Proof is in the pudding, Pakatan leaders say about ‘unsustainable ‘manifesto

PETALING JAYA, March 23 — Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders called today for a chance to win federal government to show that their manifesto works.

Batu MP and PKR vice president Chua Tian Chang said the current administration’s spending habits were unsustainable, in response to comments that PH’s election manifesto for the 14th general election would harm the economy.

“The proof will come if we are in power,” Chua told Malay Mail.

“I would also like to see what they comment about Barisan Nasional’s (BN) present mode of economy. Whether it’s sustainable. Continuously abusing affirmative action for cronies is totally unacceptable and unsustainable.

“We will prove it. We are not going to explain,” he added.

His remark was also agreed and echoed by Subang MP R. Sivarasa.

Commenting on BMI Research’s critical note of PH’s recently unveiled election manifesto, Sivarasa said that the Opposition “knows what it’s doing” and has ways to make up the revenue lost from its pledge to abolish the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

“So the issue is, if you take away the GST, about RM42 billion to RM45 billion (will be lost), therefore where are you going to get the income from?

“We are quite clear. We know what we are doing. We even have the SST (sales and services tax). The SST is already proven to cover RM25 billion. So the shortfall is only about RM20 billion,” Sivarasa told Malay Mail.

“Now, we have proven in Penang and in Selangor that saving 10 per cent of operational expenditures is very doable. We have proven it from 2008 till now. From a RM280 billion budget, plus all the GLC budgets, we are very confident that making up the RM20 billion shortfall is not an issue,” he added.

He said that the country’s management of the economy will remain robust without the GST.

On Wednesday, BMI research said that PH’s election pledges would harm ongoing efforts to cut Malaysia’s chronic overspending and weaken the country’s business environment.

The Fitch Group unit also questioned the deliverability of the pledges.

Among pledges in the pact’s manifesto announced this month include removing the GST, abolishing toll concessions, and writing off outstanding study loans under the National Higher Education Corporation (PTPTN).

PH also promised to reinstate the SST that BN had replaced with the GST.

BMI Research felt that while the pact’s pledges would be popular, their delivery would be detrimental to the Malaysian economy.

Among others, it noted that the pledges did not come with clear descriptions on how a PH administration would pay for any of the measures, many of which would remove existing and vital sources of federal revenue.