Commentary by Mustafa K Anuar 

THE revised Budget 2023 unveiled by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is obviously not flawless, which is why it has received criticism and suggestions for improvement from opposition leaders, academics, and other observers. 

But the recent comment by former Bersatu information chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan on the same budget would irk his detractors to the extent that they would consider his negative sentiments as taking the proverbial cake – pardon the expression if it offends those who could only afford Menu Rahmah. 

The Tasek Gelugor MP reportedly accused the budget of being “out of touch”, adding that it might have been inspired by The Communist Manifesto. 

He also wondered whether Anwar was trying to instigate class warfare in our society when the latter talked about the need for the super-rich to contribute more to our society, such as through paying a higher rate of personal income tax. 

This measure is to enable the government to have more development funds to uplift the living standards of the people, particularly the lower-income groups and the needy. 

Lo and behold, this economic strategy is akin to playing Robin Hood, the legendary English hero who robbed the rich to help the poor. 

Surely, stealing what is not yours is reprehensible and should be condemned in no uncertain terms, as well as be punished – even though Robin Hood might see himself as being charitable.  

For the benefit of those who were not born communists or communist sympathisers, the 1848 pamphlet The Communist Manifesto was written by ardent advocates of communism, Karl Marx and Frederich Engels, whose primary concern was the well-being of a society’s poor and working class. 

To be sure, Marx was hardly related to the Marx Brothers, who were an American family comedy act that would not be able to recognise a communist even if they tripped over one.   

If there’s any connection to Karl Marx, it would probably be their common Jewish ancestry, to which Malay-Muslim fans of the Marx Brothers may want to make a mental note of. 

It cannot be denied that the budget is replete with measures aimed at alleviating the living conditions of the M40 and B40 income groups and the hardcore poor so that the socio-economic gap between the rich and the poor would not grow any wider. It is a throwback to the old New Economic Policy that had poverty eradication as one of its main objectives. 

But, as the likes of Wan Saiful would like to remind us, the road to hell may be paved with good intentions, because such an economic approach may lead to a clash of social classes, especially if the poor – God forbid – insist on having their right to equal access to the nation’s resources. There would be ghastly restlessness in society.  

As it is, the less fortunate may not take kindly to the fact that, as revealed recently by Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan, Malaysia is the only country in the world that offers more subsidies to the rich compared to the impoverished. 

That is why it is better to suppress this unpleasant class consciousness under the comforting concept of race and religion, the importance of which has been hammered into us and pushed by ethnic-based political parties such as Bersatu and PAS. 

It is only through the race-inspired ideology that the Malay-Muslim community has been able to help spawn a few millionaires without sparking social unrest, as they would be hailed as the collective’s equals to those of the non-Malay communities. They are the pride of the Malay community to boot.  

This strategy is a win-win one as it would at least narrow the gap between the Malays and the non-Malays at the highest level of the economic ladder. 

The purported communist-derived budget that we were alerted to by the insightful Saiful has now clearly explained why his comrade-in-arms, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, once warned us that the push for mandatory asset declaration of MPs had all the elements of communism and socialism supposedly subscribed to by the component party of the present unity government, i.e., DAP.   

It is the objective of the ungodly ideology and regime to limit the wealth of people, insisted Hadi.  

This communist logic, if followed through to its conclusion, would even deprive some people of the pleasures of driving luxury cars. 

Given the serious implications of the communist ideology, we trust that both Saiful and Hadi are better equipped in their mission to bring prosperity to the deserving lot. – March 1, 2023.