Bankrupt? Not if We Plug the Leak

I pity Idris Jala. Ever since he came out with the “we will be bankrupt by 2019” prophecy, he’s been getting bashed from all sides. The latest hit is from his boss PM Najib when the Treasury officers briefed Barisan Nasional (BN) backbenchers in Parliament today and indicated Idris had overstated his case for subsidy cuts with flawed statistics. Why the Treasury officers only briefed BN and not all MPs baffles me. Treasury officers are supposed to be civil servants and not BN servants.

Some commentators have commented that Idris was not too far off the mark when he said cutting subsidies could lower Malaysia’s debts BUT the cuts will only be successful if other leakages are also plugged.

I found some interesting allegations on the www. I wonder if there is any truth in them.

Apparently;

• There is a 20-year interest free loan of RM 320 million given to SYABAS, the Selangor water company.
• In 2008, global price for crude oil is about USD140 per barrel, and the fuel subsidy paid by the government was RM17 billion. Today the global price for crude is about USD70 per barrel, yet the government spent RM23.5 billion on fuel subsidy. Why?   
• Recently the govt has spent RM8 billion on purchasing armoured vehicles and tanks.
• The Auditor-General's Report revealed that the government spent RM500 to purchase 1 unit of screwdriver, the same government car being filled a full tank of petrol twice 1 minute apart.
• In Malaysia, local students take PTPTN loans of about RM21,000 for 3-year undergraduate studies. Foreign students pay only about RM15,000 - RM17,000 for the entire 3 years of studies. The government is subsidising foreign students so that we can become the education hub. Why use taxpayer's money to subsidise foreign students?

And finally,

According to Pemandu’s figures, total subsidies per household amounted to RM12,900 but the Finance Ministry said the amount of subsidies per household is only RM3,246. Sapa yang betul ni?

Since the statistics were gathered from the www, it may not be entirely correct but even if there is a grain of truth in it, then maybe there is something wrong with how this country is being managed.