KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2 — There is nothing substantive in Pakatan Harapan’s Budget 2019 to set it apart from Barisan Nasional’s previous Budget announcements, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.

“We find there is no major difference from what was presented from the last Budget (by BN).

“There were no surprises or magic in the form of incentives for the people,” the Opposition Leader told reporters.

He highlighted the fact there was no specific allocation mentioned for major and small-time farmers, including fishermen.

“There is no allocation specifically even when the price of these commodities has fallen,” he said outside the Dewan Rakyat this evening.

Zahid suggested that the government’s decision to scrap or scale down several infrastructure projects had also affected its intended scope and specifications. 

“So in this context, it doesn’t represent a form of savings.  

“That also goes for their efforts to increase government revenue where they are suggesting to sell assets; this is a backward move,” he said. 

Shadow Finance Minister Khairy Jamaluddin called the budget underwhelming and not inclusive enough. 

He said it lacked major development strategies and lacked touch points meant for the rakyat. 

“Many good things have been continued or adopted from the earlier planning and announcements made by the BN government. 

“The most obvious thing is even though this budget is bigger than last year’s budget, there weren’t as many touch points for the rakyat,” he said. 

Khairy said the Budget was not as inclusive as Barisan Nasional’s “People’s Economic Initiative” announced by him yesterday. 

“The initiative touches all segments, where there was not even one group that was left behind,” he said. 

Kinabatangan MP Datuk Seri Bung Mokhtar Radin, who left the Dewan Rakyat before the completion of the announcement, said he did so after seeing nothing new in the Budget. 

“Almost two hours I am sitting inside, I don’t see anything new. 

“Some (programs) they changed the name, but mostly just a continuation of programs under BN before this,” he said.

Meanwhile, Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah also felt there were not many new initiatives mentioned by PH, which he said did not play into their agenda of reforms. 

“I expected something new, more on the reformation side, but nothing was presented other than touching here and there,” he said.