KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan has described Pakatan Rakyat’s manifesto as irresponsible, reckless, desperate and down right dangerous.
“It’s all about spending but nothing about how to finance it. I thought Anwar Ibrahim’s recklessness in managing the economy in 97-98 was a thing of the past; apparently it is not,” the Kota Belud member of parliament said.
Abdul Rahman when asked to comment about the newly tabled manifesto, claimed that Pakatan leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was reckless then and is reckless now.
According to him, in other countries, the opposition will propose spending based on known national budget.
For Malaysia the federal budget is somewhere around RM250 billion. Pakatan’s manifesto shoots far beyond that which will definitely lead to higher deficit and debt, he opined.
Abdul Rahmah added that Pakatan Rakyat’s promise to teachers which was not included in the manifesto even though they kept harping on this before and the one per cent increase in oil royalty would cost the federal government RM12.5 billion more.
“While I am not against it, Anwar must not cheat Sabahans by telling lies about the royalty promise. The only way he can give RM12.5 billion to oil producing states is by cutting allocations meant for the non-oil producing states.
“Instead of telling the non-oil producing states to expect reduced allocations, Anwar promises them even more allocations,’ he said, adding that Anwar’s promise to free all ISA detainees would jeopardise the security of our nation.
“This is utterly dangerous and irresponsible,” Abdul Rahman said.
Sabah Gerakan liaison chief Datuk Gordon Leong was of the opinion that Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) manifesto lacked details and was unaffordable.
“Not to mention unrealistic to say the very least and at best an election gimmick! It is a well-known fact that many of its election promises in the 2008 general election remained unfulfilled.
“It will be most interesting for PR to explain how the stars and the moon that they promise could be fulfilled and how and where they are going to get all the money to fund their election promises as the manifesto is silent on the strategies and plans on how these promises are achievable,” Gordon said.
United Pasokmomogun KadazanDusun Murut Organization (UPKO) treasurer Datuk Dr Marcus Mojigoh said the opposition coalition’s manifesto was nothing special and that PR was just copying what BN had been talking about all this while.
“They (opposition) talk only, whether they are able to deliver or not is the real issue here. I am confident BN will be able to deliver its promises better because BN is more stable.
“How can they possibly implement those things if the confidence of the investors is not there? How can anyone expect economic growth in a country that is chaotic?” the Putatan member of parliament asked.