KUALA LUMPUR: After being in power for 444 days since the historic change of government on May 9 last year, it is time for the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government to review the promises it made in the 14th general election (GE14), said DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang (pix).
Lim said the PH government needed to convince the people that the country was on the right track to building a New Malaysia and that the five pillars of its GE14 manifesto would still serve as a guide in formulating government policies.
“Give PH space to be open with Malaysians and admit if any of the promises made is almost impossible to be implemented, and I believe Malaysians will appreciate this rather than our attempts to hide it,” said Lim, who is deputy chairman of the parliamentary Caucus on Reform and Governance.
He said this in his speech at the 2019 Malaysian Economic Symposium themed ‘Malaysian Economy: Now and the Future’ in Parliament today.
The five pillars of PH’s GE14 manifesto are easing the people’s burden, political and institutional reforms, generating sustainable and equitable development, restoring the status of Sabah and Sarawak as stipulated under the Malaysia Agreement 1963, and creating a New Malaysia which is inclusive, moderate and held in high esteem by the world.
Lim, who is also the MP for Iskandar Puteri, said Malaysians including PH leaders should realise and acknowledge that many of the coalition’s supporters felt that the PH government was now following the ways of the Barisan Nasional government which it toppled.
“I believe they are wrong but at the same time we must be able to convey the message and convince them that their disappointment is misplaced and the PH government is always committed to correcting the direction of the country to that of a new Malaysia,” he said.
The inaugural Malaysian Economic Symposium is co-organised by the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, the Backbencher Council (BBC) and the Caucus on Reform and Governance, and hosted by Parliament.
The symposium is slated to be an annual event that acts as an engagement platform with the stakeholders on the direction of Malaysia’s economy and review of the nation’s economic performance.
Among the other speakers at the symposium were Bank Negara Governor Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus, Economic Affairs Ministry Deputy Secretary-General (Macro) Zakiah Jaafar and Dr Edmund Terence Gomez of Universiti Malaya’s Economics and Administration Faculty. - Bernama
