Pakatan has honoured key GE14 pledges – Anwar

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has defended Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s apparent backtracking from several of Pakatan Harapan’s pledges in its election manifesto.

According to Anwar, the reality remains that the administration Pakatan inherited from the previous Barisan Nasional government was “plagued by financial and economic woes”.

“I think Dr Mahathir is right to say that some of these (pledges) need to be rehashed or relooked.

“But the core issues decided by Pakatan have been honoured, such as governance, anticorruption and no compromise no waste (of public funds) and the abuse of power,” he said during a press conference in Parliament yesterday.

“That, to me, are the key and fundamental issues that this government must uphold,” he added.

Dr Mahathir recently drew flak after he said that it was not possible to abolish highway tolls, which was among Pakatan’s promises in its election manifesto for GE14.

He said that this was because Pakatan made those pledges without expecting to win the general election, and keeping those pledges now was actually a “burden”.

Meanwhile, Anwar also praised Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng for his efforts to present the highly-anticipated Budget 2019 on Nov 2, saying that Lim had great empathy for the people.

“I’ve seen his discussions. He appreciates the difficulties and economic problems faced by the people."