GST will be abolished: Mahathir

KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Harapan will keep its promise to abolish the Goods and Services Tax (GST) after forming the federal government.
Its Chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the Sales and Services Tax (SST) will be reinstated to replace the GST.
"It's a cancellation. We don't need it. We go back to the sales tax for the moment," he told a press conference, here today.
Malaysia's six percent GST was introduced on April 1, 2015, to replace the SST.
Pakatan in its quest to wrest Putrajaya said the tax had caused the cost of living in Malaysia to rise.
On Malaysia's trade and investments with China, Dr Mahathir said all undertakings entered into by the previous government would be studied before a decision is made.
"As you know, China has a long experience of dealing with unequal treaties and resolves it by renegotiation. So, we feel we are entitled to study and if necessary, renegotiate terms.
"What worries us is the amount of money borrowed by the (BN) government, RM55 billion just for the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) and lots of other borrowings, which will burden the country," he added.
He said a responsible government must try to reduce the amount of borrowings, as otherwise, the country would be in bad shape.
As far as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is concerned, Dr Mahathir said the coalition had no problem with it, except that, Malaysia did not like to see too many warships in the region.
The BRI, a mega-development idea proposed by China in 2013, is also a multidimensional infrastructure network featuring land-sea-air transportation routes and supported by major railways, ports and pipeline projects. — Bernama