PKR's Permatang Pauh candidate Nurul Izzah Anwar (above) said she is appalled with caretaker prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s sudden pledge to implement a new minimum wage "but only if BN were to win".

"This is clearly an electoral threat. And one that comes hot on the heels of the caretaker PM’s threat that if the opposition were to implement their electoral pledges, Malaysia would be bankrupt," Nurul Izzah said in a press conference at Penanti today.

She was referring to Najib's May Day speech yesterday in which he said that if the BN was returned to power in the 14th general election on May 9, the government would raise the minimum wage which is currently pegged at between RM1,000 and RM920.

Najib did not say what the new quantum would be.

Nurul Izzah said that since 2008, her father, PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, had ensured that the minimum wage was one of the opposition's key pledges should it seize control at the federal level.

"It was not used as an electoral bait but a principled position to uplift the rakyat’s economic condition," she said.

Nurul Izzah also dared Najib to debate with his fiercest critic, Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"Considering that the caretaker PM’s statements are often contradictory, and guilty of plagiarising Harapan's, it’s best that a debate is held between Mahathir and Najib," she noted.