Opposition would face same debt challenges if in power, Rafizi says

NIBONG TEBAL - PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli says that the opposition would have to handle the same country’s debt if they were the government, addressing criticism towards Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s initiative for targeted subsidies on diesel fuel.

The Economy Minister remarked that the opposition continuously accused the government of not knowing how to handle the country’s debt, including allegations of embezzlement, while the diesel price hike only burdened the people and aimed to expel foreign nationals.

“The opposition must understand that the government has their own ways of reducing the country’s debt, where this year we aimed to reduce the (RM1.5 trillion) debt by three per cent and this was agreed by the opposition during the Parliament.

“I don’t know if Deputy Pas leader truly understood in Parliament or had no idea what terms like FYA (first-year allowances) means, but if they (opposition) do, they would understand that they would face the same thing if they were the government and why we came up with initiatives like targeted subsidies which is to reduce the country’s debt.

“Anwar will introduce the Fiscal Responsibility Act where the government debt deficit needs to be reduced to three per cent by 2028 where out of RM3 trillion for example, only RM60 billion (three per cent) can only be borrowed as debt,” he said.

This, Rafizi said, was not due to external pressure but because the country always had annual debt limits according to the year.

“This year it is six per cent, next year four per cent, followed by 3.5 per cent and more. This was agreed upon by the PN without objections, ensuring no government should inherit debt and worsen it, including the 2028 initiative,” Rafizi elaborated.

He also addressed the water crisis often brought up by the opposition for their inefficiency in handling the problem.

“You need to check the Constitution, water issues are within the power of the state before the country, so it would be difficult for me to address them one by one where during Muhyiddin’s (former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin) administration, they claimed that Kelantan’s water crisis was the Constitution’s fault as well for not having enough money,” he said while also iterating that the government had allocated RM4 billion funds to handle Penang’s water crisis.

He further said that he did not mind competing in politics if it could highlight who was better at handling problems but if racial sentiments and fearmongering voters carried on, that would only reflect the opposition’s incompetence, while requesting them to show proof of their good performance on social media if they had any.

“I see that Malay voters in Sungai Bakap are less anxious than before, which means that the fearmongering by the opposition particularly about Chinese possibly taking over the country, has worked less,” he said ahead of Sungai Bakap by-election this Saturday.