Gag

Sometimes things just stick in the throat and make you feel like choking, like this view held by UMNO man Abdul Shukur Idrus as reported by The Star here (article entitled Reduce Federal aid to Pakatan state govts, go straight to rakyat).

An extract :

Abdul Shukur said the Pakatan Rakyat-ruled Selangor government gave RM1,000 to finance funeral arrangements to the people in the state while Umno provided RM300.

“The state government also provided RM1,500 to the elderly. The people in the state are talking about the opposition government giving aid to the people.

“Little do the people know that what the opposition government is giving comes from the Barisan Nasional Federal government,” he claimed when debating the president’s policy speech at the Umno General Assembly here on Friday.

Abdul Shukur said the Federal Government should reduce payments to the opposition state governments so that the people there could see which party provided greater assistance.

Seriously.

Even if this was said at the UMNO General Assembly, I do hope that some of the delegates are capable of thinking a little deeper than this fellow's shallow thoughts.

To say that the PR-ruled Selangor govt is getting funds from the BN Federal govt is fair enough. To conclude that this shows the BN Federal govt is providing greater assistance to the rakyat, I think, misses one fundamental point.

If the PR Selangor govt is getting PART of their funds from the BN Federal govt, where does this fellow think the BN Federal govt is getting ALL their funds from ? Petronas money, personal and corporate tax - aren't all these funds that belong to the rakyat ?

Therein lies the issue. There are some within BN who think of govt money as BN money which they deign to give to the rakyat via aid or development or what not. The way I see it, it's the rakyat which has given this money to the Federal govt to act as stewards.

The ownership of the money is with the rakyat. The Federal govt are given the funds to manage and disburse in a caring and responsible manner - and this remains the case whether the Federal govt is led by BN, PR or Muthu who lives in the junk yard.