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The Return Of GST – PM Ismail Sabri’s Audemars Piguet Watch Worth RM292,553 Can Subsidize Thousands Of Chicken



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Jun 04 2022
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You know this country is in serious financial trouble when Prime Minister Ismail Sabri floats the crazy idea of restoring GST (Goods and Services Tax) in the middle of global inflation. Either he was extremely desperate because the national coffers are already empty, or he had no idea that Najib Razak’s advice to re-introduce the tax regime is a trick to trap him.

 

If the GST miraculously works, Najib will claim credit. But if it fails, Ismail will take all the blame. You can bet your last dollar that the tax regime will definitely fail again because the previous Barisan Nasional government had already proven that it did not work during its implementation from April 1, 2015 till the new government of Pakatan Harapan abolished it on June 1, 2018.

 

During the 4 years of GST, about RM135 billion (2015 – RM27 billion; 2016 – RM43 billion; 2017 – RM44 billion; 2018 – RM21 billion) had been collected. Yet, prices of goods had continued skyrocketing, despite assurance from a genius like Ahmad Maslan that GST will lower prices based on the argument that SST (Sales and Services Tax) was 10% while GST was only 6%.

Najib and Rosmah Boarding Private Jet - Happy GST Everyone

On average, Najib government had collected RM4,218 from each of 32 million populations. Assuming the average household size is 4 people per household. It means a whopping RM16,872 were collected from each family over the period of GST. If all the GST collections had been used to help the people, did you ever feel RM16,872 richer from 2015 to 2018?

 

Even if the government had taken half of the RM135 billion to provide subsidies or cash handouts, did you feel the government had helped reduce the cost of living to the tune of RM8,400 (that’s about RM175 extra pocket money every month) during the period of GST? Equally troubling, even the increased tax revenues have not stemmed the growth of Malaysian debt.

 

Yes, the country’s debt exploded from RM376 billion (2009) to RM1 trillion (2018) during Najib administration, despite the disgraced prime minister’s dubious claims that the GST reform would increase government revenue and make the country’s fiscal condition more independent from vulnerable oil prices. So, where had all the GST revenue disappeared to? One word – leakages.

Malaysia Government Gross Debt 1990-2017 Q1 - Finance Minister Performance

The best part was when the previous Pakatan Harapan government discovered that GST refunds for businesses to the tune of RM19.4 billion went missing from government coffers during former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s tenure. The “missing money” had been quietly moved to the government’s consolidated account instead of the GST refund account.

 

Why did crooked Najib secretly transfer the money elsewhere? That’s because the corrupt and spendthrift government ran out of money, hence the GST refund money was diverted to pay for development and management costs. However, it’s also true that had the Pakatan Harapan not taken over the government, part or the entire RM19.4 billion could be siphoned overseas into Najib families’ pocket.

 

As a result, GST refunds were not paid for two years because 93% of the money had not been placed into the correct account – showing how easy it would be for PM Najib cum finance minister to plunder the GST revenue. Of the RM19.4 billion meant for refund, RM9.2 billion was from 2018, RM6.8 billion from 2017, RM2.8 billion from 2016 and RM0.6 billion from 2015.

People Protest Najib GST

One of the popular arguments presented by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) politicians and pro-GST fans that the tax regime should be resurrected is because only one out of every 10 Malaysians pay their income taxes. Another argument is that GST must be good because is has been adopted by over 170 countries around the world.

 

The reason why only one out of every 10 Malaysians pays their income taxes is precisely why Malaysia is not ready for GST – majority of the people are too poor to pay taxes, hence GST will certainly burden them, as proven during 2015-2018. Why countries like Singapore can implement GST, so much so the government had even hiked the rate from 7% to 9% in its Budget 2022?

 

The primary reason is because Singapore is an efficient, competent and a developed country that possessed very strong purchasing power. The purchasing power of Singapore Dollar is three times more than Malaysia Ringgit. Dollar-to-dollar comparison, an iPhone 13 Pro starts from SGD1,649 in Singapore, while the same gadget will cost a leg and an arm – RM4,899 in Malaysia.

