PH too preoccupied with pleasing the elite, says Mahdzir
The Pakatan Harapan-led federal government must retain its focus, move forward and refrain from being too comfortable with its victory in the previous general election, say opposition leaders.
While most of the gripes tend to centre on the numerous pledges left unfulfilled, several opposition members were willing to provide the ruling party with more time to meet its 14th General Election manifesto.
Others, including Barisan Nasional chief whip Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid, however, said PH must to do more for those in the lower rung of the economic ladder.
Mahdzir said apart from PH’s failure in delivering on a number of its promises, there were hardly any programmes tailored to improve the well-being and economy of those in rural areas.
The Umno vice-president said the current administration was too preoccupied with “pleasing the elite”.
“Where are your rural development programmes? I do not see any programme under the current government that can help rubber tappers, padi farmers and fishermen.
“The present administration emphasises too much on issues involving ICERD (International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination) and the Rome Statute until they have neglected rural communities.”
Mahdzir said many development initiatives introduced during the past year were programmes planned by the previous government and rebranded by the PH government.
“Despite having an experienced politician as the prime minister, the PH government failed to deliver,” said the Padang Terang member of parliament.
Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) secretary-general Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi adopted a softer tone and believed that one year was not sufficient for PH to implement all its pledges.
“I believe PH was too ambitious when it formulated the pledges to attract votes, (chiefly) because it was not confident that it could win the election and form the government. Having said that, one year is not enough for it to honour all of its pledges. Let’s give PH another year. But a promise is a promise and PH has to deliver,” the Kapit MP said.
Alexander, who is Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu secretary-general, called the current government to stop shifting the blame onto the previous administration over its present shortcomings.
He urged PH to pool its resources and manage the country instead of getting embroiled in rhetoric.
“The people, including the business community, are fed-up with the government’s excuses. Prices of commodities are dropping and smallholders, who are relying on oil palm and pepper, are suffering.
“Instead of harping on the wrongdoings of the previous government, it is better for PH to restore the economy,” he said.
Sarawakian federal lawmaker Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri felt that Sarawak was not treated fairly despite the state having contributed 9.7 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product.
The Batang Sadong MP said the federal government was “calculative” towards Sarawak and that the state was not given a fair share of the national earnings.
“Although we are friendly towards the federal government, we are not aligned to any of the political parties,” said the former minister in the prime minister’s department.
She took a swipe at the Sarawak PH leadership for its inability to deliver the so-called “seven guarantees within one year to Sarawak” made during GE14, which included 20 per cent in petroleum royalty, as well as RM1 billion for repair and upgrading of dilapidated schools in the state.
“The most recent issue concerning Sarawak was the tabling of an amendment to Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution. Although GPS had discussed details on why the minister should defer the tabling, it still proceeded to table the amendment and called us traitors instead when it failed to reach two-thirds majority support. And it is obvious that what GPS had discussed with the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong was apparently the appropriate way to do.”