Now, Idris is finding himself in a corner. It it embarrassment big time for him! It is indeed a lonely place. He is also feeling exasperated as the PM and his Cabinet colleagues choose to look the other way!
That is politics, my boy. The possible has become the impossible and the impossible, the possible.
The Ministry of Finance have a bone to pick with Idris on his findings and his arguments for immediate subsidy cuts.
Treasury officers briefing the Barisan Nasional (BN) backbenchers in Parliament today dismissed Idris and said he has overstated his case for the subsidy cuts with flawed statistics
Using Pemandu findings Idris had predicted Malaysia could be bankrupt by 2019 if it did not begin to cut subsidies for petrol, electricity, food and other staples, which he said cost the country RM74 billion last year.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak also moved today to quell fears raised by Idris that Malaysia would one day go the way of Greece and Iceland and become a bankrupt nation by pointing out the government was taking steps to ensure that the country’s debts would be reduced.
According to Pemandu figures, the country’s total subsidy was RM74 billion, which is equivalent to RM12,900 per household.
Pemandu said the government subsidises RM23.5 billion for fuel, RM4.6 billion for infrastructure, RM3.1 billion for food and RM41.8 billion for social welfare (health, education and higher education).
But the Finance Ministry said today the country’s total subsidy was RM18.6 billion or equivalent to RM3,246 per household.
It said that RM7.1 billion was spent for fuel, RM0.8 billion for infrastructure, RM2.9 billion for food and RM7.8 billion for social welfare.
Former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has also ridiculed Idris saying that Idris was exaggerating.
The Malaysian Insider understands that Idris has come under fire from Cabinet colleagues because his remarks had undermined Najib’s government.
So now Pemandu is also holding a briefing for the BNBBC tonight after many BN leaders had expressed dismay over Idris’s bankruptcy remarks.
The briefing is aimed at explaining its findings and receiving feedback from members of the BNBBC.
Lawmakers from both BN and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) have agreed that an immediate implementation of any subsidy cuts would spell political suicide for the Najib administration with the next general election within the next 34 months.
Najib has also stressed that the public would have the final say on whether expensive subsidies would be cut.
