Govt needs more time to review 12th Malaysia Plan

By Nor Ain Mohamed Radhi, Teh Athira Yusof - June 14, 2020 @ 8:50am

KUALA LUMPUR: THE postponement of the tabling of the 12th Malaysia Plan (RMK-12) will allow the government to relook several economic targets and plans, says an expert.

Political analyst and Universiti Malaya lecturer Associate Professor Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi said the Covid-19 pandemic caused an economic slowdown, bringing many things to a halt.

"Therefore, the government needs more time to carefully review its targets and plans by taking into account the impacts of the pandemic."

Awang Azman said the move was to ensure the country's economic growth remained on a sustainable and inclusive path in the post-Covid-19 years.

The tabling of RMK-12, scheduled for Aug 6, was postponed to a yet-to-be determined date, while the tabling of the 2021 Budget was moved from Oct 2 to Nov 6.

Political analyst Dr Ainul Adzellie Hasnul said the postponement of the tabling of the two policy documents was linked to the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package (Prihatin) and the Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana) to cushion the economic impact of the pandemic.

He said the Prihatin and Penjana economic stimulus packages were meant to empower the people, propel businesses and stimulate the economy.

"All these things that the government has provided to the people, in a way, will affect the planning and targets of RMK-12. That's why they have to do it in a thorough way. The same goes for the 2021 Budget."

The second Dewan Rakyat meeting is scheduled from July 13 to Aug 27, while the third meeting is from Nov 2 to Dec 15.

On the second meeting, Ainul believed that the sitting would not be smooth sailing.

"The opposition will ensure that there will be a lot of questions, especially on the motion of thanks to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

"Maybe they will question whether the new government was formed according to the Federal Constitution.

"(And) my concern is whether some of the bills the government is proposing would be passed in the Dewan Rakyat."

Ainul said some reports suggested that Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin might call for the dissolution of Parliament at the end of the year due to the ongoing political bickering as the opposition claimed to have the majority.

"We do not want a new government to be kicked out again, making it difficult for the people.

"If there are attempts by the opposition to show that they have the numbers, then the only logical thing for the PM to do is to dissolve Parliament.

"Give the people a new mandate for a better and stable government in the future, rather than us (the people) pondering whether there will be a new government or not."

Senior fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs Dr Oh Ei Sun said the passage or defeat of a budgetary bill was equivalent to a confidence motion for or against the government of the day under the Westminster parliamentary system.

According to the Constitution, Oh said, if the PM ceased to command the confidence of the majority of MPs, he would have to resign. Then the Yang di-Pertuan Agong may appoint a new PM or dissolve Parliament, paving the way for a general election.

On the delay of the parliamentary sitting, Oh said the government would cite the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic as the reason.

He said the opposition would argue that the government, which appears to command a slim majority, was trying to stall for as long as possible a parliamentary showdown.

"There are potentially few problems with delaying the parliamentary sitting.

"First, the fight against the pandemic and the ensuing fiscal stimulus would require passage of supplementary budgets which was typically done towards the middle of uneventful fiscal years. The delay of the annual budgetary bill will see both the public and private sectors deprived of the financial resources amid a continuing epidemiological and economic crisis.

"Assuming some form of the budget is passed by the sitting government, only a month or so (half of the usual period) is left for the necessary preparations and adjustments by both the public and private sectors to comply with the requirements of the new budgetary year.

"If the budget is rejected and a new government is installed, it would have to scramble together a new budget bill in a matter of weeks, if not days, which would, of course, be counterproductive," he told the New Sunday Times.

Oh said the length of debates also did not matter since usually a budget bill was almost guaranteed passage due to strict enforcement of party discipline, so the budgetary debates were academic and perfunctory, more for political showmanship.

"Now that the ruling coalition is a rather loose one, the government would perhaps welcome a shorter debate period to forestall unexpected defections.

"Similarly, the opposition, which is quite gung-ho about their claimed parliamentary majority, would, of course, like to have a vote on the budget soonest.

"So both sides may welcome a vote sooner than later."

Geostrategist Associate Professor Dr Azmi Hassan said the political situation in the country was fluid and that the budgetary bill would pass as the majority support now was with the prime minister of the ruling party.

"The PM would need only to have another one or two votes to garner a majority support.

"From now until the next few weeks, there will be a lot of political changes and then the PM would be able to gain the support needed to pass the bill."

On the 25 days allocated for debates, Azmi said it was more than enough for lawmakers to digest and debate the matter unless the debate was way off the mark with supplementary issues such as the legitimacy of the Perikatan Nasional government.

He said the fiscal year for the budget began in January 2021, granting the government enough time to implement finance-related policies even though the tabling was delayed for a month.