SHAH ALAM, 30 Oct: The Central Government is in a hurry to implement the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which will burden the people when there is no mechanism to increase the people’s income.
The President of Student Solidarity Malaysia (SMM) Safwan Anang, said that the Central Government has been urged to first solve the problem of corruption, leakages and improvidence occurring in expenses, as reported in the Auditor-General’s Report before the GST is implemented.
He said students will be affected and impacted from the implementation of the GST at the rate of 6 percent starting from 1 April 2015 because they are also consumers who buy goods and necessities.
“If the federal government does not want to hear the sound of protest, together, students are ready to mobilise this voice of protest,” he said when contacted by TVSelangor.
Safwan hopes that students will enhance awareness and understanding of the implementation of the GST so that they are able to be the people’s spokespeople.
“When the campus elections are still hot, it is hoped that the GST will also be debated. But unfortunately, this did not happen due to external political interference which has caused the GST issue to be quiet,” he said.
The introduction of the GST at a rate of six percent will be more burdensome for the young people because 82.5 percent of them earn RM3,000 and below.
The impact will be felt by the young people when the rate of inflation rises due to the increase in price of goods and services while income has not changed much.