SUBANG JAYA, 15 Oct: The Member of Parliament for Pandan, Rafizi Ramli, likened the central government’s move to increase petrol and diesel prices by 20 cents on October 1 as a ‘replacement’ of the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST).
He said that the government’s initial proposal was the implementation of the GST on fuel; however it had to be cancelled at the last minute for fear of the people’s anger.
“We know that Datuk Seri Najib Razak plans to implement the GST on petrol and diesel, in fact, in the closed briefing it was listed that there is GST for petrol and diesel. Umno was just scared of one thing; that the people will demonstrate.
“I have seen and we are sure that Barisan Nasional (BN) is scared to do that and cannot implement the GST, so they increased the fuel price by 20 cents recently,” he said during the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Budget Forum in Subang Jaya yesterday.
Rafizi, who is also the Vice President of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), also denied allegations by the central government that they had to bear the cost of RM41 billion for the petrol subsidy in this country.
He said that the BN government only paid RM13.7 billion for the subsidy of the fuel for 2014 based on calculations.
“The village people believe it. The village people pity Najib because he helped the people a lot. Umno said that the liability is heavy because no one would calculate the amount, but we, the opposition, can question the amount.
“They only like to use the theory that we are lower than other countries,” he said.
NS
