Bankrupt the nation? BN has done worse, says strategist

While BN criticises the Pakatan Rakyat manifesto as one that would bankrupt the nation in a few years, DAP election strategist Ong Kian Ming argues that BN has done worse with the national coffers.

As an example, he pointed out that the federal government has exceeded its allocated budget by RM44 billion between 2008 and 2011. The figure does not include contingent liabilities, which stood at RM117 billion as of 2011.

The federal budget also grows at about eight percent each year. For the 2013 budget, the government announced 56 new expenditures amounting to RM30 billion, he said.

In comparison, however, the new spending promised in Pakatan Rakyat’s manifesto only involves about RM45 billion spread over five years.

“So when BN says, ‘Look, how are you going to pay for all these plans,’ then the question should also go back to the BN...

“Look, you have announced every year, in every single budget, new plans to spend on new things. So what is so wrong for Pakatan Rakyat to also announce new ways of spending money that we think is much more responsible compared to the BN,” he queried.

Ong (left), a political analyst, was speaking at a forum about the manifesto in Petaling Jaya last night, alongside PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli and Kuala Selangor MP Dzulkefly Ahmad.

Meanwhile, Rafizi ridiculed BN’s criticisms against the manifesto as showing that BN cannot count, as he elaborated on the costs of delivering some of the manifesto’s key promises.

He explained through several examples that the relevant figure to study is the annual rise in the spending involved to fund projects, not its total cost.

One of them was the Plus highway, which BN said would cost RM50 billion.

“It is the total cost you would have to spend. That total cost is not correct, nor is it reflective of what is necessary from the financial coffers to finance the program,” he claimed.

Rafizi (right) added that the RM50 billion figure came from another company’s offer to take over Plus, which he says has no basis and is inappropriate.

He noted that the actual figure is about RM6 billion per year, including the cost of paying Plus’ stakeholders, operational costs, payment for inherited sukuk bonds, loss of tax revenues and savings from not having to pay compensation to Plus for not raising toll prices, among others.

Scared to debate?

“To date, BN is unable to contest these numbers because they know they can’t. So they kept repeating the false numbers over and over again that it will cost RM50 billion to take over Plus.

“If we have the finance minister (and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak) in front of us and we go through these numbers, I’ll bet you he will lose. That is why he does not dare debate,” he claimed.

The former accountant also poked fun at Najib, saying that the role of a prime minister is normally to present government policies, while the leader of the opposition is to rebut it, but the current roles appear to have been reversed.

“We have launched the manifesto, Najib (right) said he wants one week to rebut and give a response. That’s the leader of the opposition’s job.

“That means Najib, in preparation for the next general election, is warming up the seat. He is practising to be the leader of the opposition. I was so happy to hear that he wants to rebut, at least he will get used to it,” he said.

He also stressed that BN had previously taken its victory for granted and that no one pays attention to its manifesto, but now it has to do better than giving promises by setting concrete plans and targets to compete with Pakatan Rakyat’s manifesto.

“What I would suggest is that you should ‘Google’ and find BN’s 2008 manifesto, because then you would laugh your heads off. It is as if a Form 5 student wrote it.

“For example, BN promises that ‘the economy would grow’. My mom could write that!” he said, adding that the coalition would start ‘hammering’ BN’s previous and upcoming manifesto once the election campaign period starts.