Of 1MPM6: Carroting the public sector to support GST...

1. 1 year on, 1MPM6 Najib is now focussing towards the 1.2 M something public servants to push through the government-initiated GST.
2. This time, 1MPM6 coated GST with probability of wage increase to public servants, in line with high income economy.
3. For refresher, GST stands for Goods and service Tax. The federal government decided to postpone tabling the 2nd reading of GST bill during the current parliament sitting until proper input and road-tours conducted to explain the bill.
4. In that sense, is 1MPM6 carotting public servants with "high income wage" part of the government's planned road tour?
5. In conjunction with his 1 year in office, 1MPM6 was interviewed by Bernama. During the course of the interview, 1MPM6 has this to say on GST and public servants' wage :-
   • The salary of 1.2M government servants can be raised on condition that their productivity level is raised and they support governments' initiative to convert Malaysia into a "high income economy" country;
   • When their productivity increase, the salary will also be rationalise accordingly in line with stronger economic standing;
   • What is more important is that with stronger economic standing, government income will also increase;
   • GST is one of the mechanism to increase government's income;
   • 1MPM6 needs the support of 1.2M public servants to push GST through;
   • the government needs to have more income to pay increment in public servant salaries;
   • The postponement of second reading of GST bill and the abolishment of 2-tiered fuel pricing are not due to political pressure. The postponement of GST bill and the abolishment of 2-tiered fuel pricing is due to the government needing more time to explain to the people on their objectives;
   • 1MPM6 accused the opposition of "twisting" the facts ON GST and 1MPM6 stressed that in the long run GST is good for the masses;
6. You can read the rest of his interview exerpts here. Now that you have read what 1MPM6 has in mind, Najib has to address these before pledging goodies to please the government servants :-
   • Out of 1.2M public servants, how many of them pay taxes? How many percent of the public servants pay taxes to IRB?;
   • Out of these 1.2M government servants, how many of them are from PDRM and ATM? How many percent of the government servants are police and army personnels?;
   • If the government thinks of rationalising salaries and wages, shouldn't the professionals ie Doctors, engineers, accountants, degree holders etc should be given the priorities as they have been sidelined for far too long?;
   • If the government is thinking of giving salary hikes to government servants, will this be a "double" salary adjustment to the police force and the army? Is this fair to the rest?;
   • If more income to the government means salary adjustments to the government servants, what is the nett income for the government? How much more will the government earned through GST? Will the government servants exempted from GST?;
   • 1MPM6 did not address to the issue of more transperancies and accountability which may save government millions of ringgits by abolishing negotiated tender, negotiated contracts etc... By the way, is Shah Alam hospital project fall into this category? If it is, why is the government "allowing" the issue to be brought forth now? Is it because it involves non-politician from BN? Is there something brewing in Putrajaya, something connected to Shah Alam's corridors of power?;
   • 1MPM6 failed to explain how the opposition "twisted" the facts on GST. Can Najib take time off to explain what he meant by "twisting" the facts? And, actually, who is twisting the facts?;
7. 1 year on, Najib is putting the blame on the opposition when his government failed to push through the GST bill. On top of that, he is carotting 1.2M government servants with salary adjustment. The question is - at whose expense?
8. It also show that the government servants are no longer a guaranteed BN-vote vault. That is why Najib is working extra hard to please the 1.2M government servants. Give them salary adjustments, promise them salary rationalisation - anything at whatever cost !
9. What happens to the private sector? Will they bear the salary adjustment? Will they bear the full force of GST? Is the government sensitive to the needs of the private sector? Is the numbers in the private sector more than the government servants? Is 1MPM6 abandoning the private sector? If so, where is his talks of liberalisation? Just talks?
10. What is 1MPM6's plans to help the private sector? Do he has any plans to cater for the private sector?
    
11. Najib always talk of 1Malaysia, he always brag that he is working on 1M approach but the way he carrots the government servants, it is clear that his 1M is only meant for government servants. As for the private sector and the self-employed - 1MPM6 says "Go, fly kite".
    
12. There you have it. If you are a government servant, you may be happy with 1MPM6. However, please bear in mind that you are only a government servant till you are 55. After that, once you are retired, 1MPM6 will abandon you and cast you in the same basket as the private sector. The question is - how are you going to treat the carrot? Are you happy with 1mPM6's sweetener? Are you willing to let go of your principles because you get your salary adjusted?
13. If you are from the private sector and the self-employed, will you be happy to foot the government servants' salary adjustment? If you are going to foot their salary adjustment - what is in it for you? Better productivity? Better service? Less under counters? Less over the tops? More quality products? Better security? These are all possible promises which comes with a heavy price tag and a big ONLY IF...
14. Whether you are a government servant, a private sector employee, self-employed - what has BN do for the past 50+ years? Has they give us proper dues? Or is 1MPM6's carrot means that he is still treating us like "donkeys"? 1MPM6 Najib has been there as state leader and later federal leader for the past 30 years (or so) - what has he done so far to earn him our trust? Look through his stands during the Mahathir-Tg Razaleigh fight, Mahathir-Anwar stand off, Mahathir-AAB tiff. Is 1MPM6 Najib a firm man steep with principle like his father? Or is he a "lallang" who sways by the winds and the mood?
    
15. It's your choice - either forever stay reigned and entice with carrots or break free to find new partners. The choice is there - choose wisely...
    

Till then...G'nite M'sia...wherever u are...