Opposition’s policies will bankrupt M’sia – PM’s aide

KUALA LUMPUR: If the opposition ever tries to form a government, their ideological differences will tear them apart and their irresponsible and populist economic policies will bankrupt the country, said Press Secretary to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad.

“It would be a disaster for Malaysia,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Tengku Sariffuddin said he believed that Malaysians were wiser than to allow it.

He said Barisan Nasional (BN) under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had a proven track record with Malaysia’s gross national income having increased by more than 50 percent, 2.7 million jobs having been created, unemployment and inflation having been kept low and poverty reduced significantly since he took office in 2009.

Indeed, he said, the Malaysian economy was growing at such a fast rate that the World Bank had to increase its estimates for the nation’s growth three times over 2017, and the final figure, 5.9 percent, outstripped all their forecasts.

He said the Prime Minister had introduced the most far-reaching measures since independence to strengthen free speech and democracy that included the repealing of the Internal Security Act and the establishment of the Peaceful Assembly Act, which for the first time enshrined in law the right to peaceful protests.

“So, the Prime Minister’s plan for the economic well-being and security of Malaysia and its people is delivering, and he welcomes the chance for Malaysians to judge the government on its track record,” said Tengku Sariffuddin.

Tengku Sariffuddin said that unlike BN, the opposition had no track record of delivery whatsoever, and now had a grand deception at its heart. Their ‘reformasi’ campaign was created against their prime minister candidate Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad personally, and many of their leaders were jailed by him, he said.

The reality is the DAP held the vast majority of the opposition parliamentary seats compared to the single seat of Dr Mahathir’s party and, therefore, controlled the coalition, and DAP was using the nonagenarian as a camouflage to split the Malay vote, he said.