KLANG, Feb 6 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak today took aim at proponents of a welfare state, stating that all welfare states ended up facing “very serious economic problems”.
The prime minister told about 1,500 disabled and less fortunate people gathered at the Hokkien Association here that his administration strived towards providing a social safety net instead to ensure wealth is fairly distributed.
“We are not a welfare state. All countries that practise a welfare state end up facing very serious economic problems,” Najib (picture) said, in an apparent reference to PAS’s “Negara Berkebajikan” concept.
“But we practise a social safety net and give priority to welfare. Then we can create a fair and just society that is balanced in sharing wealth,” the Barisan Nasional (BN) chief added in his 15-minute speech.
PAS had championed a “Negara Berkebajikan” concept at its general assembly in June last year but BN leaders mocked the Islamist party for dropping its commitment to an Islamic state and also insisted the government had already introduced a welfare state.
“The government has always struggled towards achieving a welfare state. Therefore I find it strange and peculiar that they want to establish a welfare state.
“What they claim as new, we have had for a long time. There is no need for them to take the model of the current government,” Najib had said at a forum last June.
But PAS has insisted it did not propose a welfare state (negara kebajikan) but a benevolent state (negara berkebajikan) which also focuses on good governance and social justice which are part of an Islamic state.
Najib had tabled a budget for this year themed “National Transformation Policy: Welfare for the Rakyat, Well-Being of the Nation” which included RM2.5 billion in cash handouts and a pay increase for the country’s 1.3 million civil servants worth RM2 billion.
He pointed out initiatives such as the RM1.4 billion handed out to the less fortunate under the 1 Malaysia Social Welfare Programme (KAR1SMA) and RM500 for each household earning less than RM3,000 a month under the Bantuan Rakyat 1 Malaysia (BR1M) as examples of Putrajaya’s social safety net.
Much of the Euro zone, which is under threat from a Greek default, practises welfare programmes and benefits funded by government spending which some economists say are the root cause of the current debt crisis.
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