SEREMBAN - Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli said he does not care about being labelled the 'king of formulas' by the opposition.
He said he is confident that the people were wise enough to make judgements and that his priority was to solve the people's problems.
"They (the opposition) don't realise that voters are comparing ministers and government leaders who continuously have ideas to former ministries or opposition members who are only good at satire but have no idea on how to improve the people's situation.
"We are also aware about the opposition regurgitating stories about things that occured 10 to 15 years ago when the situation is different now," he said in a press conference after vising the People's Income Initiative (IPR) self-service machine site at Terminal One here today.
He said this while commenting on the opposition's sarcasm in labelling him king of formulas.
For instance, Rafizi said, in 2010 he had once warned the government to take action about the National Higher Education Fund Corporation's (PTPTN) debt that had reached RM20 billion at that time.
However, his words were not taken into consideration by the government then and now PTPTN's debt had increased to RM40 billion and at the same time the national debt is at RM1.5 trillion.
"We still had the financial means to solve the problem before but it is difficult now.
"It's the same as when the opposition especially Pas, used to mention when the government wanted to lower car prices when they already know that car excise tax contributes RM9 billion to RM11 billion to the country's income every year," he said.
He said it would be difficult for the government to reduce taxes and lower car prices when the national debt had reached RM1.5 trillion now, passed down by the previous government.
Therefore, he said the government needed to spend prudently by prioritising expenses that the country needed and to balance it with the available income.
"It's the same when they (the opposition) ask when will the government lower oil prices. They do not realise that the current oil price formula is the idea I had fought for when I was in the opposition.
"That's why I don't mind to be called the 'king of formulas' because I know the people can judge themselves. If I want to argue with the opposition all the time then the work we are supposed to do will be disrupted."