By TK Chua

It is true that this is not the first time the federal government has tabled a supplementary supply bill in the Dewan Rakyat. However, this does not mean we are doing it right. Incurring extra expenditure and subsequently seeking supplementary approval has become habitual.

A cardinal principle in our system of government is strict financial control of expenditure and taxation. Taxes can only be raised with express laws, and expenditure can only be incurred with express approval of the Dewan Rakyat through the supply bills.

If we care to read our annual budget carefully, there are already contingency funds set up to cater to unforeseen situations or circumstances. Why then do we have supplementary budgets year in and year out?

We can interpret frequent supplementary budgets in many ways.

Firstly, the government is not “serious” about its budget proposals. Its programmes are not comprehensive and definite enough, hence the need for constant adjustments and additional funding throughout the course of the year.

Secondly, the government is “under-budgeting” during its annual budget presentation to give the impression that fiscal deficit is under control or consolidating. In reality, government “locked in” or committed expenditures could be much bigger than the budgeted amount.

Thirdly, frequent supplementary budgets are also signs of ministers and prime ministers exercising power that circumvent the roles of the civil service in evaluating and assessing the expenditure programmes of the government. Increasingly, we find the executive branch of the government announcing programmes and projects that cost millions of ringgit out of nowhere. This could be the reason why so many of the programmes and projects have become topsy-turvy.

Rightly, there shouldn’t be new programmes or projects added to existing budgets in the course of the year. To do so would suggest a lack of discipline in financial management – either we spend without proper planning or we choose to violate our own deficit target.

To me, supplementary budgets are only justified when there is a national emergency or a natural disaster. Even for this, there is already a contingency fund earmarked in the budget. We should only invoke supplementary budgets when the contingency fund is insufficient.

For 2017, the planned deficit was RM40.3 billion. The recently approved supplementary budget was RM7.122 billion. We do not know if there will be second or third supplementary budgets in the pipeline for 2017. But judging from the first supplementary budget alone, the additional deficit incurred was almost 18% more than the planned deficit.

TK Chua is an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.