Singapore Dollar Laughs At Malaysia Ringgit

Meaning one Singapore Dollar can be stretched much further than equivalent one Malaysian Ringgit. Therefore, even if people from the “little red dot” pay 9% GST, they still can buy more groceries than neighbouring Malaysians who earn the same salary, dollar-to-dollar. More importantly, countries like New Zealand, South Korea and the U.K. lowered personal income tax rates – even removed excise taxes – before implementing GST.

 

Malaysia, on the other hand, is being burdened with not only uncompetitive personal income tax, but also multiple layers of taxes – ranging from excise taxes or import duties, in addition of AP (import permits) to enrich cronies and families of the elite. To make matters worse, “cartels” also exists, so powerful they caused a shortage of chicken crisis, leading to a ban on chicken exports to Singapore.

 

Najib’s plan when he vigorously promoted GST was to take RM1 from ordinary folks before giving away 10 sen under the pretext of subsidizing and helping people. The tax regime was too complicated for illiterate and gullible people to realize that the corrupt government was actually robbing them. At the end, it was the people who subsidized the government, not the other way round.

Budget 2016 - Najib Gives BR1M BRIM Money To Buy Votes

Even though part of the GST was used as BR1M (1Malaysia People’s Aid) handouts, the purchasing power of these cash handouts was quickly eroded by rising prices. And there were 7 million households that desperately needed BR1M cash aid, including over 3.7 million households with a monthly income of RM3,000 and below – voters who can easily be bought with cash.

 

Still, not all rich countries need such tax regime. Hong Kong SAR does not have VAT (Value Added Tax), GST or any other sales tax. Malaysia isn’t the only country that had made a U-turn and scrapped its poorly implemented GST. Countries like Malta, Grenada, Ghana and Belize too had abolished the GST soon after introducing it after the tax regime went wrong.

 

Now, even Nazir Razak, who was caught helping his crooked brother ex-PM Najib Razak in the 1MDB money laundering, has become a strong promoter of GST. Observe carefully and one can clearly see those elite politicians who strongly wanted the return of the regressive tax regime are actually very wealthy. Do you really think a crook like Najib will feel the pain of paying 6% GST.

Ismail Sabri and Lee Hsien Loong - Burberry Designer Shirt RM5500

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri does not need to worry about paying an extra RM330 (6% GST) for a piece of Burberry shirt costing RM5,500. But the same cannot be said about ordinary folks, who saw how a famous “nasi kandar” restaurant hiked the price of its “roti canai telur” from RM1.80 to RM2.50 (almost 40%) when the GST was implemented in 2015.

 

So, it’s absolutely false to say the Malaysian version of GST will not burden the poor because essential items will be exempted. Otherwise, how do you explain that basic staple food like roti canai and teh tarik saw huge price increases during GST? Like it or not, the government cannot control the impact of GST because the authorities are simply too incompetent.

 

When Mr Ismail was published on June 1 saying that the government may re-introduce GST, he was caught wearing an expensive designer watch – Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph 44MM Blue Cameo – worth a whopping RM292,553. The watch alone can subsidize hundreds of thousands of chicken – 60 sen per kilogramme for poultry farmers.

Ismail Sabri GST - Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph 44MM Blue Cameo 26400SO 2020 - Watch RM292553

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph 44MM Blue Cameo

The turtle-egg PM whined, groaned and bitched about how the government had lost RM20 billion in annual revenue after the GST was abolished. Yet, at the same time, he has the cheek to show off his RM5,500 Burberry shirt and RM300,000 Audemars Piguet watch, telling the people to be understanding with the financial difficulties faced by the government.

 

Why doesn’t the government tax the country’s “super rich”, including the prime minister himself, as well as all the former prime ministers, the same way the government had slapped a windfall tax on companies to raise revenue? How could the clueless and incompetent government justify the return of GST, but at the same time, continues wasting money on projects like a new “Shariah compliance commission”?

