PUTRAJAYA should reimplement the goods and services tax (GST) after the country recovers from the Covid-19 epidemic, former prime minister Najib Razak said today.

The Pekan MP said reimplementing the GST will help the country achieve the five-year plan outlined in the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) in Parliament yesterday.

“We need to reimplement the GST as soon as possible when the country recovers from Covid-19 if we want to reduce income gap, attract investors and shore up our fiscal strength,” he said while debating the 12MP in the Dewan Rakyat.

The GST was introduced under the Najib Razak administration on April 1, 2015 and scrapped when Pakatan Harapan (PH) came into power in May 2018 after the 14th general election.

Najib said the GST was abolished due to political reasons and incitement from PH when in fact the tax system was helping the country’s economy.

“Other than allowing for corporate taxes and personal taxes to be reduced, the GST also played an important role in bridging the income gap.

“This is contrary to the propaganda that led many to buy into the idea that the GST preyed on the lower income group and raised the price of goods,” he said.

Najib also suggested that the government revive the recently scrapped Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) project to regain global economic interest in the country.

“Malaysia needs to excite the world again. Projects like the HSR, which will connect two of Asean’s biggest economies, need to be revived according to the original concept and design,” he told the House.

The revival of the project will also provide a new lease of life to states in the south where the HSR will pass through, he added.

“It will also create 70,000 job opportunities and generate US$1.6 billion in revenue,” he said, making reference to the Institute of Developing Economies in Japan.

Reviving the HSR can also revive the Bandar Malaysia project, which is worth RM140 billion in gross development value, he said.

The Employers Provident Fund (EPF) and Permodalan Nasional Berhad should be appointed to oversee the development of the project as they have been successful in the Battersea Power Station project in the UK.

The HSR project was discontinued after the agreement between Malaysian and Singapore lapsed on December 31, 2020.

Malaysia paid more than S$102 million in compensation to Singapore for costs incurred for the development of the project. – September 28, 2021.