MUKHRIZ: PH MUST HONOUR GE14 PLEDGES
Govt needs to heed reminders from the people, says Bersatu leader
THE Pakatan Harapan (PH) government must take heed of the “reminder” from the people that it needs to honour its 14th General Election pledges and not make excuses.
Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) deputy president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir said while a year was too short a time to
evaluate the performance of the new government, it (the PH administration) needed to show that it was working to help the people.
“It is the people’s right to remind the PH government of what we had pledged in our manifesto. I don’t want to use the excuse that when we drew it up we did not know the true state of the country’s financial situation.
“That kind of excuse may not be accepted by the people.
“What is important is that we find a way of making good on our promises.
“A year is too short a time to provide the measuring stick for the PH administration, but we still have to keep our promises and lighten the people’s load,” he said in an interview to mark the PH government’s first year in power.
Mukhriz, who is Kedah menteri besar, said PH had not forgotten its manifesto and hoped that the people could see the difference between the present government and the previous one.
One big difference, he said, was that the federal government understood more the situation that the state governments were in, especially in terms of finances.
“Take this state (Kedah) for example. Before this, the allocation for five water treatment plant projects in Kedah was a loan (from the federal government), but the new government was willing to change this to a grant.
“This means the (federal) government has taken a better approach to things and is willing to discuss matters, and it understands that Kedah can’t afford much as our finances are limited. That is the big difference between the government then and now,” he said.
On the performance of the state executive council, Mukhriz said he had a strong team helping him run the state.
“Many of my state executive council members were opposition politicians for a long time.
“This experience allowed them to get to know the difficulties and problems the people face.
“But I always remind them to plan for things that will bring great benefit (to the people), not just in the immediate term, but also in the long run.”