 

To convince the public, as a start, the government should stop wasting public money on the super bloated 73 ministers and deputy ministers, 90% of whom are incredibly unproductive and were sleeping on the job. Hong Kong has shown that GST isn’t the only right prescription to raise revenue for a country, especially for a country as toxic as Malaysia.

Malaysia - Corruption - Cash

The right prescription is political reform without the need to suck blood like a vampire from the people, who are struggling to make ends meet. The revenue of RM20 billion can be easily recovered by improving governance, boosting productivity, promoting human capital and eliminating bribes and leakages. Corruption eradication – not GST – is the essential in reducing government financial burden.

 

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Is that old Harry Lee’s son unable to control his trademark goofy grin over how ridiculous Sleepy Sabrina Lowyatkob looks?

This just doesn’t look good. In fact, it looks bloody sickening and awful. It’s Sleepy Sabrina’s version of “wardrobe malfunction”! A head of state or a politician should not be seen wearing any brand or anything ostentatious. Or anything that looks like the creature in question is promoting a product. It becomes a disaster when the creature is from a sh*thole country where the majority of the population are poor. It is a big fcuk you in the face of the population – even when it is the population that says fcuk you to the offensive brand-worshipping fcuking monkey.

There’s a whole host of issues and questions when a gomen “personality” wears something the sensible would consider inappropriate. Malaisesia may have quite many of those into celebrity culture and into very un-Islamic material worship, but the First Monkey should not indulge in unbecoming conduct but set an example of plain living, humbleness, thrift, no self-indulgence, and wan empathetic with the majority of the country. Celebrities, btw, are paid to wear those stuff the monkeys salivate over but that’s something else.

There’s much our backward Ketuanan can learn from the glorious Ketuanan Cina. Take President Xi, he’s often seen in a workman’s wear and as a technocrat and ex-farmboy he looks the part when he does his PR rounds in simple quiet outfits. Xi looks entirely convincing when he wields a shovel and digs around. Whereas we’ve seen Sleepy Sabrina Lowyatkob looked a fcuking fake when he did only one single scoop with a shovel during the floods. Other than suits for his other occasions, Xi, like the majority of world politicians, never wear any label. Politicians simply don’t look right wearing branded products, neither their spouses – or even children.

Sabrina can learn from another big bro, the president of our neighbour Indonesia. Jokerwi, who is most often seen in a rm20 batek shirt and looks a million in it. The pairing of a national fabric with a successful president is a great PR achievement and a proud statement for Ketuanan Indon. I dare say Jokerwi has sold Indonesia many a batek shirt. Whereas Sabrina may have had a letter from the company of the old worshipful colonial masters Burberry suggesting he not be seen alive or dead in their gear. Interestingly, and about chickens, the Burberry sports a design of a black chicken in the form of a Homer Simpson cartoon, and wtf?!

Sabrina always looks half-awake and depressed, you don’t want your product to be associated with such negative attributes. In contrast Jokerwi always look great with his batek complemented his wide grin. Looking alert all the time as he does, certainly helps. We copy and pirate Indon batek and even claim its from our culture, so Sabrina should make our ketuanan proud by wearing batek – and copying Jokerwi’s infectious grin. Sabrina would do great using our pirated language with a batek creation too – just how can you flaunt Ketuanan pidginspeak in a fcuking Burberry?!

Look at the Middle East with the many countries Malaisesia crawls to, their leaders are super-loaded but yet they do not strut around in anything than their trademark gowns, talk ’bout national and Arab pride! And look at Elon Musk and Mark Zuck, they are very often in t-shirts. They look a billion in them, while Sabrina looks fcuking fifteen stolen cents in his Burberry!

