PM can take commercial flights like the others 
MalaysiaKini.com
Mar 18, 2015     
By Yoursay 

YOURSAY ‘The public has a right to ask, as it is the taxpayers’ money.’              
 
'PM has just ordered another private jet' claim

Justice Pao: The questions is that do we really need so many planes for the PM and VVIPs.
 
Many of other leaders, even some of the more developed and richer countries, travel by commercial airlines.
 
Former Uruguay president Jose Mujica stayed in a barn and drove an old VW Beetle while donating 90 percent of his salary away and rebut those who said he is poor by saying:
 
"Those who describe me so are the poor ones... My definition of poor are those who need too much. Because those who need too much are never satisfied."
 
It looks like Najib Razak, Rosmah Mansor and their cohorts are never satisfied with their lavish lifestyle, while the rakyat are asked to eat cakes when most cannot even afford any.
 
Myop101: Just when the people have to suffer by paying more taxes in the name of development and closing the budget deficit, the government decided to go on shopping spree. So much for ‘rakyat didahulukan’ (people first).
 
On another note, is it logical for a person suffering from excessive debts to upgrade his/her house (mind you, it is upgrade, not downgrade) because it requires more maintenance work than the new property?
 
Wira: If you want to travel, use first class instead. We don't need so many executive jets.
 
Singapore’s president, PM and government officials typically travel on regular scheduled commercial flights run by Singapore Airlines and we know that the little dot is a lot richer than us, sitting on top of US$251 billion reserves.
 
Pekasamsedap: The current Airbus ACJ319 has major issues and needs to be sent for major maintenance or needs to be replaced, hence government is leasing or buying back the ACJ320 which they used for a short time previously when the government ran out of jets because one of the jets was retired and two went for major maintenance.
                                   
This is a possibility because ACJ319 previously developed problems and had to be sent back to the Comlux headquarters in Indianapolis for six days during the infamous Hawaii trip in December last year.
 
Perhaps the issues are serious enough that it needs another major maintenance or even replacement and hence the government decided to purchase the previously-leased ACJ320 as a replacement.
 
At that time, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) justified the short-term lease by saying that the Fokker F28 aircraft was retired in 2012 as it was over 30 years old and not replaced.
 
In 2013, the Boeing BBJ and ACJ319 were scheduled for compulsory six-month-long maintenance. As such, the government decided to lease the ACJ320 for a short time to overcome the shortage of aircraft.
 
P Dev Anand Pillai: The problem with the people whom the ‘weighing scales’ have ‘appointed’ to rebut the general public in Malaysiakini is, they just don't seem to get the point.
 
Of course, the public has a right to ask, as it is the taxpayers’ money, or to rightly put it, the people's money.
 
If it is from their own pockets, who cares how many planes one has but if it is from the public coffers, then we being the taxpayers have all the right to ask.
 
JD Lovrenciear: How rich a nation is Malaysia and how poor are its citizens?
 
When the population has to be put on the dole with Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) - cash handouts aid, our leaders strangle the country's future with more hire purchase for luxury travel.
 
Louis: Former PM Abdul Razak Hussein did not want to use even a single sen of government’s money to build a swimming pool for his house, but his son Najib has no qualms using millions of ringgit to buy a luxury jet for his own comfort. My God, what a big difference.
 
Mushiro: The ringgit is at its lowest. The oil revenue is badly down. The country's debt is at its highest ever. Come April 1, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will burden the rakyat tremendously.
 
In the midst of all these, our leader, the son of Tun Razak, who claims that the rakyat is his priority, has chosen to pamper his wife with a new jet using the rakyat's money.
 
Kingfisher: The indulgence of the newly rich and powerful that one hears and reads in the online media is disgusting and sickening to many of us, the ‘orang lama’.
 
The abuse and plunder by a select few always imposes a serious burden on the many and in many cases the burden will have to be borne for generations.
 
If many are agnostic and not judgmental on the fallacies of those entrusted to lead due to the call for unity and protection of select groups, these very people who are persuaded by those who are actually plundering are complicit in the fraudulent abuse of fraudulent populism.
 
No reasonable individual, whatever his narrow-minded views are, should allow his own kind to diminish the sanctity of responsible governance on the pretext of "unity". Plunder and unity are not reconcilable.
 
ACR: I have just submitted my tax returns for 2014 and there is a repayment due from Inland Revenue Board (LHDN).
 
If only LHDN decides to fuss about it, they have hell coming from me given the profligate manner public monies are managed. 

Copyright © 1999-2012 Mkini Dotcom Sdn. Bhd	
Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/292352