100 days in retrospect

Taking a look at list of what PH has achieved so far and promises yet to be fufilled

KUALA LUMPUR: Yesterday marked the first 100 days since Pakatan Harapan (PH) came into power.

The PH government made history when it became the government of the day after winning the 14th General Election (GE14) on May 9, ending the Barisan Nasional’s (BN) reign of more than six decades.

On the run up to GE14, PH had pledged to implement 10 basic promises as stated by the coalition, made up of PKR, DAP, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), and Parti Amanah Negara (PAN), in their manifesto Buku Harapan.

Here’s the list of what the current PH government had successfully implemented as promised in their 100-day election manifesto.

● Goods and Services Tax (GST) implemented by the previous BN government effective April 1, 2015 has been zero rated and will be replaced with the Sales and Services Tax (SST) effective Sept 1, 2018.

● The first phase of the Employment Provident Fund (EPF) for housewives, implemented on August 15, 2018 to provide a social security net for women.

● The National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) provided a respite for 433,000 borrowers blacklisted by the previous government for not settling their loans, also repayments for those earning RM4,000 and below also deferred.

● Fuel prices no longer floated on weekly basis.

The RON95 is set at a subsidised rate per litre and the RON97 is free floated based on world prices.

● Costly projects like the ECRL, MRT3 and HSR under review with MRT3 price tag reduced by almost half.

ECRL and HSR are being renegotiated and their viability to be looked into again.

As for election promises that have yet to be fulfilled or still being worked out by the PH government, they are:

● Reverting Sabah and Sarawak’s rights as stipulated in the Malaysia Agreement 1963, including on the petroleum royalties due to both states.

● Minimum wage which cannot be implemented immediately, will be implemented gradually. Felda settlers have yet to see their debts reduced or written off as promised, but efforts are underway to write off certain portion of the debts.

● Royal commission to investigate the losses made by Felda, FGV and 1MDB will not be set up as the cases are in court now.

● The healthcare scheme similar to Selangor’s Skim Peduli Sihat promised for the B40 group throughout the nation is yet to be introduced.

Apart from the 10 promises made in the manifesto, PH also witnessed a number of milestones within the 100 days, some within the context of the election manifesto, including reforming the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission to fight corruption.

The appointment of new Attorney-General Tommy Thomas on June 4 and Chief Justice Tan Sri Richard Malanjun, effective July 11, was a move to strengthen the rule of law. Political appointees, including those appointed as ambassadors, special envoys or on the GLC boards, of the previous government have quit as instructed.

The government also started work to reclaim the money siphoned by various parties from the IMDB fiasco, including from sovereign fund manager Goldman Sachs.

The government also successfully took possession of the RM1 billion Equanimity superyacht on Aug 7, which is believed to have been bought by businessman Low Taek Jho, a.k.a Jho Low, using funds siphoned from 1MDB.

Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was charged with three counts of transferring RM42 million on July 4 into his bank account from SRC International, a subsidiary of 1MDB.

A month later he was slapped with another three charges for money laundering in relation to the IMDB fiasco.

In settling the grievances of the people, the government decided to grant citizenship to those above 60 with red IC, a boon for the 3,407 stateless Indians in the country. It also saw the controversial National Civics Bureau or Biro Tata Negara been abolished, along with the Malaysian National Service.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad himself had admitted that PH would not be able to fulfil all of its pledges, including doing away with tolled roads.

However, the government did not hesitate to fulfil the key promises in its election manifesto in the first 100 days of its administration despite the hurdles it faced, he said.

However, he still believed that time was of essence and the PH government would still be able to contribute towards a New Malaysia.