KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 — A human rights activist has challenged Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to outline a clear reform plan through a "Port Dickson Declaration” to convince voters why they should celebrate the PKR leader’s return to mainstream politics.

Former DAP parliamentarian Kua Kia Soong said the absence of a comprehensive reform policy will make Anwar’s re-election redundant since the PKR leader will not offer voters a better vision than that of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s leadership.

"We call on Saudara Anwar to make a ‘Port Dickson Declaration’ to show us his reform plan for the nation that is different from the present prime minister’s,” Kua, now director of rights group Suaram, said in a statement issued earlier today.

"If he cannot do better than the current prime minister, what is the point in having this forced by-election in Port Dickson?

"It will be a big waste of taxpayers’ money and we might as well settle for the devil we know until the next elections than the angel who can’t promise us a better tomorrow.”

The need for a tangible reform agenda, the activist added, was especially urgent amid accusations that the governing Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition had reneged on many of its pre-election promises.

Kua listed 10 key reform policies expected of Anwar should he get re-elected, including ending race-based preferential treatment, a contentious issue that most politicians have avoided addressing for fear of losing Bumiputera votes.

"Will Anwar replace race-based policies such as the New Economic Policy (NEP) with needs-based measures that truly benefit the lower-income and marginalised sectors? The NEP was supposed to end in 1990 but has become a populist, never-ending policy to win over the Bumiputras while benefiting mainly the political elite,” Kua said.

Critics of the NEP argue the policy has failed to elevate the Bumiputera poor and instead nurtured a rent-seeking political culture that benefited cronies of the ruling elites.

The NEP continued under the guise of new programmes even after it formally ended in 1990 as populist measures meant to placate the ethnic majority, detractors have argued.

Kua said Anwar is also expected to champion a progressive economy, a commitment to equality, greater civil liberties, empowering workers with higher minimum wage and zero tolerance for corruption.

The PKR president-elect looks set to contest the Port Dickson federal seat after incumbent MP Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah announced his decision to vacate to allow Anwar to contest.

Anwar has yet to issue a statement about the party’s decision, which some leaders said was made without prior consultation, but the by-election is seen as a stepping stone for the former deputy prime minister’s quick return to Putrajaya.