The ‘cartoon billboards’ that have been put up on the goods and services tax (GST) are impractical, fail to explain the tax and are costly. So, they must be removed immediately, Malay rights NGO Jarigan Melayu Malaysia (JMM) says.

In a New Straits Times report today, JMM president Azwanddin Hamzah fingers Treasury secretary-general Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah and Treasury tax analysis division secretary Siti Halimah Ismail for the misleading campaign.

The NGO said road users were unable to read the information on the billboards as the advertisements were written in small fonts.

"The idea of using cartoons on billboards is also counter-productive as people do not have time to read everything displayed on the board," Azwanddin is quoted saying.

On Sunday, Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia reported Umno supreme council member Mohd Puad Zarkashi, asking Mohd Irwan to opt for early retirement for this GST campaign mistake.

JMM's Azwanddin repeated the call and asked that the government to also explain the wasteful expenditure involved.

Azwanddin was also quoted in Utusan Malaysia today, saying that the two bureaucrats responsible for the GST billboards had helped in opposition to the GST.

He said they were a burden to their boss, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is also finance minister.

The GST will begin at six percent in April 2015 and the government has allocated a budget of RM100 million to educate the people on the tax before it is implemented.