SIBU: Nangka assemblyman Dr Annuar Rapaee yesterday blasted the opposition for pre-empting the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) by playing up the issue to incite fear and concern among the masses.
Dr Annuar pointed out that GST was introduced to widen the country’s revenue base to bring about more development to the people.
He was reacting to claims by irresponsible quarters that when GST is enforced on April 1, it will trigger the prices of goods to go up.
“Our government is a responsible government sensitive to the needs of the people. The government has explained that essential items will not be affected.
“I think it has been played up to the maximum not only to create fear but blame the government for misusing tax to bail out this and that. This is what they are trying to tell the people.
“They can use all sorts of excuses and there are quarters trying to use it as a political issue.
“To pre-empt all this negativity about GST, this is most irresponsible and not right. Let us wait after the implementation of the system.
“With over 160 countries having implemented GST, it speaks volume of the effectiveness of the system,” he told reporters after attending a ‘Persatuan Teksi Bumiputra Bersatu Sibu’ luncheon.
Dr Annuar said he was not surprised by Sarawak DAP severing its ties with Pakatan Rakyat (PR), but was surprised why it only chose to do that now.
DAP, he said, should have done so on day one when working with PAS.
“It has always been PAS’s struggle to implement Hudud and DAP knows this. So, why did they want to affiliate with PAS in the first place?
“Only now when the state election is near, they have to fulfil their promise – have to quit PR. Or maybe DAP think they are strong enough now to win the election on their own.”