PH can continue with BR1M even if GST is abolished

GEORGE TOWN: Pakatan Harapan (PH) can continue dispensing the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) even if it abolishes the Goods and Services Tax (GST) because adequate funding can be sourced by curbing public wastage as well as eradicating corruption.
When wastage is reduced and corruption nipped, there would be ample public funds to distribute among the needy, said PH deputy president Lim Guan Eng.
Lim, who is the Penang Chief Minister and DAP secretary-general, said that the funding for BR1M can easily be sourced if the losses incurred by the public sector to mismanagement, wastage and corruption were kept to the bare minimum.
Citing an example, he said that Penang was dispensing token cash aid to the people on an annual basis simply because it worked to curb corruption and wastage.
"There is no need to additionally tax the ratepayers," Lim told a press conference.
He also said that public efficiency was also important in curbing wastage.
Lim said he hoped the federal government can emulate the aspects of clean governance which had formed the basis of the PH government in Penang.
In another matter, he clarified that a viral social media posting alleging that PH will close the bumiputra educational institution - Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) was a feeble attempt to undermine the Opposition.
"It is an outright lie," Lim said.
His information officer Zaidi Ahmad will be lodging a police report on the social media posting which bore Lim's image and name.
Lim also extended his condolences to the family of former Umno secretary-general Tan Sri Sanusi Junid who passed away before dawn today.
"I met him in Shah Alam. He seemed fit and had walked up on stage himself and held the manifesto up. We are quite shocked by his sudden passing."
Sanusi had attended the launch of PH's election manifesto in Shah Alam last night.