It’s not the Govt’s money: We should be more cautious the next time someone in a Malaysian state or Federal Government says ‘I have a plan’.

Updated: Tuesday October 29, 2013 MYT 6:56:32 AM

It’s not the Govt’s money

BY WAN SAIFUL WAN JAN

We should be more cautious the next time someone in a state or Federal Government says ‘I have a plan’.

ONE Friday afternoon, a man comes to your house. You don’t know him very well. Just someone you sometimes bump into when you go out. He tells you that he has big plans but, the weird thing is, this stranger demands that you give him your money so that he can spend it on his plans. He tells you what he has done in the past and what he now has in mind. He has staff to pay to run all his “initiatives” so a big chunk will go to people who work for him. He wants to build a grand building. He also has a lot of travel plans. And, since he overspent for many years, some of your money will be used to pay his debt. He insists you give him your money or you will get into trouble. Under normal circumstances, most people would slam the door shut for fear of being robbed. Now let’s change the scenario a little bit. The man is the Government. No one personally came into your house. Instead, you watched the Finance Minister make an announcement in your living room via television.You were not personally threatened. Instead, an institution called Parliament passed a law to legalise coercing you into giving up your money.

And society as a whole has been conditioned over many decades to accept this coercion, which is now called taxation. It has become a norm and you must pay.

In fact, it has become such a norm, many of you smiled and cheered when you heard how your money would be spent by complete strangers whom you have never met, for causes that probably have nothing to do with you.

The most awkward thing was, many started singing praises when a new tax was announced as one of many steps to pay our national debt.

No one complains about being made to pay a debt caused by many years of overspending by someone else.

That was what actually happened last Friday at 4pm.

Our Finance Minister announced that he will take your money whether you like it or not, and he listed a raft of things he will do with your money whether you like it or not.

That should not be a day for celebration. The day when the Government announces the Budget should instead be a day for us to demand even greater accountability and transparency from the Government.

It is a day that should have also made us even more sceptical of government because they are the only entity on earth that can legally coerce us into giving up our hard-earned money.

If somebody else were to come into our house and demand money from us, we would probably chase the thief out with a hockey stick.

But because it was the Government, we have been conditioned to take it for granted without question.

I hasten to add that this is not about Barisan Nasional.

Pakatan Rakyat will do exactly the same if it ever comes into power.

In fact, Pakatan is not even in power at the federal level, yet they too announced how they want to spend your money in their shadow budget.

This is exactly why we must look at the behaviour of a state and federal government with caution, regardless of which party is in power.

Of course taxation is necessary. And of course a government budget announcement is necessary too.

I am not at all suggesting we should abolish them altogether.

We must have taxes. We must have government. And we must have government spending.

What I am suggesting is for us to be more cautious the next time someone in a state or federal government says “I have a plan”.

The likelihood is their “plan” will involve forcing you to pay for what they want to do.

And it is very likely too that they will do it in such a subtle way, you would not even realise that they have taken your hard-earned money.

You are the one who worked hard, yet you have to give up your cash because these politicians have a spending “plan” for your money.

As for Budget 2014 specifically, I hesitate to comment too much about it.

Over the last few years, our government has a track record of failing to adhere to the budget that they announced.

Last year they overspent by RM18bil.

The year before that they overspent by RM15bil.

Before that it was by RM13bil.

It makes you think, if in the past the government did not take their own budget announcement seriously, why should we think they are actually serious this time?

But one thing is for sure. All of the money the Federal Government wants to spend is our money.

Similarly, when state governments table their state budget later this year, that is our money too.

We must always be vigilant so that our money is not spent wrongly and we must demand more accountability from those who are spending our money.

> Wan Saiful Wan Jan is chief executive of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (www.ideas.org.my). Follow him on twitter @wansaiful. The views expressed are entirely the writer’s own.