Wednesday, September 05, 2007

DAP Budget is Out!

The DAP is finally beginning to show signs of behaving like a good opposition. I've regularly insisted that Opposition 2.0 needs to do more than just make noise in the political sandiwara. Seems like somebody listened. They have just released their budget proposal for 2008. I quickly downloaded it to see what ideas they might have.

This is a good start, for them to show some competence in dealing with everyday government matters. To the opposition zealots who keep crying for a chance, here is their chance. There is no reason that the opposition needs to be in power to demonstrate it's ability to govern. But, after reading it briefly, I do have a few of comments:

  1. The document lacks polish as there are several spelling and grammar errors, especially in the foreward by LGE. Granted, they may not have had enough man power to scrutinise every little detail, but it affects the overall impression of a document.
  2. The document is in English, I'm hoping that they will have versions available in other languages soon. I assume that this is something that they are working on presently and all versions will be made available soon.
  3. The document is a political document, with very clear indications on which groups of people the DAP are targeting for votes in the coming GE. However, it is at least a solid document that is based on fundamental data.
  4. I personally like the DAP budget as it promotes things that I agree to. It encourages transparency, promotes education, healthcare, economy, and most importantly, emphasises the technology sector.
So, there you have it. Read it for yourself, if you're interested in the plans that DAP have for our country.

3 comments:

Ir. Dr. K.C. Ng said...

Not very comprehensive tho anyway good try...oh yea the Government Budget for 2008 is out...pretty ambitious :) probably coz election is coming up

Shawn Tan said...

yea, good step for the opposition to take, even if the budget document has some issues..

in fact, if you look at the DAP budget and our Government Budget, there are quite a few similarities, I think..

if i have the time, i'll try to do a comparison this weekend..

Ir. Dr. K.C. Ng said...

I had a quick look through the budget 2008, it certainly in line wif the government's motto of helping the rakyat, however, what I really wonder is that if it is just a political move to win the election rather than looking at sustainability of the expenditure proposed over a long run. It's not good if it's only for next yr while the budget for year 2009 would then be bad for the rakyat, thus, that said, the garmen should instead present a 5 yrs budget/ expenditure plan as well rather than one that seems long term but really just for a myopic agenda. We must understand that we are but a developing nation, thus there is a limit to what we can sustain, else we would just land ourselves in larger debts and in the end poorer rakyat in the long run.