TV PAKATAN RAKYAT

Ceramah by Anwar Ibrahim
part 1


part 2


Pakatan Rakyat, in its detailed official reaction to prime minister Najib Razak's New Economic Model announced last month, said it felt vindicated that the government had admitted to the problems highlighted by the opposition. "Pakatan Rakyat feels vindicated that our diagnosis on the problems of the economy highlighted over the past 15 years is finally conceded by the Government. "The NEM admitted that our 'engine is slowing', 'private investors have taken a back seat', 'productivity is growing… far too slowly', 'we are not developing talent and what we do have is leaving', 'the gap between rich and poor is widening' and we are 'stuck in a middle income trap'," said a joint statement issued by Tuan Guru Abdul Hadi Awang, Anwar Ibrahim and Lim Kit Siang, the top leaders of PAS, PKR and DAP respectively.

Having said that, the leaders warned that the NEM will remove subsidies for the people "in the name of restructuring the economy, yet it continues to protect the 'rights' of big private crony corporations to make exorbitant profits at the expense of the public." "Such is the contradiction of NEM – Barisan Nasional advocates to the poor to embrace economic liberalisation and competition but is silent on removing protection and monopoly of the rich," they added. The latest statement, in the form of a five-part policy statement by Pakatan Rakyat on the NEM, is made after scrutinising the NEM's 193-page report prepared by National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC).

The leaders however urged Najib to explain why Minister of Economic Planning Unit (EPU), Nor Mohd Yakcop, had described the NEM as "suggestions by NEAC" for the government and not a government policy as declared by Najib. "This puts into question whether the Government is serious about the NEM, or it’s just another public relations exercise," said the statement. It also said the continued delays surrounding the full announcement of the NEM and the objections among cabinet members raised doubts about the government's seriousness in undertaking economic reforms. 'No to fancy economic plans'

The three leaders also feared that the NEM would fail like many other plans "launched with much fanfare" during the premierships of Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Abdullah Badawi. They were refering to Mahathir's “Knowledge-based Economy Masterplan” and Abdullah's “National Integrity Plan”, both of which "have been equally forgotten within a few years, despite their similarities to the proposed NEM." "Meaningful and holistic reforms must come first before any other fancy economic plans are brought into the picture," they said. The statement added the BN government should admit its failure to meet targets of the eighth and ninth Malaysia plans, and slammed its silence over the disappearance of RM52 billion worth of Bumiputra shares.

"The overall poverty rate (based on the unrealistic 2007 methodology to define poverty) actually was reduced to just 3.6% in 2007 as opposed to the 8MP target to bring absolute poverty to 0.5% by 2005. It remains unclear whether Malaysia can lower the overall poverty rate further to meet the 9MP target of 2.8% by 2010. "The moral standing of Barisan Nasional in championing economic reforms contained in NEM is diluted further by its various contradictory decisions even as NEM was being unveiled," it added.

The leaders highlighted four critical elements for economic restructuring which had been ignored by the NEM. These include restructuring of key utilities such as electricity, water, toll expressways and broadband services to lessen the financial burden on the public due to monopoly by big corporations; implementation of the necessary steps towards introduction of minimum wage; restructuring of income tax brackets to free young families from tax burdens; and reforms of key institutions such as judiciary, the AG’s Chambers, MACC and the police force.