KUALA LUMPUR: The postponement of the second reading of the goods and services tax (GST) bill does not mean it is a "no go" as it will eventually have to be implemented, said chairman of the tax review panel at the Finance Ministry Datuk Kamariah Hussain.

Speaking at a Chartered Tax Institute of Malaysia's (CTIM) seminar on GST here on Monday, March 15, Kamariah, who is in charge of implementing the GST, said "the way forward" for the the ministry was to take the opportunity to go on more roadshows to raise public awareness on the need for GST.

Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah announced last Saturday that the GST bill would not be tabled for the second reading when parliament resumed sitting on Monday as the government needed more time to gather feedback from the rakyat.

Speaking to The Edge Financial Daily later on, Kamariah said the Finance Ministry would work together with the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) and the SME Corp and had arranged more roadshows and seminars throughout the country to explain the new tax regime more clearly to these bodies.

On whether the government could effectively stop profiteering from the eventual imposition of GST, Kamariah said the government should be given a chance to address the issues.

"The fact that the government has come out with the Anti-Profiteering Act is already a good indication that the government is seriously looking at the issue of profiteering," she added.

Meanwhile, CTIM believed the implementation of GST "will eventually come" and it was a matter of "political will" for the second reading of the GST bill to resume.

Its president Dr Veerinderjeet Singh does not expect to see any changes to the proposed bill.

Speaking to The Edge Financial Daily, Veerinderjeet said CTIM was "supportive" of the GST as the broad-based tax would be able to improve the country's tax system in the long term.

"We are of the view that GST is a tax that the country should adopt — it has its long term benefits — not short term.

"For example, GST would be able to bring more businesses into the tax stream. There are businesses who are supposed to be charging sales and service tax now but that are not doing so because they are not in the net. GST would bring them into the net," Veerinderjeet said.

Meanwhile, Deloitte KassimChan Tax Services Sdn Bhd's managing director Ronnie Lim told reporters the postponement of the GST implementation "grants the marketplace a reprieve for the time being (as) the pace in pursing the GST has been very hectic for the marketplace to be GST-ready".

"We have been running around everyday, so this gives some breathing space for us. We hope that some new timelines will be given to us as it is a little bit open ended presently," Lim added.