Muhyiddin (front, fifth right), flanked by Chong on his right and Baru, with other PH Sarawak members after the launch of PH Sarawak manifesto.
SIBU: Pakatan Harapan (PH) deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin views that in the midst of the country facing serious economic and political crises and its people unhappy over too many unsolved issues, now would be the best time for a change of government.
According to him, everywhere that he has visited – from Kedah to Sabah – businessmen are complaining about sluggish business, forcing many of them to close shop.
“All this is because the ‘rakyat’ (people) do not have money to spend and they ask the Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders, where have all the money gone to,” he spoke at the inaugural PH Sarawak Convention yesterday, which also served as the launch ceremony of PH Sarawak manifesto.
More than 300 PH supporters turned up at the one-day event, which also hosted PH Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen and its deputy chairman I Baru Bian.
In his remarks, Muhyiddin expressed his confidence in the forecast of PH being the government-in-waiting after the 14th general election (GE14).
“When we say the time is up for the BN government, we are serious about that. Indeed, now is the best time to strike BN and win – if not now, we might have to wait for another decade.”
Muhyiddin described BN as a ‘dinosaur’, saying that it ‘has been around for too long’.
He also believed that ‘nothing is impossible in politics’ and for PH to win, every voter must come out to vote.
“It’s still about 40 weeks before the BN current term expires. Go tell all the voters to come out and vote. Tell them that if they want to see a better government, they should all vote. We want to see a bigger turnout of voters and with a bigger turnout, we would have a better chance to win.”
Muhyiddin also dispelled claims by several BN leaders, who said the opposition parties were in disarray and could not even negotiate on the allocation of seats for GE14.
“This is not true. Actually for the first time in the history of Malaysian politics, the opposition parties managed to sit down (together) and amicably came up with a consensus on the seats allocation, without much hassle.”
However, Muhyiddin admitted that sometimes political leaders might have their differences in opinions and ideologies – the enmity between Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, for example. This said, both leaders had moved forward to work for the future.
Muhyiddin also said Malaysia has now become ‘an international laughing stock’, to the extent that he would feel ‘ashamed to say that he is from Malaysia’.
He claimed that the BN government is now doing everything possible, like delineation exercise and transfer of voters, in its desperate bid to win the polls.
“However, the people are more educated now – they know and understand the elections and their rights.”
Muhyiddin also reminded Sarawakians that their votes would be crucial in helping to place PH in Putrajaya.
“Let us fight for and build a better future together for Sarawak and Malaysia.”
Meanwhile Baru, who is also Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sarawak chairman expressed his confidence that PH Sarawak could win at least 10 seats in GE14.
In his remarks Chong – also the Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman – said the time ‘is ripe now for the BN government to be toppled’.
“We used to criticise Umno before and no matter how hard we fought, we could never beat them. This time round, with two heavyweights Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed and Tan Sri Muhyiddin joining forces, it is indeed our best chance to beat BN.”