SHAH ALAM, Aug 4 — Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin tonight launched his coalition’s “Selangor Baharu Kita Bangkit” (Let’s rise, New Selangor) manifesto for its aim of taking control of Selangor after the state election on August 12.
With a focus on the state’s economic recovery, the former prime minister said his coalition found Selangor’s main problems to be its sluggish economic growth and lack of employment, adding that these must be the focus of the next state government.
“Selangor residents are facing rising costs of living and, this, we found was the main problem here. It’s due to the failures of the current government, who like to call themselves the ‘Madani’ government. They’ve basically reneged on all their promises.
“Their poor governance has led to a sluggish economy and many people I’ve met along the campaign trail have expressed not only disappointment but anger as well because after eight months it’s clear this unity government does not know how to run the country.
“Their manifesto isn’t holistic, they have no sound plans whereas we see lots of political candy being offered to voters. This will only be short-term solution while the past promises have not been fulfilled.
“Hence, support PN at these upcoming elections as based on our seven pillars and more than 100 pledges we will be the better solution in the long-term,” Muhyiddin said today during the manifesto launch event in Shah Alam.
He said PN's manifesto will be based on seven pillars, 25 priorities and 112 pledges.
PN's manifesto had something for everyone from the youth to the elderly. The first pillar comprised improving harmony among the people with an RM10 million allocation for all NGOs, RM50 million for minorities especially the Orang Asli and Indians and calling Saturday's Sports Day to encourage Selangor residents to adopt a healthier lifestyle.
Pillar two concerned food security, strengthening the silver economy or economy for the aging population and improving facilities for the handicapped. PN also pledged to allocate RM312 million per year to help 65,000 families with an RM400 monthly allocation to buy basic necessities.
Pledge three was to find ways to ensure all politics are clean. PN said they will form committees to find solutions to Selangor's ailing economy. They also said they want to offer government servants at least a two-month bonus every year.
The fourth pillar is concerned with developing and maintaining a robust and strong economy for the future. PN said they want to create 100,000 high-skilled jobs and will allocate RM50 million to Invest Malaysia to encourage entrepreneurship among the youth.
They also said they'd make sure the youth are involved in skill upgrading and will encourage youth involvement in creative fields like the arts and animation. This will be done with a NextGen Selangor initiative worth RM10 million to provide coding, robotics and cloud computing for free for school students in Selangor.
PN also wants to make Selangor the central tourism hub in Malaysia with RM200 million to promote tourism.
The fifth pillar was to empower women. The coalition wants to offer RM150 for childcare that will reach 65,000 families, conduct intervention activities to attract more women to work in the main agencies in the state government, and will give any widow or divorcee RM500 per month for three months as well as counseling and motivational sessions to help with recovery.
The sixth pillar involved education. PN will offer the school bus initiative offering up to RM100 per month which they expect will help around 20,000 schoolkids in Selangor.
The seventh pillar is for the environment and infrastructure. Muhyiddin said they will not only abolish the water fees but also allocate RM10 million to nature NGOs for preservation programmes and will attempt to reduce the state's carbon footprint among others.
Selangor PN chairman Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said Selangor had dropped behind Johor and Kuala Lumpur as the top state in Malaysia economically.
He said caretaker Selangor menteri besar Datuk Amirudin Shari and the unity government under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had failed to attract highly skilled investors to Selangor.
"They can't attract top quality investors with top quality and high paying jobs. These high-tech investors don't come here anymore. We need to change this, Selangor must be the hub for all these people to come here and do business," Azmin said during a dialogue session after the manifesto launch.
"Johor had 11 billion in investments this first quarter, Kuala Lumpur 22 billion whereas Selangor's only at RM7 billion, so by year-end we only get RM28 billion, that's very low and will it be enough for Selangor's future?
"We're offering to build Selangor from the ground up with top quality investors, 100,000 new jobs that pay well and we know we can implement all this post haste. So give us your mandate on August 12 and we will take Selangor to the next level," he added.
