Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today stressed that the government is not in slumber but has worked hard.

abdullah ahmad badawi election annoucement 130208 assures He said this hard work had resulted in rapid economic growth and confidence among local and foreign investors to continue investing in Malaysia.

"We are not 'deaf' for we hear what the people say. We are not 'asleep' for we are working," he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

Abdullah also stressed the his four years in office has been successful and not a failure as alleged by certain quarters.

"The four years as prime minister have not been a time of failure, but of success. Problems will be there but we must strive to minimise or solve them," he said.

Balanced development

Abdullah said success was attained with cooperation from the people who wished to secure a better future for themselves.

"The government wants balanced development in all aspects and not lop-sided development, while the people have been working with me to ensure that development reaches the grassroots and is spread out."

He said among the achievements in the past four years was raising the country's economic growth rate to 6.3 percent last year, implementation of the regional economic development corridor plans, increasing investors' confidence and Bursa Malaysia's index, and reducing the poverty rate to 0.3 percent.

"Overflows from major projects undertaken under the Ninth Malaysia Plan and development of the economic corridors will provide many job opportunities, hence reducing unemployment.

"All these achievements are included in the Barisan Nasional (BN) general election manifesto which has been distributed to the public," he said.

Teach them to fish

Abdullah said a good government needed to provide the space and opportunities for the people to continue to progress and not become lazy or complacent.

He criticised the opposition's proposal to create a welfare state where each household earning less than RM6,000 monthly be given an annual bonus of RM6,000.

"We cannot give people fish for a lifetime, but teach them to fish and tell them where to fish so that they become self-reliant," he said.

"The creation of a welfare state will make people lazy. Instead, we should give them the confidence and know-how to participate in the country's economy."

Abdullah said the BN government did not give the people money outright to cushion the effects of the fuel price increase, but was seeking long-term measures to lighten the people's burden due to price hikes.

"If we give them money, they will quickly spend it, contributing to inflation. But what the government does is to introduce policies and measures for people to generate more income to reduce their financial burden," he added.