KUALA LUMPUR: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng found himself the target of the opposition’s ire as one accusation after another was hurled across the aisle at the Dewan Rakyat today.
The drama began with a query from Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakub on why the national debt had risen to RM81 billion under Pakatan Harapan (PH) despite the sale of national assets.
Lim then pointed out that the government was still paying the debts incurred by the previous administration, including that of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
He accused the Barisan Nasional (BN) of hiding the facts, so the current government had to be responsible for the debts.
Despite that, he said during the question-and-answer session, the government had managed to reduce the overall debt from 80% of GDP to 77%.
Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man (PAS-Kubang Kerian) then interjected to cite the 2018 Auditor-General’s Report saying that five companies under the Finance Minister still owed RM2.839 billion and asked how the government planned to deal with it.
Lim then asked the PAS deputy president if he had read the entire report, pointing out that the five companies were set up by the BN administration.
The session then turned into a shouting match, with Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan (BN-Pontian) asking more questions about 1MDB’s assets and Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim (BN-Arau) labelling Lim a liar.
Lim demanded that Shahidan retract his statement but Mohd Shahar Abdullah (BN-Payar Besar) interjected to say that Lim should apologise for accusing BN of stealing goods and services tax funds.
Shahidan eventually retracted his statement on orders from Speaker Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof.
To Ahmad’s question, Lim said he was not sure how much assets 1MDB had as there were several units in a Singapore bank whose value he did not know.
He added that 1MDB also sold land belonging to the government and Tabung Haji.
This caused another stir among the opposition MPs, with Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim (BN-Baling) accusing Lim of confusing the House given that the deal had brought profits.
Finally, Ariff reminded the lawmakers that they had to follow the rules as it was merely a question-and-answer session and not a debate.
In response to a question earlier, Lim said the country’s international reserves for 2018 stood at RM419.6 billion, which was sufficient for 7.4 months of imports.
He said the federal government’s revenue in 2018 amounted to RM232.9 billion but the expenditure was RM287.1 billion.
