Delving into Malaysia ' s 2023 Budget

s our finance minister read out Malaysia’s brand new and record-breaking 2023 budget early this October -a whooping RM372.3 billion against the previous RM332.1 billion in the 2022 budget, the general public held their breath and hoped for the best. Short of saying it met expectations, suffice to say, there was little to complain about, as the nation pondered over the country’s debts and the need to revive and recover from the 2-year slump. The theme of the Budget “Strengthening Recovery, Facilitating Reforms Towards Sustainable Socio-economic Resilience of Keluarga Malaysia” , rang true as netizens described it as one that was “feel-good” , “people’s budget” , and “committed to the rakyat” . With the general election just around the corner, it wasn’t at all unexpected and one wouldn’t have to question why the Budget was structured to offer “sweeteners” for all.

Aby Kadija binti Kamarulzaman

What does the budget offer?

The budget includes a significant amount of measures taken to protect the welfare of Malaysians, especially in this period of trying to restore the livelihood of those who had been hit by a higher cost of living following the rising interest rates and inflationary pressures post-pandemic. Looking closely at the more notable beneficiaries of this budget, however, are the women of Malaysia. The unprecedented move of taking significant steps towards eliminating gender inequality economically has never been done before in previous Malaysian budgets and is proof of our government’s commitment to protecting the most vulnerable group in these economic conditions.

Adressing Women

As an ever-typical Asian country ridden with traditional ideals, Malaysia is not a stranger to the practice of women having to take “career breaks” after pregnancy or upon entering motherhood in order to take on the role of home-maker and caretaker; be it willingly due to their selflessness, or begrudgingly due to guilt. This has resulted in women struggling to return to the workforce as they have to juggle not only their workplace and maternal responsibilities, but also the burden of having to pay hefty income taxes despite having little to no disposable income of their own. Malaysia’s 2023 Budget recognizes this as a problem, as it proposes for women who return to the workforce after their “career break” to an entitlement of income tax exemptions for five years from 2023 until 2028.

Maternity in these unstable economic conditions is also not easy to navigate, as new mothers and young women often have to grapple with finding the means to fundraising a child; such as purchasing numerous costly baby formula milk and diapers every month. In light of this, it was proposed that women from households who give birth in 2023 will be eligible to receive oneoff cash assistance of RM500 under the CahayaMata Keluarga programme. Additionally, families can also claim tax relief of up to RM3000 on fees paid for TASKA and TADIKA registered with the government, which will help to reduce the burden for families with younger children.

The Budget acknowledges the importance of boosting women’s participation in the economy to make an impact on improving Malaysia’s Gross Domestic product (GDP). Special attention is also given to the new surge of women who have recently joined the digital-entrepreneurship space to seek new income opportunities during the pandemic, where the Ministry of Finance has set aside RM235 million to help these women build, upgrade and market their businesses, as well as offer training programmes to increase the number of women in leadership roles in the male-dominated industries.

Nevertheless, despite all “sweeteners” being proposed to women in the recent budget, netizens alike were quick to point out the cracks in- the Finance Ministry’s seemingly “solid” policy-making when it came to women. While a hand-out of cash could look neat and generous to a lot of B40 mothers, such one-off cash assistance can only be useful to solve immediate financial strains, as opposed to the realistic daily challenges a mother will have to face day to day, as well as the everincreasing demands from a developing child under their roof. Critics also promptly noted that the proposed exemption of income tax for women returning to work seems to only benefit certain women who earn enough to get tax exemption in the first place, such as those in formal sectors.

The Budget evidently fails to reach or recognize those who work gig jobs or sell food at a gerai by the roadside, who lack basic needs and necessities such as basic child care. Thus, it would have been more logical for our government to create a robust childcare system -one that’s safe and affordable, which would actually allow for all women alike to contribute to their families, as well as their country, economically. The devil is in the details, we can only hope (and vote!) that the government satisfies by serving our nation in restoring Malaysia’s economic balance instead of grappling at scoring brownie points, saving us from the currently fragile fiscal momentum.