KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak claimed today this year’s Chinese New Year (CNY) celebration will be a sombre event tainted by public gripes about the cost of living pressure as he continued his attacks against the Pakatan Harapan administration.
In a four-minute video posted on Facebook, the former prime minister shared the laments of average Malaysians he claimed to have gathered from his encounters throughout the country.
“I had the opportunity to meet many people from diverse backgrounds... traders who sell kuih complained their livelihood are badly affected by a weak economy,” a calm and serious Najib said.
“Try asking [Chinese] biscuit sellers, some will tell you sales have dropped by 50 per cent and are considering closing shop because they can’t sustain their shops,” he added.
Najib then said he met with young workers and graduates, all of whom bemoan the lack of job certainty while parents say they are saddled with rising bills as cost of living bit into their income.
He claimed all of them trusted the ruling coalition would elevate their standard of living, but felt betrayed after electing them.
“They said they really trusted the promises by PH that all sorts of assistance would be given, instead the opposite happened,” he said.
“Living costs continue to rise after the introduction of SST and now with the increase in electricity and water bills, on top of a reduction in assistance for the B40 and M40.”
Najib has used the sales and services tax as fodder against the new government, accusing PH of misleading the public about the effects of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Despite claims inflation would drop after GST is scrapped, the former premier said prices of goods today remained relatively similar.
