By Chan Quan Min
The wealthy tend to benefit more from subsidies than the poor with the richest Malaysians Robert Kuok and Ananda Krishnan among recipients of government subsidies, deputy finance minister Ahmad Maslan said.
Ahmad Maslan
“Subsidies are a stupid policy,” he said during a Budget 2015 briefing to Inland Revenue Board employees at the tax collection agency’s Cyberjaya headquarters today.
“If Malaysiakini is here my comments will probably be uploaded in a matter of minutes,” he said.
The fuel subsidy cut on October 2 was made in the interest of fairness to the rakyat, Ahmad told his audience.
A full tank of petrol for a motorcycle is just 7.5 litres while for a Mercedes-Benz a full tank is 75 litres, he said.
“Which consumes more petrol? Should subsidies be paid to the rich or to the poor?” he asked to meek response from his audience.
According to the deputy minister, six items still remain on the subsidy list including flour, cooking gas and cooking oil.
Everyone from the richest Malaysian Roberk Kuok to even Ananda Krishnan is a recipient of government subsidies, he claimed.
But when it comes to petrol the rich consume more than the poor, hence the need to “withdraw” 20 sen per litre in subsidy for RON95 petrol.
The fuel subsidy cuts are expected to save the government about RM1 billion this year and about RM3.5 billion next year.
Fuel subsidies make up just over a half of the annual subsidy allocation in the region of RM40 billion this year.
The annual subsidy bill has been cut about 10% from last year and will see a further cut of 7% for 2015.
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