Fight for change, PKR’s Chua tells Johoreans

Malaysians have nothing to lose by giving Anwar and Pakatan the chance to help raise the standard of living of all Malaysians, says Chua Jui Meng.

JOHOR BARU: Johor PKR chairman Chua Jui Meng has urged Johoreans, especially the Chinese, to muster courage to fight for political change in Malaysia.

“It is time for all Johoreans to stop fearing Barisan Nasional-Umno’s intimidations. After 55 years of BN rule, we cannot afford to gamble further with BN’s plundering ways that will surely bankrupt this nation.

“We also have had enough of the racial and religious discord sowed by Umno and BN,” he said at a mooncake cum ceramah outside Taman Puteri Wangsa PKR’s branch office on Saturday night.

“PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim has displayed marvellous leadership by example by showing that he really means business, the courage to rally his Malay community for real change to uplift their standard of living.

“In unveiling Pakatan Rakyat’s alternative budget, Anwar made it clear that when Pakatan comes to power, he would do away with race-based policies to stimulate and fast track Malaysia’s socio-economic progress,” he added.

Chua, who is also PKR vice-president, said he concurred with Anwar’s accusation that Umno had manipulated and hijacked the New Economic Policy (NEP) to enrich only the Umno elites and their cronies.

“Are the Malays in the kampung and urban poor benefiting from the NEP? You only see cronies getting richer and richer.

“Malaysians have nothing to lose by giving Anwar and Pakatan the chance to help raise the standard of living of all Malaysians,” he said, adding Pakatan’s macro-focused alternative budget would in the long run ensure a progressive and prosperous nation.

He said the BN had rubbished Pakatan’s budget to gradually reduce car excise duty, starting with a 20% cut.

“In the first place, why must Malaysians pay more than 100% in excise duty? Why are the prices of our Proton cars so much cheaper in Langkawi and foreign countries?

“It is the uncaring BN government that is abusing its power and laws to enrich their cronies in the car industry. The AP (Approved Permit) is used for this purpose,” he added.

Chua said the irresponsible BN-Umno had been using the ghost of May 13, 1969, bloody racial conflict to frighten Malaysians into submitting to BN all these years.

“The people will not fall for such an archaic political ploy,” he said, reiterating the need for Malaysians to make the right decision to fight BN’s divisive and race politics.