KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 27): Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng questioned if the goods and services tax (GST) rate would be raised in the coming years.

"We want to know if the government is maintaining the GST or is it going to raise it in three to four years. Singapore increased it to 7% after starting at 3%. We hope the people would be with us to abolish GST," said Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general.

According to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the GST collection amounted to RM41 billion and it saved the economy while taking a swipe at the opposition for being seemingly divided in their views on the tax system.

Speaking briefly after Budget 2018 was presented by Najib in Parliament, Lim also questioned the government's reason in making one-off bonuses to public servants, government retirees, village heads, and religious teachers in two stages only next year.

"Does this mean the federal government does not have money now? They should follow how it is done in Penang and Selangor where the bonus is paid by the end of the year," he said.

In the budget, the government announced a RM1,500 special payment for civil servants to be paid in two stages, with the first payment of RM1,000 in early January and the balance during Hari Raya Aidilifitri.

Government retirees would receive RM750, of which RM500 would be paid in January and the balance during the festive season.

Similarly, about 9,800 village heads, and 65,000 religious teachers would receive RM1,500, also in two stages.

Meanwhile, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang called the budget the "mother of all hypocritical budgets" because Najib had not addressed the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) issue.

"I am very disappointed. Throughout the nearly three-hour budget presentation, I did not hear the single reference to the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal that had overnight transformed Malaysia into a global kleptocracy," he said in a statement.

During the presentation, Najib said the Budget 2018 was the "mother of all budgets" because it was comprehensive and considered the needs of all levels of society.

Kit Siang said he expected Najib to prepare a "full-defence" of the 1MDB scandal in the budget following the latter's 81-paragraph statement on his economic vision for Malaysia issued earlier this week which Lim claims was an attempt to whitewash the scandal.

"As a result, Najib's 2018 Budget can only qualify to be the 'mother of all hypocritical budgets' as Najib himself must tell Malaysians what has he learnt after pondering the injunction of 'what is the point of being wealthy but weak in soul' by Imam Ghazali and Bapa Hamka," he said.