Anwar and Rafizi present contrasting fiscal roadmaps ahead of GE16

In early October, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim presented Budget 2027, focusing on fiscal discipline through debt and deficit targets, limited tax reforms and the maintenance of existing subsidies such as low fuel prices. Two days earlier, Rafizi Ramli and his coalition Bersama released a shadow budget that reintroduces a 5% GST for a decade, proposes a retail electronic payments tax and expands a progressive wage policy to millions at a modest cost.

Bersama also outlines universal social programmes—including child assistance, basic pensions and a monthly cost-of-living grant—while consolidating 189 agencies into a single ministry. Both proposals stress the need to eliminate waste and corruption, but differ sharply on tax structure, the role of state-linked GLCs, and the breadth of universal social support. The writer judges the opposition’s plan as a more transformative vision compared with the government’s continuation of past budgeting patterns.