COMMENT | I refer to a recent article where Pakatan Harapan shared its alternative budget for 2018. After going through the article, I can conclude that Harapan's alternative budget is populist and very short of substance.

This clearly shows that the budget was done haphazardly and without any serious thought behind it. The populist budget from Harapan is just to gain support from the rakyat and it knows that the budget is not sustainable.

Firstly, the promise of Harapan to abolish the goods and services tax (GST) if it wins the next general election. This does not make sense as GST contributes approximately RM42 billion to the government. By eliminating GST, the government loses a very important revenue stream.

To replace GST with the sales and services tax (SST) also does not make sense as most countries around the world (168 countries and counting) have changed from SST to GST, while Harapan is regressing by going back to SST which brings in lower revenue for the government.

Secondly, the promise to abolish all tolls in this country also does not make sense. It is just a lie to woo the rakyat to vote for Harapan in the next general election...