Budget 2023 goes beyond the narrow confines of race and religion, says Ramasamy
SHAH ALAM - The Budget 2023 tabled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was a development approach that sought to go beyond the narrow confines of race and religion.
Penang Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy said that all other earlier budgets were very much anchored in race and religion, whereas the Budget 2023 mirrored the nature and extent of racial and religious divisions in the country.
"Unlike the other earlier budgets, the Budget 2023 is different in kind and scope.
"Knowing where Anwar is coming from, he opted for a budget that can cut across ethnicity and race without denying them.
"Of course, there is no running away from the deeply embedded structures of race and religion, but a start has to be made, even though it might be weighted down by these twin interconnected variables," he said in a statement through his official Facebook page.
He further added that the budget had received mixed reactions from various quarters, but by and large, it has been hailed as expansionary and pragmatic.
Ramasamy also said the challenge for Anwar and his cabinet colleagues was how to come up with the Budget 2023, to escape the entrapment of the past.
Commenting further, he said the last budget introduced in October 2022, just before the 15th General Election (GE15), by the former Barisan Nasional (BN) government (a populist one), was a budget that was introduced to get support for Umno or BN by overemphasising race and religion with some concessions to non-Malays here and there.
"However, the budget introduced by Anwar has all the trappings of a non-populist budget that seeks to address the social and economic gaps in the country.
"The budget mentions the word Bumiputra one or twice more in relation to economic consolidation and rationalisation of foundations, but the non-Malays were hardly mentioned by way of special allocations.
"However, the expenditures and development allocations under the budget take full cognisance of the affected groups, whether they are Bumiputra or non-Bumiputra," he reasoned.
Ramasamy also highlighted that the recent Budget might not be a great one, certainly not under the weight of massive debts to the range of RM1.5 trillion and not to speak of the embedded nature of corruption that has penetrated all corners of the society.
A few years back, both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank remarked that Malaysia had lost more than three trillion ringgit due to corruption.
"If I am not wrong, Budget 2023 was introduced to address serious socio-economic gaps arising from debts mainly due to corruption and other forms of financial misdeeds.
"I recall that in my one or two conversations with Anwar in the past, he was deeply troubled by the overattention to ethnicity and religion. His counter point was simply this: policies and measures introduced in the country without an ethnic bias might end up benefiting all Malaysians regardless of ethnicity or religion.
"I think Anwar wants to impart this message by way of the Budget 2023. Given this implicit notion, why politicise ethnicity and religion unnecessarily.
"Of course, there is no running away from ethnicity and religion. They have to be addressed carefully and judiciously," Ramasamy said.
He also said there is no necessity to read to much in the Budget 2023 since it is a significant attempt to address the social, economic and financial problems by taking a non-politicised approach.
He said it is not an ideal approach but a pragmatic one that engenders the thinking that the considerations of the welfare of all Malaysians might not be zero-sum game.
"Theoretically, the Budget 2023 might not be just a short term to address the serious social and economic gaps in the country, among the races and between the races.
"It provides a policy framework to re-envision the development trajectory for deeply divided societies like Malaysia.
"An approach that has long bedevilled other more sectarian approaches to development," he said.
