KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 1): Pakatan Harapan has made six key recommendations for what it dubs the Unity Budget 2021, during the coalition’s meeting with Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz earlier today.

In a statement signed by Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and PKR secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution, the coalition said the Unity Budget must focus on meeting the financial needs of ordinary Malaysians, ensuring the survivability of corporations and protecting their economic livelihood.

“In essence, we urged the government to pursue an expansionary fiscal policy with the main objective of easing the cash flow challenges of the people and corporations.

“In the meeting, we posed many questions and requested the minister to disclose and share important fiscal data. We also suggested and explained a plethora of our budget ideas and policies,” said PH.

The first of its six recommendations is for the government to increase the resources of the Ministry of Health to fight Covid-19 and non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which includes fair compensation for frontliners, using a diverse set of candidates for vaccine procurement and deployment to the most-at-risk population.

It also recommended an increase in the number of temporary healthcare workers including nurses, sanitising staff and contact tracers, as well as a special allocation to tackle the spread of the virus in Sabah.

Its second recommendation is to expand the social safety net, as well as welfare payments for the vulnerable and unemployed, by increasing the monthly welfare aid to RM1,000 until the end of the Covid-19 crisis.

The coalition also asked for the loan moratorium and wage subsidy initiatives to be extended until March 31, 2021, the creation of 600,000 jobs as per the Malaysia@Work scheme by offering hiring incentives over a two-year period costing RM13 billion, and the use of a ‘carrot and stick’ approach for sectors that are doing well to increase the number of local workers.

Besides that, it recommended an increase in education spending, such as improving and increasing resources for online learning, as well as the allocation of development expenditure for two key projects, namely the National Fiberisation Connectivity Plan (NFCP) and the upgrading of water infrastructure for Selangor, Kelantan and Pahang.

"We hope that these recommendations will be accepted and incorporated into the Unity Budget 2021. We await the next steps and responses from the government in this consultative process.

“On the good advice of the Yang-di Pertuan Agong, we wish to stress that this consultative process is done in the spirit of good faith. PH is committed in working with all parties to combat Covid-19 to save the rakyat and our economy,” said PH.

“However, PH reiterates that this consultative process does not imply any PH support or acceptance of the present Federal government but to work together for a Unity Budget that benefits both the nation, our national economy and the rakyat,” it added.

Malaysia's Budget 2021 is set to be tabled on Friday (Nov 6).

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