Najib: Bigger mandate will ensure greater progress
KANGAR: Barisan Nasional must up its game to ensure it wins with a bigger majority in the general election, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
With a bigger mandate, he is confident the country will achieve greater progress, the fruits of which will be enjoyed by the people.
“We can win but we want a strong government.
“We cannot take anything for granted and that is why we must work doubly hard.
“With Barisan’s clear-cut policies, capability and ability to deliver, we can ensure victory (for the coalition in GE14),” he said when launching the Perlis Barisan 2018 machinery here yesterday.
The Prime Minister was on a oneday visit to Perlis. He was accompanied by his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.
They were welcomed by Perlis Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azlan Man, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim and Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah.
Also present were Perlis MCA chairman Datuk Chua Tee Yong and Perlis MIC chairman S. Vengadasamy.
At a separate function in Arau, Najib said the country’s debt will surge to RM416bil if the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and road toll collection are abolished as promised by Pakatan Harapan in their general election manifesto.
He said the abolition of the GST and toll collection would make the country incur a debt of RM383bil in addition to other debts.
The country, he said, would not be able to implement up to half of the national development programmes with the loss of the huge revenue.
“Going by its manifesto, our country will incur more debt. You (young people) will have to bear it.
We cannot cheat the people; don’t cheat the people. We do what we can. If we cannot do something, we have to admit that we cannot do it.
“But believe me, we (Barisan Nasional) always have the people under consideration because they come first in our policies,” he said at the programme “Budget 2018 with the People: Youths and Students” at Universiti Malaysia Perlis.
Najib also said the country’s economy will not grow if infra-rakyat (infrastructure for the people) was not well implemented.
“When the economy continues to do well, the Government will be able to implement not just the infrarakyat, but also provide employ-
ment for the people and various subsidies for the needy.
“If the economy does not grow, we cannot provide employment opportunities to the thousands of our children graduating from public universities, such as Universiti Malaysia Perlis.
“How can we also provide subsidies in education and health sectors and meet the expenditure for all public servants?” he said at the official opening of the Perlis Urban Transformation Centre (UTC).
The Perlis UTC in Kampung Sena has been in operation since Oct 23 last year, and has provided residents in Perlis and Kedah services offered by various government and
private sector agencies.
Speaking at the opening of the 19th UTC in the country built at a cost of RM35.5mil, Najib said the UTCs reflected a revolutionary concept of offering government services designed for the well-being of the people.
“We must ensure all regions and states, from Perlis to Sabah, benefit from the positive effect of development and programmes that we implement,” he said. — Bernama