Even when Sabrina loves the “statement” stuff he wore, he didn’t look right with those products. Both items are for the show-offs much much younger than him. He stood out as an absolute sore prcik, he is not cut out for the items. It’s never the question of your having the wealth you probably can’t explain or your doting auntie had indulged in you, you need the “cut”, the build, the “presence/charisma” or even the look then those items can enhance your image. Sabrina looked a right old prat in those gear like he’s on his day off from the plantations, the shirt and watch on him look probably stolen from an enterprising Mat Armpit with sticky fingers…

Sabrina does not in the least project the image of success, a go-getter, or a trendy overaged poseur with his loud lout props. On the contrary it appears he’s pretending to look savvy, hip, rich by wearing the gear that he thought can hide his ineffectual self and his devastating flaw as a magnet to failures. With his props, Sabrina looks fcuking vulgar and a epitaph of sheer bad taste, a monkey from the plantations out for the day to loudly and crudely impress the peasants in town, wtf!

Project dynamism, with the gear picked specifically to embellish that. But Sabrina is long past the age for either the watch or the shirt, Sleepy Sabrina has hardly the minimal energy to even fake he’s dynamic, an achiever, a go-getter, a gung ho spirit, his “style” (Huh?!), looks, built, all conspire to destroy the more suitable image meant for the consumer of those stuff. How Sleepy Sabrina came to even think of wearing them is mind-numbing fcuking delusional!

Of the brands, nine out of ten of the products we see are fakes. Instinct would automatically tell you that when Sabrina who looks like a dead pisang goreng fryer artist, wears them, they are bound to be fakes. The Burberry is from China. And so are the fakes. Watches are very nicely faked in Hong Kong and Thailand too. You can call the real and the faked the same same. What’s the point of wearing the real thing when it is always assumed to be fake when you are seen as a fcuking corrupt thief? If you really need to flaunt a branded product, you should always go for the absolute top of the range item. Or even the absolute top brands.

Btw, even if Sleepy Sabrina is an outstanding politician, the brands, even Asian ones (Japan, Korea) won’t pick him to boast with. Sabrina is weirdly very excessively dark choc brown, no apartheid sensibilities here, and he doesn’t look Naomi Campbell or have 2% of her abilities. And Naomi, peace be upon her, has Chinese blood too, she still looks good after becoming a mum – and some of Burberry’s stuff lately look rather “West Indian”… But Sleepy Sabrina still shouldn’t get near a banana boat, posing toddy-sodden half-dead under the coconut trees is more workable for a nice honest PR campaign for him, Daaayyyy-O..!

The moral of the tale is – if you ain’t cut out to get the gear to complement your dazzling style, body and soul, then don’t bring Malaisesia down with your mad antic of rural kampong comes to the city, Sambo Sabrina Baby..!

A truly alive and kicking ketuanan should boast his own dedicated image engineering department designed PM outfit. Do something about your old Proton bodywork, lengthen yerself upward a big bit, work on a strut, even a gait, body not carried like there’s confidence or even life, look at least rm50 – and fer fcuks’ sake, take that fcuking square head back to the manufacturer for a proper renovation, you look almost square-headed squaw Hannah Kway Tiow Fryer Artist-turn evangelical back-alley lelong-grade Saint, and you don’t want that, do you?!

Just look at them tiny Pacific islands populated by our Ketuanan blood bro and sis Aboriginals, their leaders all have their tribal gear they so proudly adorn themselves with. And that’s Ketuanan! It’s an utter disgrace our very own ketuanan with the divine duty to lead the world’s Aboriginals does not have a PM who is proud of, and always attired in a national outfit designed by our First Bumis, the Orang Aslis. Even our other First Bumis, the natives of Sarawak and Sabah have always had their very own tribal outfits the pride and tribe of place.

Solomon Islands’ PM Sogavare looks great with his few wardrobe items, his plain white shirt, blue “Mao” jacket, and the usual suit. They are enough to make Sogavare shine, Sabrina could copy this Aboriginal blood bro. Mind you, Sogavare speaks rather polished English which would be an impossible act for Sabrina who wants the rest of the world to speak a pirated copy of Indonesian. All while Sabrina stands Ketuanan upside down by wearing western labels! Our Ketuanan is so unoriginal, so cheap, indeed half-baked, seriously embarrassing, and a freaking joke, wtf!

