Senator Datuk Dr Sim on budget 2015

suppadmin | October 11, 2014

Its a rakyat friendly budget. It is an extremely tough job to balance between what is good for the country’s economy and what is popular with the rakyat.

There are many measures the government can take to address the living cost – from increasing the amount in BR1M to a reduction in income tax, as well as increasing the income tax threshold (300,000 people no need to pay tax). The public will also need to read the fine print of GST application as at least RON 95, LPG, Diesel, reading materials and a number of common daily items will be exempted.

I am please to see the increase in the allocation for training, so that we can improve ourselves instead of being dependent on subsidies.

It is also good to have significant increase in opportunity for women as I believe they can play an even greater role towards nation building.

To enhance the women role in national development, the Government will focus on efforts to intensify the involvement of women in the job market and entrepreneurial activities.

In the development aspect for Sarawak, apart from the allocation for the Pan Borneo, we need funds for the upgrading of schools as well as hospitals.

It is good there are allocation in the national youth transformation program. This is the right investment for the future of our country and the development of human resource.

I also hope for more of the housing scheme be implemented in Sarawak as this is not just an urban issue for the young but also the middle class. It is also a positive aspect to see Kuching being one of the city selected for the public transport initiative as we need to invest in good public transportation.

As mentioned earlier, on the over all it is a rakyat-friendly budget but we will need more time to read through the details or fine print to really appreciate what the prime minister has for all of us.