Newspapers out of Budget 2015?!

Right off the the bat, you had something in mind. You thought about what would benefit your close relatives. You thought about what would benefit that poor fellow who stops at your station every morning. You thought about what are the challenges your future sons and daughters would have to put up with. What you would be aware of however, is that by the end of the day, neither of you would reap the benefits, because the Budget would not reach out to your woes.

This is not to shed a negative light on the idea of a "people's budget". As seen from the Budget 2015 discussion, there are a few key notes to be concerned of:

1. A Pan-Borneo highway is proposed, for the sixth time
2. BR1M (aid vouchers) is now increased, to soften the blow of high-rising prices
3. Petrol and diesel are exempted from GST.
4. Civil servants as well as pensioners would get a meager pay raise.
5. Newspapers are exempted from GST.

Understandably, it's bitter-sweet until it is known that the ruling about newspapers raises more than just a curious eyebrow. Just think of the last part for a gander. Newspapers; ie, info print-outs of Malaysia - are not charged of the infamous GST, a tax rate to obtain additional funds for governmental projects.

It goes without saying that this is an attempt in reverse engineering. It is a known fact that every mainstream paper across this country is a monopoly controlled by certain political affiliations. This causes a polarized media network with an even more polarized target audience. With the mainstreams being pro-government, the indies and the Opposition partisan papers would be perceived as anti-government (although they insisted on unbiased journalism). Due to the need of a governmental license for print media, such lone rangers could not publish in print and thus rely on the infinite Internet to get their messages across.

Since most of the print media in this nation are heavily biased and would cherry-pick out the nasty bits of dirty politics, as seen below.

Didn't notice it, nope.

And the nation was totally cool uncool with it

The irony is stunning

With the government raking in a no-contest income by publishing news prints featuring advertisements and government-approved articles nationwide, it is easier to spot the greed when it is announced that their papers won't be GST-charged. So as more Malaysians could afford their papers and their propaganda, so as much they can be manipulated.

There are other matters to raise in the budget, but most of the media have covered them well. What the media failed to cover however, is the insidious bias that the government had when they exempt prints from GST.

Now that we know our freedom is being chipped away, don't sweat it. Freedom should never be a part of the budget as it's meant to be - FREE!

Post by Free Speech Malaysia.