TUAN Ibrahim Tuan Man’s statement calling for Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng to be replaced in the rumoured reshuffle is as shallow and myopic as his economic acumen.

The PAS deputy president claims that the PAS-governed states of Terengganu and Kelantan received an imbalanced allocation in the recent budget. Yet somehow he has conveniently forgotten the fact that Kelantan’s development expenditure had been increased from RM1.21 billion to RM1.38 billion for 2019. In fact, that is much more than Penang, which received RM857 million this year.

I invite Tuan Ibrahim to take a moment to ponder on the fact that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government allocated a bigger development budget compared to when his current Muafakat Nasional ally Umno was ruling.

Economic distribution

I suppose Tuan Ibrahim thinks that more should be given to rural states at the expense of the more urban states. Unfortunately, this kind of logic reveals his poor grasp of economics.  Does he not understand that because taxation is collected by the federal government, it is in the interest of all states for allocations to be spent in the more developed states? By improving infrastructure, economic contribution will increase, and more taxes will be collected. After all, where would the federal government get the money to channel for development in states like Kelantan and Terengganu?

Penang, for example, is instrumental to the national economic performance of Malaysia. According to Malaysian Investment Development Authority statistics for this year, Penang is currently leading in terms of total investments, attracting RM9.2 billion, out of which RM8.7 billion is foreign direct investments.

Economic prosperity has also resulted in increased immigration to Penang. After 11 years of clean governance, its population has spiked from 1.5 million people to 1.8 million by next year. Despite the big jump in population, Penang has managed to keep its unemployment rate to a minimum. A search on the Department of Statistics reveals that the average unemployment rate of Penang in 2018 in the past four years was just a mere 2%, effectively meaning there is zero unemployment in the state.

In other words, Penang brings great benefits to the country in terms of foreign investment, Gross Domestic Product contribution and even jobs. As such, does it not make sense for the federal government to support the state in order to cater to the demands of a growing population?

Lack of reform?

Tuan Ibrahim also accused Lim of not doing enough. Perhaps he should first explain what PAS has done in Kelantan and Terengganu as they have been administrating these states for many years.

Tuan Ibrahim claimed his opinions regarding the finance minister’s performance is based on “polls and surveys”. While this is the right method to gauge public opinion, I urge Tuan Ibrahim to disclose his survey findings so that we can validate whether his results were objectively taken from a sample that truly reflects the Malaysian population.

I would like to remind Tuan Ibrahim that effective change does take time. If every reform we want to do was to be implemented at once, the result would be anarchy. One only has to look at the mobocracy that ensued in the Russian economy following the downfall of the USSR. Indonesia also suffered a decade of hardship following Suharto’s overthrow in 1998.

Just last month, PH launched the Shared Prosperity Vision (SPV) 2030. The latest economic blueprint for Malaysia looks at tackling issues that are currently stunting Malaysia’s progression to high-income nation status. The plan addresses growing inequality stemming from the policies of the previous government and the need to restructure the economy through innovation and knowledge-based community participation with the ultimate objective of building a prosperous and united Malaysia.

As the decade comes to a close, SPV 2030 enables our beloved nation to start afresh, free from the shackles of patronage politics that stagnated our economy for much of the last two decades. SPV 2030’s key to success is the institutional reforms that will take place. Implemented gradually, social, economic and political reforms will turn eventually turn Malaysia into an attractive and competitive economy.

Tuan Ibrahim should first be transparent himself

Lastly, a feature of Lim’s style of governance which often gets overlooked is his advocation for the principles of competency, accountability and transparency. Tuan Ibrahim may turn a blind eye to Lim’s commitment to reform, but even the famed British publication The Economist made note of it, highlighting Lim’s clean style of governance as one of the catalysts for the increase in foreign investment in Penang.

Besides open tenders, another feature of clean governance and transparency is asset declarations. First introduced by PH in Penang and Selangor, it has now been made mandatory for representatives at the federal level as well.

Recently, the deputy speaker of the Dewan Rakyat noted a large number of opposition MPs have yet to declare their assets and a quick search showed that the deputy president of PAS is one of them. Perhaps before Tuan Ibrahim continues to throw stones at Lim, he should first lead the way by showing us his money. – November 22, 2019.

* Aimran Sarhan Abdullah is political secretary to Tanjung Bungah assemblyman Zairil Khir Johari. 

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.