PASIR Gudang-PKR MP Hassan Abdul Karim in a Facebook post today urged Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli to explain the recent increase in Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) overnight policy rate (OPR) by 25 basis points to 3%.
He said this is because he does not want the disgruntled rakyat to “punish” the government over the matter in the upcoming elections in six states.
“BNM has its reasons to increase the OPR. We would like to think that the monetary policy committee made the decision (to increase the rate) for the country’s long-term macroeconomic interests.
“At the same time, BNM must also act in line with the government, which is trying to help the people, who are saddled with a high cost of living,” the outspoken PKR lawmaker said in a statement today.
Twitter users however bashed Hassan. User @EEverros said:
Dah jelas.Kalau otak walaun tetap akan pertikai sampai bila2
— Everros Ibnrusyd (@EEverros) May 6, 2023
The user perhaps likened the PKR MP to the PAS-PN MPs who keep asking the wrong questions to the wrong people.
However, while the government cannot interfere in the BNM’s OPR decisions, it can formulate policies that may delay such interest hikes.
Hassan’s concern is that the middle-income earners (M40) and low-income earners (B40), which make up 80% of the country’s population, are the worst hit by the OPR increase.
He did not give an example of why he believes the OPR increase is a bad omen for the people in those categories, which is crucial for social media users to understand his point of view.
Nevertheless, Hassan pointed out that for some, the OPR is now translated as ‘Operasi Peras Rakyat’ (Operation to extort the people).
“I hope it will not come to that. Rafizi and Anwar, if you read this, please explain,” he wrote.
Explaining the OPR hike, BNM said it was needed to normalise monetary accommodation as the economy was resilient and it needed to manage persistent inflation.
Meanwhile, more netizens attacked Hassan on the issue and his lack of understanding of the OPR.
User @Suraya4Aziz said:
Hassan Karim ni…sorry la. Semua benda nak bash. Benda yg di luar kuasa kerajaan pun kau nak bash. Sorry la…. sometimes I think you are just an attention seeker saja.
— Suraya Aziz (@Suraya4Aziz) May 6, 2023
Meanwhile, @The5H5615 added:
Tak faham. Ianya kptsn BNM. Kenapa kerajaan pulak yg kena campur? Even kt US, sama jugak, kerajaan tk blh campur tgn kptsn fed reserve wpun dah 10x naik.. BNM la yg patut step fwd dan explain. Bukan kerajaan
— THE5H (@The5H5615) May 6, 2023
The user right said it is for BNM to come up with a more people-friendly explanation, not the government.
And if Hassan is reading what Twitter users are saying about him and his statements, he would perhaps ask BNM to explain to him so that he can go down the road to tell his voters what the OPR rise is all about. — May 6, 2023
Main photo credit: UtusanTV
