Another BN term and there would be no Malaysia to save, says Guan Eng

Sheridan Mahavera Sheridan Mahavera Updated 7 years ago · Published on 22 Jun 2018 7:00AM · 5 Comments

IF Najib Razak and Barisan Nasional stayed in power for just one more term, Malaysia could have been saddled with up to RM3 trillion in debt, said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.

That amount would be impossible to repay, he said, thankful that Malaysians voted to bring about change in the 14the general election on May 9.

Lim based his projection on the cavalier manner of spending by the Najib government that resulted in the country carrying RM1 trillion in direct debts and borrowings by other entities guaranteed and paid by the government.‎ 

If given another term, BN’s profligate ways could have resulted in the debt ballooning to RM3 trillion and no one would have known about it, said Lim.

“Look at the way the money was spent? Look at the bags of cash, jewellery, super yachts,” Lim told The Malaysian Insight.

“If the debts had gone up to three trillion, there would be nothing we could do to save the country. We would be a basket case.

“Thank God, we managed to change the government in time. If we waited another term, there would be nothing for us to save. We had just avoided financial Armageddon.

“Even though it is tough, we still have a good shot of solving it. If its three trillion, nothing you do will make a difference.”

Soon after taking over Putrajaya, the new Pakatan Harapan government announced that Malaysia’s actual debt bill was RM1.0873 trillion.

This was in marked contrast to the former BN administration’s claim of RM686.8 billion. 

The new figure includes guarantees for entities unable to service their debts, amounting to RM199.1 billion.

These include Danainfra Nasional Bhd (RM42.2 billion), Govco Holdings Bhd (RM8.8 billion), Prasarana Malaysia Bhd (RM26.6 billion), Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd (RM14.5 billion), as well as an estimated RM38 billion for 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

Putrajaya was also committed to leasing payments, including rental, maintenance, and other charges, for “a whole list of public-private partnership projects, such as the construction of schools, hostels, roads, police stations, hospitals, and so on”.

These lease commitments were designed specifically to circumvent the federal government guarantee and debt limits, and amounted to RM201.4 billion, Lim said.

“These government guarantees have turned into direct debts already. We have already started paying. These guarantees and lease commitments have already been converted into a form of direct debt,” Lim told The Malaysian Insight.  

There were also several “mini-1MDBs” where the government is paying the debts of companies which it guaranteed, he said. These debts amount to between RM500 million and RM1 billion.

Lim added that Putrajaya is already forced to pay the expenses of public-private ventures which were originally the responsibility of the latter.

“Some of these companies had no financial resources any more, so all the expenses were taken over by the government or the government has to pay for loans that these companies took out.” – June 22, 2018.

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Comments

  • Wrong la Guan Eng,if Najib Razak and his bunch of thugs and goons were to win the GE 14,they can always increase the GST rate to maybe 8 or 10%.What Najib says is true,the nation will never go bankcrupt,Malaysian is the going bankcrupt.

    Posted 7 years ago by Leslie Chan · Reply

  • The one that really condemns Najib is he really believe TRX is NOT a bailout.. HE IS A COMPLETELY INCOMPETENT. That is why ECRL, HSR and many more projects JUST are waste of funds and would have gotten even worst. Its not just 1MDB, the OTHERS ARE EVEN WORST.

    Posted 7 years ago by Bigjoe Lam · Reply

  • Anwar is so jealous of this newly appointed attack dog of Tun Mahatir - woof woof woof

    Posted 7 years ago by Chris Ng · Reply

  • Just print more cash, Jibby would have agreed to that. Please ignore what Anwar or Jibby are crying about and continue with the work you were appointed to do.

    Posted 7 years ago by Richard Chapbell · Reply

  • If BN won GE14, Malaysia would have a similar fate to Venezuela which coincidentally also had sham election right after Malaysia GE14. The only difference was that the ruling party won again. Maduro used all kinds of dirty tactics including barring key opposition figures from contesting. The ruling party had spent frivolously immediately after Chavez's win in 1999. As a result, the country became saddled with huge debts and began defaulting on its obligations when oil price tanked in 2014. The country is a huge mess right now: people had to queue for hours just to buy toilet paper, the currency became almost worthless, there is no basic medicine, prices of everyday goods went up 5000+% annually for years due to hyperinflation, social order has broken down completely with rampant crime and people are leaving in droves. This is an example of what could happen if BN had won again. A Malaysia totally destroyed and Malaysians forced to migrate overseas to make a living. Malaysia would become a failed state where the rule of law no longer applies. It was a good thing Najib and his bunch of useless ministers, who only knew to bootlick their patron and did absolutely nothing useful for the country, were too complacent and basically too busy raping the country that PH had a chance to win and save Malaysia from this catastrophic fate. Let this be a reminder for all Malaysians of the independence of free and fair elections and the separation of powers between all branches of government. The next time a Najib or Maduro type of politician appearing in Malaysia would likely be much more smarter and cunning, having learnt the lesson of GE14 and therefore be much harder to remove. The changes made to ensure our democratic systems are robust must be enshrined in the Constitution and must never be allowed to be changed by any one person or party. This is crucial!

    Posted 7 years ago by Ckone J · Reply