Malaysians from all walks of life stormed PM Muhyiddin Yassin’s Facebook page to vent their discontent over what they call the misgivings in the Budget 2021 speech.
One post with 47,000 likes and over 14,000 comments says a lot about the feelings of a large number of Malaysians.
If this is taken as a sampling for a polling, it clearly means the government failed to win hearts with the budget.
This was probably the one chance Muhyiddin had to right a lot of the wrong done since March when the new government took power, says some netizens.
But they now say in droves the Prime Minister and his government has let them down. By them, they mean the people of the country.
Though this is not the voice of the entire country, such a backlash on social media (Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp groups) shows the trend is against the Perikatan Nasional for now.
Most of the people are complaining about the refusal of the government to allow them to withdraw a lump sum from the main account of their Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
MY MONEY I CAN’t TAKE?
The government, however, has allowed the account holders to withdraw RM500 monthly for the next 12 months.
But this did not satisfy a large number of people, based on the various messages in several Facebook posts on the PM’s account.
Here are samples of the messages posted on Muhyiddin’s Facebook page:
While on Facebook most comments were about the hardship the people is facing and the apparent lack of aid from the government, on Twitter, it is another issue that is raging.
Some people are saying the government’s refusal to allow a lump sum withdrawal from the EPF is a let down.
Others are saying in the dire situation they are in, this money is not to be used to go for a holiday (the country is closed, under a lockdown until Dec 31).
They say it is for their use, for starting a ‘burger’ business or for paying accumulated debts.
TWITTER EXPLODES WITH JASA
The Tweeple are fighting about this hashtag #jasa. The government has revived a controversial Special Affairs Department (Malay: Jabatan Hal Ehwal Khas, Abbr.: JASA).
The department is given RM80 million in allocation in the 2021 budget. This has enraged a lot of Malaysians, with very few voices supporting the government on this matter.
Several memes are also appearing with quotes blasting the government over the Jasa issue.
Others on Twitter are telling the government to take heed of the anger of the people.
Kalau abah kau tak sedar lagi tak tahulah.. Kalau rakyat dah marah macam ni bajet 80 juta untuk JASA pun belum tentu cukup nak lawan kemarahan rakyat. pic.twitter.com/H7fvqIDeOl
— Fadzilah Mamat (@FadzilahMamat) November 7, 2020
In English, the tweet is saying, “If Abah is still not aware, I don’t know lah! If the people is that angry, the RM80 budget for Jasa will not suffice for the government to fight the anger of the people.
According to Tweeple and Facebookers, Jasa is a cyber trooper arm that is used to boost the government’s image on social media.
The Pakatan Harapan government shut down the department and did not allocate any funds for Jasa.
Bajet JASA sebelum ini (Zaman BN)
2011 – RM 21,759,400
2012 – RM 21,392,000
2013 – RM 23,127,100
2014 – RM 24,572,800
2015 – RM 21,718,100
2016 – RM 22,801,000
2017 – RM 22,886,500Zaman PH Hapus
Kerajaan PN
2021 – RM 81,150,000Abah kau punya gila kuasa!
— Chairman GLC (@aizadfahmy) November 6, 2020
The figures above show the budget allocation for Jasa during Najib Razak’s reign.
