The opposition has appointed a nine-member committee to work on a comprehensive BA budget for 2004 which their MPs will table in the September sitting of Parliament.

Barisan Alternatif (BA) secretariate chairperson Abdul Rahman Othman said the committee - comprising mostly accountants and economists - is led by him, PRM's Lee Sang and PAS' Dr Rosli Yaacob, a former Bank Negara senior officer.

He said the budget will focus on methods to spur economic growth with equal distribution and transparency in awarding government contracts.

"Transparency is important because it helps ensure that government investments are properly managed. Without it, things will be done in a dishonest and shoddy manner like what had happened to the school's computer labs project recently," he explained.

Reaching target groups

"The government's intention to invest in projects is to improve our technology but the way they gave out the projects is open to abuse, thus causing monetary loss and educational opportunities."

Apart from that, Abdul Rahman said the budget also plans to concentrate on ways to ensure that government allocations "are truly spent for the intended target groups".

To ensure that the BA budget is a "rakyat-endorsed" one, the public are invited to participate in a dialogue-cum-discussion with the committee on Aug 9 at the Keadilan headquarters in Shah Alam at 9am.

"We want to get the people to validate our budget. So we want businessmen, non-governmental organisations, politicians, community leaders to attend the dialogue and give us their views and ideas," he said.

Although the BA has yet to set a specific date to present the budget, Abdul Rahman said it will be announced before the government budget is tabled on Sept 12.

"Of course the government is welcome to adopt any of our ideas if they want to. It will not be a problem to us if they make use of our ideas for the people's benefit," he said.

Fifth BA budget

The 2004 budget will BA's fifth. The coalition first tabled its alternative budget in 1999.

Last year's BA budget, dubbed the 3Ks (kemakmuran, keadilan, kesejahteraan or prosperity, justice and well-being), was presented by Universiti Malaya economic professor Dr K S Jomo on Sept 17.

On another issue, Abdul Rahman who is also Keadilan deputy president, hoped that the public will participate in the launching of Parti Keadilan Rakyat on Sunday.

He said Malaysians should take the opportunity to join the 2,000 guests who had confirmed their attendance.

Opposition leaders, NGOs, foreign diplomats and reformasi supporters are expected to be present to witness the formation of the party.