Gurdwara council president: PM did not say 'almost bankrupt'

Malaysian Gurdwaras Council (MGC) president Jagir Singh clarified that Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin did not declare that Malaysia was ‘almost bankrupt’ at the Vaisakhi Hi-Tea function on April 12.

“All those present at the Hi-Tea will vouch for it.

“What the prime minister was conveying was that the country, due to Covid-19 and the economy, had to incur a heavy expenditure of more than RM600 billion and this heavy expenditure had resulted in the government not having much money left.

“This is very different from saying that the ‘country was almost bankrupt’,” said Jagir, referring to an article by financetwitter.com which made that claim.

Jagir’s statement tallies with Malaysiakini’s report which quoted Muhyiddin as saying:

“So much money has been spent last year and this year. Why? For Covid-19. This included various stimulus packages totalling RM340 billion and RM322 billion allocation for the national budget.

“I went to school, but I am not good at calculation... how much it adds up... it’s more than RM600 billion - that’s a big sum of money.

“What I am trying to say here is, we don’t have much money left.”

Singh said the MGC hopes that this will help clear the air over what the prime minister actually said at the function.

He said the council also expressed its appreciation for the government’s concern in allocating RM4 million to 120 Gurdwaras in the country, including RM1 million for the proposed Malaysian Sikh Centre.

“With the current economic scenario and the government incurring a heavy expenditure of more than RM600 billion, the MGC is very appreciative of the allocation,” he added.