IT’S the time of the year when there is a lot of excitement surrounding the Budget.
For all the excitement and interest generated by the two to three-hour speech in the Dewan Rakyat by the Finance Minister, the whole objective is merely to pass the Supply Act.
It is a very short Bill, with only two sections and one schedule. The purpose of the Supply Act is simply to stipulate how the Government should go about taxing and generating revenue in any particular year, and then spending that money.
In most years, the key issues would be on things like lowering tax rates or introducing new taxes, or increasing allocations for important infrastructure projects.
This year is unusual, as it seems that the only thing politicians want to debate is the moratorium on loan repayments.
This is a very strange and dangerous development.
Providing the moratorium involves the use of funds from depositors and the shareholders of banks, not the Government.
Why should Parliament debate this matter when it is the banks that Malaysians entrust to safeguard their savings and deposits, and not politicians?
Banks are run by professionals who have a duty to protect the deposits they collect from the general public and then to lend them out prudently. They are regulated by independent agencies like Bank Negara and the Securities Commission.
Banks are not running charities and welfare programmes. They are looking after our savings, so that we can use it on a rainy day, for our retirement or to spend it on any other needs we have.
Parliament and politicians should apply their minds to think of smarter ways to generate tax revenue and to carefully spend it for the good of the country.
They should not interfere with our deposits and should instead let the professionals look after our savings.
Leong
Seremban
The views expressed here are solely of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect that of Focus Malaysia.
