Stating that it will prioritise both ministries in its Alternative Budget 2018 document released today, the opposition coalition said it needed to check the decline in the standard of healthcare and public universities.
“All cuts that were carried out by the Umno-Barisan Nasional government amounting to RM300 million on medicine and treatment will be reinstated. Also reinstated will be the RM2 billion in grants to public universities,” PH said.
The opposition said it was necessary to deal with all complaints from the public on the shortage of medicines and inability to carry out much-needed health tests.
PH also had good news for motorists with the promise of reinstating the fuel subsidy that had been removed three years ago, and abolishing all highway tolls.
“PH believes that in principle, the government must provide some fuel subsidies since Malaysia is an oil-producing nation. To that end, we propose a fuel subsidy of around RM1 billion for 2018.
“This will effectively mean a RM0.20 reduction in price per litre, for a total of 5.4 billion litres of subsidised petrol,” PH said.
However, the opposition said it will implement a system whereby the fuel subsidy will only be enjoyed by Malaysians.
As for the abolishing of tolls, PH said instead of paying compensation for not increasing toll rates, in the long term, it would be better for the government to buy out all concessionaires, in order to ensure the people benefited directly.
Also, in view of the move to promote the use of public transport, PH said in its budget, that it would introduce a monthly public transport pass at RM100 that will allow for unlimited use of the Rapid bus, LRT and MRT services.
All these gains for the public will be even more meaningful for those in the Bottom 40% bracket of society. However, it becomes a “bonus” with PH also proposing a major increase in minimum wage.
“Pakatan Harpan will raise the minimum wage to RM1,500 a month nationwide. This minimum wage has already been fully implemented by the Penang and Selangor state governments for all state employees,” the budget document said, adding that the minimum wage will also be revised every three years.
There is also good news for PTPTN loan recipients, with the PH proposing in its budget that the repayment be based on the level of income that a graduate earns.
“Repayment on their loans will only commence when their salaries exceed RM4,000 a month,” PH said, adding that such a move would greatly reduce the number of those blacklisted for non-repayment of their PTPTN loans.