Bersatu strategy and bureau chief Rais Hussin urged ministers, both already in office and incoming, as well as those soon to be sworn-in as deputies, to read Pakatan Harapan's manifesto before holding press conferences.

In a Twitter posting, he warned that democratic euphoria could be followed by a democratic backlash if promises were not kept.

He also said the manifesto was indeed achievable.

In a statement to Malaysiakini later, Rais, in the spirit of the ongoing World Cup, said: “These guys are scoring own goals. And there is not even VAR (Video Assistant Referee) system.”

He noted that the manifesto was written after months of “contestation of ideas” from all and various stakeholders be it NGOs, civil society, political parties and so forth.

“It was written based on what information was available publicly at that time and all efforts were made to verify the information which went through a rigorous process.

“The manifesto was deliberated intensely after months of meetings and constructive engagements with various stakeholders.

“It was launched with pomp and grandeur as Harapan's offering to the nation. Obviously, there were also state level manifestos and constituency level manifestos.

“In other words, it was not plucked from the sky!” he added.

Scandals necessitated recalibration

Rais also conceded that the manifesto was crafted based on public records and since forming the government, monumental scandals resulting in the nation's hidden financial position have been discovered and this necessitated recalibration.

“But not wholesome recalibration as some would like to think.

“Instead of venturing into excuses on why Harapan cannot fulfill the promises by citing the hidden national financial position, the coalition must think out of the box to ensure that the majority of promises if not all can be realised and honoured.

“As one would understand there were sufficient caveats built in, even in the manifesto,” he added.

Rais emphasised the need to move towards governing rather than just exposing the misdeeds of the previous government.

“We have a falling ringgit albeit for a variety of external factors, but there are also internal factors we need to address. A Falling ringgit means imports would be expensive, and this, in turn, would increase prices, especially prices of food that would impact negatively on the cost of living,” he added.

In view of this, Rais called for the setting up of a manifesto monitoring committee, which must be well coordinated among the various ministries to remain focused.

“While the administration must take all efforts to ensure the delivery of the manifesto. It is also important to note that there would be some hiatus or gaps in the delivery.

“Hence, a variance analysis must be done – a) track the deliverables against the timeline, b) if there are gaps, do a variance analysis to ascertain why, and c) if the reasons for not being able to deliver can be mitigated, then mitigate them. If not provide reasons why and explain them to the people,” he added.