Mahathir Is Confident That Malaysia Has Enough Revenue To Abolish GST
"Funds were misused."
By Tamara Jayne — 14 May 2018, 12:05 PM
As the new government seeks to abolish the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad revealed that the country has enough money to remove the much-criticised tax
According to Bernama, he said, "The lack of funds in the government is not because of insufficient income, the current (national) income is three times higher than during my time as prime minister (before).
"However, funds were misused. They were used to buy support for (former prime minister) Datuk Seri Najib Razak. This is why we have less money," he said.
Dr Mahathir believes that with good financial management, the country would have sufficient money to remove taxes.
In an attempt to "clean up the mess", Dr Mahathir also said that no individuals or political parties can accept donations unless the Cabinet is aware of and approves of it
"This is not just limited to money because we know some people have a tendency to offer gifts. Gifts for government staff are limited to food and flowers, not any other items of value," Dr Mahathir said in a "live" broadcast on RTM 1, according to Malay Mail Online.
"We will not have 'revenge', this effort is only to clean up our government again, because we have been dirty for a few years to a point where the rakyat no longer believes in the government," he added.