Anwar denies agreeing to impose GST when he was Finance Minister

Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has denied that he had agreed to impose the Goods and Services tax (GST) during his tenure as Finance Minister, in 1992.

He said, this was because there were certain prerequisites must be met before implementation.

"That was why the GST was never implemented during my watch as Finance Minister," he said in a statement Friday.

According to the Opposition Leader, those unfulfilled prerequisites included proper governance, transparency, no leakages and wastage, and safeguards against corrupt practices.

Besides that, the PKR Permatang Pauh MP also emphasised that the GST should start at a low level.

Anwar was responding to a statement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak during the GST briefing session held two days ago.

In his closing speech, Najib had said that Anwar was the first Finance Minister to announce the GST when tabling the Budget in 1992 and had intended to implement it the following year.

During his speech, Najib had also assured Malaysians that the GST, a progressive tax system to be implemented on April 1 next year, will not burden them.

He said the new tax structure, which is adopted by 90 percent of the countries in the world, must be implemented in Malaysia to ensure sustained and continued growth for the country.