The Bolehland Daily: Ministers are ‘already underpaid'

(malaysiakini) Earlier during his one-hour speech, Najib had quoted free-market economist Adam Smith to argue that Malaysia's fuel subsidies had been inefficient. He cited the example of local fishermen who got diesel at RM1 per litre as it was heavily subsidised by the government.The levels of fish caught have stagnated while the use of diesel went up, lamented Najib.

He said the government's move to slash fuel subsidies was "the only sensible macro policy"."In terms of the nation, we don't want to use oil wastefully," said Najib, who described last week's sharp fuel hike of around 40 percent as "politically painful" and "difficult".

Najib also explained that it was "important to educate the Malaysian public that the day of reckoning will come" as the country will become a net importer of oil in four years.

Later, during the question-and-answer session, he was asked to justify the much-criticised slashing of ministers' entertainment allowances by only 10 percent, and the curbing of their all-expenses paid holidays to countries in the Asean region.

Najib defended the move, saying that cabinet ministers were "already underpaid in Malaysia" relative to the private sector."Don't begrudge us for what we have," he pleaded.

Najib also defended the Internal Security Act, which allowed detention without trial, citing the legislation as a key weapon in the country's defence against global and regional terrorism. However, in his speech he did not specifically name ISA, which he referred to as a "pre-emptive legislation" introduced by the British during the war against the communists."The caveat is that we don't abuse it."

The BolehJokes thought:

Oh My God! He's driving me crazy. Can someone just fucking slap him?

I'm not just angry. I am super-duper big time fucking angry. Ministers underpaid? When Zakaria Mat Deros was alive, he can afford to build a mansion and he's not even an important minister. And you got the fucking guts to say the word underpay.

Fuck OFF!