I came across an interesting read from the Internet on what “resilience” means.

       Many will think along the line of “bouncing back” from adversity.

       Everyone is hopeful for the economy to recover and recover quickly.

       Give us back our jobs; let us go back to schools and back to our routines.

       Except that, what everyone had thought, is not actually resilience.

       The writer further wrote: “Resilience is not a state of being but a set of skills honed through adversity. To be resilient is not to go back to being the way one was before. It is to allow oneself to be changed, to see the cracks in the self or the system, let the light shine through and to become (in the words of Hemingway and a million memes) stronger at the broken places.

       Be it a coincidence or otherwise, The Finance Minister, at the beginning of his Budget 2022 speech, acknowledged that there are great hopes for this budget. And it is on all of us – as a Malaysian Family, to rise again to restore the country.

       And that the budget be a beacon of hope, shining brightly at the end of the pandemic, so that the people can return to prosper in the new norms.

       The overall feel for the budget was very warm, akin to a warm hug from our families whom we have not met for ages during the lockdown and interstate travel ban.

       Many who have suffered during the pandemic, whether corporate or individuals, would be happy to see the additional or extended reliefs.

       Industries and sectors relevant to our economy are supported through some form of initiatives.

       Yes, the budget had what it is supposed to have for the Malaysian Family to recover.

       Were there any announcements to push for a solid reformative change? From a personal perspective, I would say I was disappointed.

       Where was the bait to attract and entice investors?

       We missed our Vision 2020 tabled in 1991.

       The vision then for the 30-year time frame (now 2021) was for the nation to become a self-sufficient industrialised nation by the year 2020, encompassing all aspects of life, from economic prosperity, social wellbeing, educational world-class, political stability, as well as psychological balance.

       One of the pillars to this vision was to be fully competitive, dynamic, robust, and resilient.

       Resilience without a reformative agenda may hinder another vision aspiration.

       The budget had a few welcome highlights.

       On an individual front, one point to cheer is the reduction of Real Property Gains Tax or RPGT from 5% to 0% on profits from disposal of real estate and shares in real estate companies from the sixth year onwards.

       The cost of vehicle ownership also continues to be attractive where the sales tax exemption on completely knocked down and completely built up passenger vehicles will be extended until June 20, 2022.

       It is recommended that you look at electric vehicles as the budget introduced extensive initiatives such as full exemption on import duty on components, excise duty and sales tax which should make the price very attractive.

       The unexpected missiles from the budget were proposals related to taxing individuals and corporate (who are tax residents in Malaysia) when they remit overseas income into Malaysia.

       For the online shoppers, you may see increased costs as your future online purchases valued less than RM500 will now be subject to sales tax (which is exempted at present).

       Budget 2022 may not be all we envisioned it to be, however, I remain optimistic that it provides the foundation for us to heal, post-pandemic.

       The question remains – can the economy wait? Only time will tell.

       Ang Weina is the global employer services leader from Deloitte Malaysia. The views expressed nere are the writer’s own.