BN’s analysis - that the pledges in Pakatan Rakyat’s manifesto will bankrupt the nation - is based on flawed assumptions and fudged numbers, countered PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli.
He claimed to have received an internal BN report analysing the manifesto and found that it has overestimated the potential loss in government revenue, overestimated the increase in expenditure, and did not take into account some RM45 billion in savings that Pakatan intends to make if it forms the federal government.
“The basis of BN’s estimate - that the operating expenditure will exceed RM270 billion - is based on the (federal) government’s existing expenses and wastage, which is with an operating expenditure as high as RM202 billion,” he told a press conference today.
He said he had received the document via email from an unknown person on Friday, but said he believes it to be authentic because the figures corroborate those that have been cited by top BN leaders in the past.
“Last time, I got an email from a cow and it toppled an Umno minister,” he said when pressed on the authenticity of the document, but stressed that checks had been made.
He was referring to the National Feedlot Centre scandal that has implicated the family of Wanita Umno head and then federal minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.
Rafizi said the best person to answer questions regarding its authenticity would be BN chairperson Najib Abdul Razak.
Three pages of the 24-paged document were distributed to members of the press, including the cover page which reads ‘Pakatan Rakyat Manifesto Rebuttals’.
He said he has been looking for such a document for some time to understand how BN concluded that Pakatan’s pledges would result in a budget deficit of RM132 billion, or 13.2 percent of Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP).
'Part by part expose'
Rafizi further said that he will analyse and expose the rest of the document in the coming days and “demolish” BN's arguments piece by piece.
“We will have fun because a lot of it is exactly the script that Najib, (his deputy) Muhyiddin Yassin, and the rest have been repeating over and over again.”
Among others, he said, the analysis is in agreement with most of Pakatan’s costing of its promises, but then “fudges” the numbers to arrive at its final conclusion.
"(It) means they agree that, to execute these policies, the cost is accurate and the same. But they don’t want to do it except for a few (items) that they have plagiarised, such as lowering car prices," he added.
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