LETTER | All Malaysians should be concerned with the statement by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Bali yesterday.

The prime minister was quoted by the national news agency to have said the following:

"We made the manifesto thinking we would not be the government. Now we are the government and this manifesto is a big burden."

He further went to suggest toll-free roads might mean higher petrol prices, which is one other election promise.

The rakyat should be suitably puzzled.

Firstly, it was irresponsible to prepare a manifesto for a general election without consideration of whether they would actually endeavour to deliver it in good faith, in case of victory.

Second, it is flippant of the prime minister to set aside his own promises as too burdensome.

But more importantly, now that the prime minister has conceded they will not seek to fulfil all the promises, the present government has to;

a) Tell us which promises they decided to abandon.

b) Inform us if this a prelude to a 2019 budget which would be thin on Pakatan Harapan election manifesto.

b) Present their post-election manifesto with apologies so that the Malaysian people have a clear idea of what to expect and how to judge this government.

Manifestos matter and if the government feels they can forget them when they are in power, should voters ignore all election promises by parties because they are all purely decorative? And if so, are Malaysians left to voting pretty faces and hope for the best? Is that not tyranny or worst, deceit?

PRABA GANESAN is the chief executive of Kuasa.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.