THE Government should have encouraged installation of solar panels for houses and government premises such as schools and hospitals as rooftop solar generates more domestic jobs compared to large scale solar.
“The SAVE 2.0 programme for energy-efficient home appliances will only benefit the top 20%,” said Parti Sosialis Malaysia National Coordinator Bureau for Environment & Climate Crisis, Sharan Raj in a statement today.
“The B80 will not spend RM1,000 on new air-conditioners and refrigerators just to pocket a RM200 rebate during economically uncertain times,” he said.
Sharan Raj noted instead of the RM200 rebate for purchase of energy efficient refrigerator and air-conditions offered under the Budget 2021, the Government could have provided a voucher to retrofit and fix houses belonging to the B10.
“Budget 2021 failed miserably to address the ongoing climate crisis or to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions,” he exclaimed.
Stating that the only thing green about the Perikatan Nasional’s Budget 2021 was the ‘recycling’ of past programmes including ‘re-highlighting’ ongoing transportation projects, he opined the Budget could have pushed harder towards energy efficiency, renewable energy and public transport to kick-start the national economy.
“Budget 2021 failed miserably to address the ongoing climate crisis or to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
“The capitalist system could not restart the global economy, so countries are looking towards green jobs for new opportunities for prosperity.
“Clearly, the PN government has failed to respond to the peoples’ aspiration to join the ongoing global green revolution,” he lamented.
According to Sharan Raj, Putrajaya was saving RM6 bil in fuel subsidy temporarily due to the low petrol prices.
As such, he added that the RM6 bil fuel subsidy savings could have been used to purchase nearly 6,600 electric buses creating nearly 7,000 long-term jobs.
He further stated that the Budget 2021 could have pushed for transitioning our power plants from dirty foreign coal power plan to cleaner domestic gas.
“Eliminating coal imports would easily add about 1% to our GDP while reducing air pollution.”
Last year, TNB spent RM 10 bil to import coal to generate more than half our electricity needs.
On Friday, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz tabled RM322.54 bil worth Budget 2021 at the Dewan Rakyat. – Nov 8, 2020
