Wednesday January 9, 2013

Muhyiddin: We are not bankrupt

Pleased to meet you: Muhyiddin and his wife Puan Sri Noorainee Abdul Rahman meeting tailors (from left) Liew Nyet Kiow, Mary Lee and Pook Sen Chiau at the Hawkers Centre in Bahau Tuesday.

BAHAU: Malaysia is not bankrupt but is cash rich with a record collection of RM125bil in taxes last year, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said.

Refuting Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's allegation that the country was on the verge of bankruptcy, he said the Government would not have been able to afford RM560mil aid for 5.6 million students or the BR1M aid if the Government was strapped for cash.

“Therefore, I would like to appeal to all of you not to fall into the Opposition's trap,” he said during a meet-the-people session at the district padang here.

Citing another example, he said critics had accused the Government of implementing the AES project because it had run out of cash to fund its programmes.

“Malaysia is not the first or only country to implement AES.

“We were forced to do so as thousands of Malaysians are dying on the roads annually due to accidents,” he said, adding that 6,000 fatalities were registered last year.

Muhyiddin, who was here for a one-day working visit, said Malaysia had not only received huge foreign investments but had been recognised as one of the most progressive economies in the world.

“While most countries, including Europe and the United States, were facing economic uncertainties, we have continued to register a 5% growth.”

“In fact, experts have forecast that we will be able to do equally well, if not better, this year as our country and economy are well managed.”

Muhyddin said the per capita income of the rakyat was also set to increase to US$15,000 (RM45,250), by 2020.

The per capita income of Malaysians was only US$7,500 a year ago and this had since increased to US$9,700 (RM21,120), he said.

He said Pakatan Rakyat could not be an alternative to Barisan Nasional because its members were always at loggerheads with each other.

“They cannot agree to simple things as we have seen in Kelantan and Selangor on several occasions,” he said.

During his visit, Muhyiddin handed over RM20.65mil to the state government for the RM100 aid to be given to 206,500 students in the state, RM4.1mil for several projects here and RM3.5mil for the redevelopment of a hawker centre.

News

Wednesday January 9, 2013

Muhyiddin: We are not bankrupt