Kim Shin joins chorus of praise for budget

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MIRI: The 2012 Budget tabled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak last Friday was truly dedicated to the people.

Assistant Minister of Communications Datuk Lee Kim Shin strongly believed the budget would benefit people in all strata in the country from students, pensioners, youth, civil servants, and low-income group to the private sectors.

“The 2012 Budget is truly the people’s budget in line with the National Transformation Policy (NTP) towards making Malaysia a united and progressive nation by 2020,” he stated when contacted by thesundaypost yesterday.

Lee, who is also the Senadin assemblyman, described the effort to set up My Creative Venture Capital will indirectly help to increase technological innovation and creativity among the youth.

“I am happy to note the government has agreed to establish the MyCreative Venture Capital. Under this programme, an initial fund of RM200 million would be given for a pioneer project.

“Thus, this is a golden opportunity for youths who have the aptitude and talent to innovate in the technology field,” he remarked.

On housing, he gave his full support to increase the limit of house prices to RM400,000 under the My First Home Scheme beginning January next year.

In addition, the government would allocate some RM443 million for People Housing Programme (PPR) where the allocation would be subjected for the construction of 8,000 units for sale and 7,000 units for rent next year.

He said he is pleased to see people earning below RM3,000 would have the opportunity to own a house at an affordable price.

The low-income group would also benefit from the PPR programme, thus it would help the government to settle the squatter issue effectively.

“I believe the budget for next year has brought smiles to the people as the points covered are very close to them.

“A big ‘thank you’ to prime minister for a budget that really fits the 1Malaysia Concept giving strong emphasis on ‘People First, Performance Now’,” he remarked.

He hoped the government would convert the budget into reality effectively and efficiently.

Effective implementation by the civil service, he said, is important to ensure the good intention of the budget is fully realised.

Based on past experience, he said the implementation machinery at the civil service level has posed a great challenge for elected representatives to fight for the people who are the deservedly beneficiaries.

“There is a need to get rid of the unnecessary red tapes as they only slow down the effort in delivering the programme to the people,” he remarked.