Masing criticizes Dr M for unfulfilled promises in PH manifesto

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James Jemut Masing

KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar James Jemut Masing slammed Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today for not fulfilling the Pakatan Harapan (PH) manifesto that was promised to voters during the 14th General Election (GE14) in 2018.

He asserted that prior to the election, Dr Mahathir, who is also PH chairman, had made the manifesto by promising that after the election, the GST, National Higher Education Fund Corporation Fund (PTPTN) loans, tolls and many others would be abolished.

With recent news reports stating that the PM was considering reintroducing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) should there be such a demand from the people, Masing opined that those who voted for PH were “duped by such promises”.

“The Malaysian voters were duped by such promises when they voted PH in and kicked Barisan Nasional (BN) out.

“If indeed Dr Mahathir is planning to bring back GST – the tax system which he blamed for raising the cost of living – then he is lying to the voters,” Masing said in a statement today.

He remarked that ever since PH came to power since GE14, there were many ‘U-turns’ done by the government.

“There have been many U-turns since GE14. It would seem that Mahathir has nothing to be embarrassed about since he lied to his voters to get elected.

“After all, the PH Manifesto is not the Bible – therefore you can dishonour it so long as you gets what you want. Mahathir got what he wanted,” he added.

Dr Mahathir had said that if the people believed that GST was better, the government would conduct a study to see if it was indeed better than the Sales and Services Tax (SST).

On Tuesday, the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research urged the government to reintroduce GST in the 2020 Budget at a lower rate of three per cent.

However, Dr Mahathir said the decision will not be included in the budget.

Earlier today, Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Chong Chieng Jen said the Ministry of Finance had no plans to reintroduce GST, saying that he had called immediately after Dr Mahathir’s statement to confirm.