BN pokes holes in Pakatan's manifesto
Immediately after the introduction of Pakatan Rakyat’s manifesto for the 13th general election yesterday, BN leaders have flooded the mainstream media with their comments and views attempting to belittle the slew of Pakatan’s pledges as empty promises and election candies.
Immediately after the introduction of Pakatan Rakyat’s manifesto for the 13th general election yesterday, BN leaders have flooded the mainstream media with their comments and views attempting to belittle the slew of Pakatan’s pledges as empty promises and election candies.
To encourage constructive policy debate, Malaysiakini has screened through their political rhetoric and unsubstantial blanket denials and compiled several policy arguments that warrant debate from today’s media reports.
The arguments from BN leaders are as follow:
1. Abolition of highway toll
Deputy Finance Minister Donald Lim told Berita Harian that it would harm the national economy as the government would have to pay over RM50 billion as compensation to all 29 highway concessionaires if it were to abolish all highway toll.
As a result, the government would be burdened with high debt, and the allocation to other fields such as education, health and welfare would be jeopardised, he warned.
2. Reduction of fuel price
Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob argued that the proposal to lower the fuel price is not rational as the government has spent billions of subsidy, making Malaysia’s fuel price the lowest in South-East Asia.
He revealed that in 2012 alone, the government has allocated RM20 billion for fuel subsidy and RM20.1 billion in 2011, an increase of 58.7 percent compared to the RM8.25 billion in 2010 due to the hike in the international fuel price.
“They also did not state their intended reduction rate. If they lower the fuel price by 20 to 50 sen, the government would have to allocate an extra subsidy of RM5.2 billion to RM13 billion annually, in addition to the current RM20 billion subsidy.
“This repeated promise by the opposition is unreasonable and it would increase the (nation’s) financial burden...,” he was quoted as saying by Berita Harian .
Higher subsidy also means that other benefits to the people would be shelved, said Ismail, who also reminded that fuel subsidy benefits the rich more than the poor.
3. Free public tertiary education
Higher Education Minister Khaled Nordin told Berita Harian that the government would have to raise tax in order to fund free tertiary education.
He warned that the nation would go bankrupt if all education related promises of Pakatan - living allowance for students, subsidy for students in private education institutions and abolition of the National Higher Education Loan Fund (PTPTN) - were to be implemented.
“If all people demand for free education, the quality of education would be affected and would no longer based on excellence,” he argued, adding that the nation’s vision to become a regional education hub would also be jeopardised.
Khaled explained that the current government has been funding 85 to 95 percent of tuition fees and the students are only required to pay 10 percent of the actual cost, the lowest in the region.
For example, tuition fees for a five-year medical course in public universities is around RM60,000, whereas the private education institutions charge around RM400,000, he explained.
4. Minimum wage of RM1,100
Youths and Sports Minister Shabery Cheek told The Star that the RM1,100 minimum wage proposed by Pakatan would have a negative impact on the economy as the employers were already having a tough time adjusting their salaries to the current rate of RM900.
5. How to implement all promises?
The question most sought after by BN leaders and even newspapers is how Pakatan plans to implement all the promises which require significant financial resources.
“They can promise the moon and the stars but the of thing that they failed to explain is how they are going to get the money to fund their promises,” Sabah BN secretary Abdul Rahman Dahlan told The Star , challenging PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim to provide details on how it plans to implement the manifesto.
Chinese newspaper Sin Chew Daily , in a short commentary entitled ‘Sweet Promises’, also questioned “where would the money come from?”
“I am more concerned whether taxpayers would have to pay higher taxes to help the Pakatan government fulfill its promises,” it said, noting that the opposition coalition did not promise to either lower or not to increase personal income tax.
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