‘Pakatan govt needs to make good on its promises‘
PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan needs to up its game in order to deliver all its 10 promises in the near future.
Harapan Tracker – a website which tracks, monitors and scrutinises the government’s performance – gave Pakatan a score of 45%, a cumulative average from the scores of letter of the promise (30%) and spirit of the promise (60%).
Its founder Dennis Kam said there were actually 12 promises instead of 10 which Pakatan promised in its first 100 days in power.
The extra two were solving the problems of stateless Indians and setting up an international Health Advisory Council to advise the ministry on strengthening health delivery.
Kam, 28, who is a brand strategist based in Singapore, said the 30% represented a failure to achieve the 100-day pledge, adding that Pakatan needs to improve.
As for the 60% for spirit of the promise, he added that it represented moderate success in achieving the pledge with room for improvement for integrity.
“The Pakatan government has demonstrated the political will to follow through on its promises.
The SST amount collected would be in the region of RM30bil. Dr Choong Kwai Fatt
“The integrity of the promisors and promises, however, is compromised with significant contradiction in the government’s actions,” Kam said. He said it is also an encouraging first step towards accountability and transparency to see the government addressing its promises in the media almost daily.
“While we should applaud them for taking the high road when it comes to being transparent about promises, we shouldn’t put them on a pedestal and make excuses for them when they fail to deliver.
“After all, we have Pakatan to thank for putting promises at the centre of political conversation debate, something unprecedented in the history of Malaysian politics,” he added.
Kam set up Harapan Tracker with his friends – Ng Boon Ming, Stephanie Kee and Tina Carmillia – to track the government’s progress in fulfilling its promises, hold it accountable and encourage debate and discussion around policy, instead of personality.
Meanwhile, tax specialist and advocate Dr Choong Kwai Fatt said the incoming Sales Tax Act 2018 and the Service Tax Act 2018 are very timely and are well suited in the Malaysian environment.
“The SST suits the Malaysian model of economy as it tremendously eases the cost of living of Malaysians. The government must be cautious though when spending revenue collected from the SST.
“It should be used for national development as the amount collected would be in the region of RM30bil compared to RM44bil in the GST regime,” he added.