KUALA LUMPUR: All financial guarantees and letters of support or comfort, which could burden the people with debt, should be tabled in the Parliament, said Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.
The former finance minister said Putrajaya’s practice of not tabling any guarantees undertaken by the government in Parliament was a new development.
“As I remember it, this is a new practice, we [have] always tabled everything, all — letters of guarantee, letters of comfort, letters of support,” he said in response to a question posed by Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli during the debate on the royal address in Parliament yesterday.
Rafizi asked the veteran MP on whether it was proper for the government to issue a support letter for the debt-laden 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) bonds.
“As Members of Parliament, it is our duty to ensure that all guarantees on financial instruments and letters of comfort, which have burdened the people with debt, to be tabled in the chamber. This is to ensure that we can evaluate responsibly on whether the people should continue to be burdened by them,” said Tengku Razaleigh.
Tengku Razaleigh also said MPs should ensure the government’s revenue is used for the people’s interest and not used to pay interests to debtors and bondholders.
The MPs and the people have the right to know the real status of the nation’s debt, he said.
Tengku Razaleigh’s remarks came after 1MDB, a wholly-owned unit of the ministry of finance, became the talk of the town as it is burdened with a whopping RM42 billion debt.
The government admitted last week that a RM950 million standby credit had been given to 1MDB to temporarily ease its cash flow problem, of which some RM600 million had been spent.
When pressed by reporters at the Parliament lobby yesterday if his statements in the chamber earlier were referring to 1MDB, Tengku Razaleigh, also fondly known as Ku Li, said, “Faham-faham aje (it should be understood).”
Asked what would happen if the government decides to bail out 1MDB, Ku Li said: “We will wait for the AG (Auditor-General) to audit 1MDB’s accounts and the PAC (Public Accounts Committee) to examine the AG’s report. We’ll have time to debate.”
The Gua Musang MP also asked the government to postpone the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) as the country’s economy is in dire straits. In addition, he said the people, who are already suffering from high household debts, which have risen to 87.4% of gross domestic product, should not be burdened further.
“The people have the right to know whether the GST, to commence in April, is going to benefit the country or if it is only to pay interests to debtors and bondholders. The reason to implement GST should not be kept a secret,” he added.
In the Dewan Rakyat earlier, Tengku Razaleigh also called on Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to reveal the financial status of the Emloyees’ Provident Fund and Kumpulan Wang Persaraan and the quantum of their investments into financial institutions that have been burdened with loans given out to certain bodies.
“This brings us to the issue of good governance, which is important to the financial management of the country. The prime minister and finance minister should not, in any way, be in a situation of conflict of interest. This is a serious problem and even though it may have been accepted by the Dewan Rakyat all this while, is actually not good for it,” said Ku Li.
One way to resolve the problem of conflict of interest, said Ku Li, is for past and present Cabinet ministers and MPs, together with public and private sector decision makers, to declare their assets.
“The declarations should be made periodically and be kept by an independent body established under the Parliament Act,” he said.
In what is probably a watershed moment in the Malaysian political scene, Ku Li, the longest-serving federal lawmaker, also asked his fellow lawmakers to choose whether they are willing to relinquish their powers to “forces” outside Parliament by putting party interests first in their decisions or to remember their pledge to serve the people.
This, said Ku Li, is because the power of Parliament had shifted to the leadership of political parties, a development that was against the Federal Constitution.
“Yang Berhormat, you should make a decision on whether you want to fulfil the vow you’ve made when you were sworn in as an MP or relinquish your right as an MP to the forces outside of the Dewan Rakyat.
“The decision should be one that is fundamental to the people. This will be a historical moment to all the Yang Berhormat — to choose whether you want to serve and bow to the people’s wishes or to be with the party’s leader,” he said.
He urged his colleagues to have the courage to approve or reject any proposal for the people’s interest even if it is against the party’s will.
Meanwhile, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, who is also the Arau MP, told reporters later that all Barisan Nasional lawmakers had already been declaring their assets to Najib and that this has been a common practice for some time.
Johor Baru MP Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad, however, in a separate press conference, agreed with Ku Li’s proposed asset declaration.
“All MPS should declare their assets, interests and benefits, such as a travel trip sponsored by a foreign company, to ensure that you (MP) are not representing foreign interests in the chamber,” said Shahrir, adding that they can do so with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
But he said high household debts should not be the reason for the government to defer GST’s implementation, saying that those debts are backed mostly by assets, like individuals or households who borrowed to buy property, which is also a form of private investment.
He added that there are mitigation measures, like the tax exempt list, lower corporate tax and income tax, which will cushion the impact of the GST on the people.
This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 18, 2015.