Malaysia’s Federal Budget 2014 was announced on October 25th 2013. We monitored tweets related to the budget and analysed the content to see which budget measures were most popular.
Unlike last year’s Budget where the RM200 smartphone rebate was very popular among Twitter users, this year’s responses were mostly humourous, personal or sarcastic in nature. Essentially the tweets were not on-topic, which made analysis difficult. Certain topics could not be analysed in time due to their complexity, e.g. ‘harga minyak’ refers to both the price of cooking oil and the price of petrol. What we present here is a brief overview of the most popular responses based on keywords.
Out of 124,201 tweets from 48,456 users about the Budget from Oct 25th – 26th, the most popular measure being discussed was the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). GST was discussed in 8,083 tweets from 4,798 users.
The popular measures and their share of interest from the data collected are listed below. Please note that there is an overlap between each group of users, as people may talk about multiple issues in multiple tweets.
The most popular #Bajet2014 measures on Twitter
1. Introduction of GST
– 8,083 tweets from 4,798 users
– 6.5% of total tweets; 9.9% of total users
2. Increase in BR1M allocation
– 5,168 tweets from 3,965 users
– 4.2% of total tweets; 8.2% of total users
3. Removal of sugar subsidy (includes exemption of sugar from GST)
– 4,111 tweets from 3,427 users
– 3.3% of total tweets; 7.1% of total users
4. Continuation of 1Malaysia book voucher scheme
– 2,435 tweets from 2,205 users
– 2% of total tweets; 4.6% of total users
5. Wages and income tax
– 2,246 tweets from 1,874 users
– 1.8% of total tweets; 3.8% of total users
6. High-speed broadband initiatives
– 1,275 tweets from 999 users
– 1% of total tweets; 2.1% of total users
7. Entrepreneur-related measures (allocation towards the Graduate Entrepreneur Fund /Tabung Usahawan Siswazah and others)
– 1,247 tweets from 934 users
– 1% of total tweets; 1.9% of total users
We compiled a list of popular tweets related to these measures, with an emphasis on popular contrasting views.
1. Introduction of GST
Remember, even if GST is introduced, it replaces the existing sales & service tax. It's not a new, additional tax. #Budget2014
— Khairy Jamaluddin (@Khairykj) October 25, 2013
Sale, purchase and rental of residential properties as well as selected financial services are exempted from GST. #Bajet2014 – Admin
— Mohd Najib Tun Razak (@NajibRazak) October 25, 2013
Otai cerita bajet 2014 yg akn Najib umum esok dijangka rokok naik RM2, petrol naik 20sen, GST 10%. Semua ini berlaku pd 2014. Welcome 2014!
— Fakta Bukan Auta (@FaktaBukanAuta) October 24, 2013
2. Increase in BR1M allocation
#Bajet2014 Kadar BR1M bagi individu dinaikkan dari RM250 kepada RM300
— Berita TV3 (@buletintv3) October 25, 2013
Janji dilaksana sebagai salah satu dari lima teras Bajet? BR1M 3.0 bukankah diwar-warkan RM1,200 sebelum PRU-13? #Bajet2014
— Anas Alam Faizli (@aafaizli) October 25, 2013
3. Removal of sugar subsidy (includes exemption of sugar from GST)
Mengaitkan isu subsidi gula Belanjawan 2014 dengan al-marhum Ustaz Azizan, adalah komen terburuk dalam akhlak ahli politik Malaysia 2013
— hasrizal (@saifulislam) October 26, 2013
#Bajet2014 : Susbidi gula sebanyak 34 sen dimansuhkan berkuatkuasa esok (26 Oktober) – PM Najib
— BERNAMA (@bernamadotcom) October 25, 2013
Actually I thought diabetics also hv to cut down on rice cos that converts into sugar too….#justsaying #Budget2014
— Marina Mahathir (@netraKL) October 25, 2013
4. Continuation of 1Malaysia book voucher scheme
#Bajet2014 Meneruskan Program Baucar Buku 1Malaysia kepada setiap pelajar IPT bernilai RM250
— Berita TV3 (@buletintv3) October 25, 2013
The book voucher scheme received overwhelming support, the only criticism being users asking for a higher amount.
5. Wages and income tax
#Bajet2014 bahas tak isu gaji yang telah jauh ditinggalkan pengeluaran semenjak tahun 1998? We are underpaid by 45% ! pic.twitter.com/LPmpYBDojl
— Anas Alam Faizli (@aafaizli) October 25, 2013
300,000 #Malaysians with income of RM 4,000 and below will incur no income tax #bajet2014
— Khaled Nordin (@khalednordin) October 25, 2013
#Bajet2014 : Kerajaan beri bonus setengah bulan gaji kepada penjawat awam, dibayar mulai Januari 2014 – PM Najib Razak
— BERNAMA (@bernamadotcom) October 25, 2013
6. High-speed broadband initiatives
The government has implemented the High-Speed Broadband (HSBB) project under the National Broadband Initiative. #Bajet2014 – Admin
— Mohd Najib Tun Razak (@NajibRazak) October 25, 2013
This measure did not receive any criticism.
7. Entrepreneur-related measures
To encourage graduates to do business, RM50 million is allocated under Tabung Usahawan Siswazah. #Bajet2014 – Admin
— Mohd Najib Tun Razak (@NajibRazak) October 25, 2013
1Malaysia Entrepreneurs (1MeT) will be implemented to give the entrepreneurs exposure in business.” #Bajet2014 – Admin
— Mohd Najib Tun Razak (@NajibRazak) October 25, 2013
Potongan cukai pelabur;insentif penyelidikan;pemb usahawan- harga barang?@nazihazainal: DS sila fokus dengar bajet2014 :p Haha" @mikeomicron
— Anwar Ibrahim (@anwaribrahim) October 25, 2013
