PKR: Semenyih still under discussion

There is still hope for PSM to contest in Semenyih as PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli says the parties are still negotiating.

PETALING JAYA: PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli today said that PKR was still in the midst of discussing with Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) on the candidacy for the Semenyih state seat.

“We are still in the midst of discussion with PSM,” said Rafizi at a press conference at PKR HQ today. Also present was PKR women chief Zuraida Kamaruddin.

Yesterday, PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim announced that Serdang PKR division chief Hamidi Hassan would be contesing in Semenyih, causing severe concerns for PSM who had identified its secretary-general S Arutchelvan as the candidate.

It is widely speculated that PKR is also interested in contesting in Kota Damansara state seat, won by PSM president Dr Nasir Hashim in 2008.

FMT had previously reported that PKR had identified lawyer Razlan Jalaluddin as a candidate for this seat.

Rafizi today said that the Semenyih state seat was allocated to PKR in 2008 and the party had loaned it to PSM at that time.

“But we still have about one week and I’m sure the matter can be resolved. Besides, Anwar was kind enough to leave Kota Damansara from his announcement yesterday,” he said.

Commenting on the matter, Zuraida said that it was best to view Anwar’s announcement as PKR offering an alternative candidate for the seat.

“But the matter is still under negotiations,” said Zuraida, adding PKR shared a good working relationship.

Najib’s strategists got it wrong

Earlier, Rafizi told the media that he was in possession of a Barisan Nasional document on rebuttals against Pakatan Rakyat’s manifesto.

He claimed that BN leaders got their numbers wrong in rebutting Pakatan’s manifesto.

“All this while I wondered on how BN leaders came about saying that our manifesto will increase Malaysia’s budget deficit by 13.2 %. Now I know how,” he said.

In recent days, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin had claimed that Pakatan’s manifesto, if implemented, would increase the government’s operating cost to RM270 billion.

They also alleged that the high operating cost would increase the nation’s debt to 13.2%, and shoot our national debt level to 67% of the gross domestic product.

In his rebuttal, Rafizi said that BN’s financial planning did not take into consideration measures to curb leakages and corruption.

“Pakatan has two strategies to ensure we don’t spend the BN way. We will stop excessive spending, which runs to about RM20 billion annually.

“Second strategy is that we will get the best value for money by curbing leakages. We estimate that we can save about 10% from our national budget worth RM250 billion, which translates into RM25 billion annually,” said Rafizi.

He also said that he will reveal more on how poorly BN had analysed Pakatan’s manisfesto in coming days.

“I have the entire 24 page report with me. It’s not surprising on why our country’s financial situation had become worse under Najib, who is surrounded by advisers who can’t even make simple financial analysis,” said Rafizi.