Look at how Ibrahim Oily manages PR for PerKKKasa. He had the Snake Pharaoh M for Memali Monster wore his ketuanan headgear of a stolen hotel shower cap for the Petron of the fascist “supremacist” outfit. And that is much better than the Kerala Krait wearing the very foreign tuxedo for the deputy head waiter from the Golden Bombay Restaurant. I would have asked the fcuking waiter brought me some chopsticks pronto.

We get over rmBillion(!) pumped up the religious authorities’ and they can’t teach our political monkeys anything about plain living, humbleness, content with the simple things in life, not showing off, conspicuous consumption, etc etc, wtf! Can’t the pious place faith in the Alamighty supplying the plenty, no need to turn to brands and labels?

When wan is a supposed Muslim, and when one supposedly leads a country full of poor folks about to become even poorer, you don’t make a right proper big arseh*le of yourself flaunting such stuff in their faces, there’s stupidity and stupidity! This is gross stupidity at the level of our blessed clerics who jerk off vigorously at the sight of expensive Mercs instead of fcuking flying carpets! Instead of knowing their quiraat, tafsir, tauheed, and tauhu, the fcukheads are into the Compassionate and the Mercedes, wtf! No wonder no one in the Middle East wants to come to the airport to greet kafir Sleepy Sabrina.

There’s nothing special about that timepiece on Sabrina, its engine can be found in other watches, most of which vastly cheaper. The watch is less than 10% utility and the rest is just “brand”. These days you can dive umpteen metres with most cheap watches if you need rescue folks during floods – and that, Sabrina has proven he’s totally incapable of, wtf! He can’t even come in time to help the flood victims, what fcuking timepiece does he use, that fake Captain Fcuking Nemo Jacques Cousteau?!

The sick problem is Malaisesia is also a fcuking backward brand-worshipping primitive society where when there are those that are sh*t poor, they are still in awe of those who rob them stupid, and they nevertheless worship the brands. Makes you wonder what the fcuking religious authorities teach about blind materialistic pursuit. Coming back to it again, our fcuking “religious” are also into brand and materialistic worship, expensive AMD Mercs, and the likes, wtf!

Sabrina is best suited to wearing a batek shirt with a grass skirt. After all, our national anthem is a stolen Hawaiian hula hula number “Mamula Moon” that Sabrina can twerp to. The Aboriginal natives of the western and southern Pacific look great in their tribal gear, they do not suffer the inferiority complex like our ketuanan whose souls run off like niggahs to their Western massahs but whose rabid big mouths spout our cave-grown ketuanan. And Sabrina is wan such Uncle Tom, afraid to look “native” and needs the approval of yet other (even more) “superior” races. What fcuking Ketuanan and what fcuking inferior backward cave monkeys!

About GST, I’m for that. It’s not a Najib invention, unless our enlightened monkeys can come up with something less easy to fiddle, the GST is, for the present, fine by me, I sure detest tax dodgers almost as much as corrupt thieving gomens.

Yes, these days (mostly in the West) image is important. But you want to hire competent PR image builders, not rely on half-baked pillars of vulgar taste or your wives or aunts. Or the many internet influencers who can’t see you. Too much and too expensive which are very often Bolehland criteria do not ever work, neither where a product is inappropriate eg it doesn’t suit you or you are not made for it… Or when the majority of the country is poor. Or when the country is headed towards still greater poverty and even scarcity of food.

And, wtf, has Sabrina Lowyatkob got nothing more important to do, spends time salivating at stuff of subjective value, decorating himself and padding up the zero worth in him? If he were just a little bit half-smart he should lelong off those items and more, use the money to buy plenty of chickens and truckloads of instant noodles, be Jesus H Christ, and feed the multitude, wtf!

Sleepy Sabrina Lowyatkob would have been possibly a Bolehland hero having shovelled a single shovel-full of dirt during the floods, but he’s made a proper arseh*le of himself with his fcuking hopeless DIY image improvement. Should have consulted Rosmah, at least she graduated from the Imelda School and has a warehouse collectio of expensive bad attempts at self-transformation, wtf..!

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