing the contract labour supply system as modern-day slavery.
“As long as the Government continues to out-source essential services, it ought to be labelled as a “modern day slave master” as it fits most forced labour indicators under the International Labour Organization indicators,” he remarked. – Oct 30, 2021.
