A citizen's roadmap to reducing Malaysia’s growing national debt

I REFER to the insightful articles in StarBiz on June 26 highlighting our healthcare sector's resilience, but more critically, reporting on the urgent warning from economists regarding Malaysia’s RM1.3 trillion national debt and the ever‑growing fuel subsidy bill ("Crucial to continue subsidy rationalisation").

As the experts rightly pointed out, continuing blanket subsidies is like having a giant leaky pipe in our national budget. While intended to help the poor, these subsidies tend to benefit the wealthy and foreigners the most. Imagine giving a discount to everyone at the grocery store when only a few families actually need the help. We are draining billions that could instead build schools, upgrade public hospitals, or pay down our massive debt.