Yes, folks. It's that time of year when we find out just what the government will be spending on and what sort of goodies we'll be getting.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng will be presenting the national 2020 Budget later today and all indications are that, as with every year, there will be cursing and gnashing of teeth. Hey, let's face it. Many people, especially middle income earners, each year will be unhappy with the budget proposed by the government.

The Star recently ran a poll on what people want to see in the 2020 Budget, and the results were predictable. We want higher subsidies and lower taxes. Of course we do. Everyone, and we mean everyone, would love that.

It's not gonna happen, though. And we didn't need PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad telling us that, even though that's exactly what he he did. It's impossible to have lower taxes and an increase in subsidies, he says. It's one or the other, in other words.

So what happens now is that the budget will focus on getting subsidies only to the "deserving groups", as Maddey put it. But does that mean taxes, especially personal income taxes, will be lowered? Well, the government has to earn money somewhere, so maybe not.

The PM does say the government will tax the high income group. But, you can't really get what you need merely by taxing the high income group. So what this probably means is that we are going to see a budget that has goodies for the B40 group, is not so fantastic for the high income group and has, again, not much for the M40.

Well, that's our prediction anyway. 

But as Malaysian Institute of Economic Research senior fellow Shankaran Nambiar puts it, this really isn't the time for an austerity budget. While the huge debts we were left with need to be kept in mind, what this country and its people need right now is a budget that will spur the economy.

Seven people, including two DAP assemblymen, have been arrested in police swoops in several states over links to militant group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Malacca exco member G. Saminathan and Seremban Jaya assemblyman P. Gunasekaran were among those arrested, allegedly for attending an LTTE Heroes Day function in Malacca. Also arrested were the organiser of the event, who had been found guilty of an attack on the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Malaysia at KLIA in 2016 and two other people involved in the incident.

Bukit Aman's counter-terrorism head honcho Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay says the others arrested were found to either have been recruiting or seeking funding for the LTTE, or were in possession of materials related to the group. He also denied Bukit Aman was selective in its investigation and arrests, considering that action had been taken against militant Islamic groups as well.

That's all well and good. You went after Jemaah Islamiyah and other militant groups. And there is no denying the LTTE committed atrocities when they were still around.  But they, as veteran DAP MP Charles Santiago puts it, are now defunct, even in Sri Lanka. If some mad people want to attack a Sri Lankan diplomat, then yes, take action against them. Even if it's preventive action. But just for attending a function?

In any case, Santiago argues, the LTTE was not really a bunch of terrorists but ones who were fighting for freedom, and were not dissimilar to those fighting for the Palestinian cause. Yet many Malaysians and leaders are friendly with Palestinians and support their cause (and rightly so). So, is there a difference.

Let's be very clear, though. We don't condone or support violence of any kind. Where do we draw the line when it comes to organisations with a history of violence? LTTE was declared a terror organisation yet its supporters claim it is merely fighting for freedom. But the same is exactly true of Hamas, isn't it?

Just what do 1MDB, the mafia and the fictitious (or is it?) alien enforcement agency Men in Black have in common? Apparently, Najib Razak and Jho Low. Well, sorta.

Confused? Well, let us explain a little, by tackling the mafia first.

Former Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) and 1MDB chief executive officer Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, who as far as we are concerned has been getting creamed by Jibby's defence counsel in the 1MDB corruption trial, was asked if he had checked to see if the instructions he was getting from Low were indeed coming from the then PM.

Shahrol answered in the negative as he considered Low to be Najib's consigliere, a term normally used by mafioso to describe someone who is an adviser or counsellor to the "Don".

As if that wasn't enough of a lesson in Italian for those in court, lead defence counsel Shafee Abdullah then asked Shahrol if he was a soprammobile, literally an "expensive ornament" but a term used to describe someone who is merely a figurehead. Shahrol didn't agree, of course, but really, his testimony over the past few days doesn't hold up his argument. And that's putting it politely.

Meanwhile, describing the process of how TIA became 1MDB, Shahrol said the original suggestion was that it be renamed Malaysian Investment Bhd, but "Najib" didn't like the acronym MIB (what, he didn't like the Men in Black movie??!?).

Again, however, the "instructions" were relayed by Low and Shahrol didn't check if they had indeed come from Najib. C'mon Shahrol, it's time you owned and rocked the soprammobile tag.

Speaking of 1MDB, MACC chief commissioner Latheefa Koya has dismissed allegations that the anti-graft body was being biased or selective in releasing the names of those whom they are going after in terms of recovering 1MDB money which they had allegedly received from Jibby.

Umno veteran Shahrir Samad had posted a statement on Facebook why he and another Umno hero, Ahmad Maslan, had been named but former Puteri chief and now Bersatu member Mas Ermieyati Samsudin had not. Mas Ermieyati had been on the "original list" of Umno leaders who allegedly received 1MDB money from Najib exposed by whistleblower website Sarawak Report.

Latheefa, however, said the list recently released only contained those who had received more than RM500,000 from the Jibster, and there would be more to come. Mas Ermieyati was alleged to have received RM50,000.

Let's hope Latheefa sticks to her word. Because RM50k or RM500k, it's the principle of the matter that counts, whether or not one has jumped ship to the winning team. 

Here are a few other interesting stories that did the rounds yesterday:
 

• Police, says the IGP, will soon question Malay Dignity Congress co-organiser Zainal Kling over his "Malaysia for Malays" remark. Good. Malaysia should be for all Malaysians.
• The Dewan Rakyat has unanimously passed the National Anti-Financial Crime Centre Bill at policy stage without amendment. A rare occurrence, this.
• PM Maddey says some Utusan Melayu workers will be re-hired by the new owners of the group's printing licence, Aurora Mulia Sdn Bhd. We said it here yesterday. 
• BN is aiming to be able to announce its chosen candidate for the Tanjung Piai by-election by the end of the month. Well, that's dandy, considering nomination day is Nov 2.