DAIM BLAMES IT ALL ON ‘COMPLETE LACK OF COMMUNICATION’ FOR PAKATAN’S ‘FAILURE’: BUT HOW CAN ACTIVE & DELIBERATE RENEGING ON MANIFESTO PROMISES LIKE UEC, ICERD, TRANSFER OF POWER, U-TURNS ON ZAKIR NAIK, FLYING CAR, 3RD NATIONAL CAR, WILD RANTINGS AGAINST INDIA BY MAHATHIR & BERSATU BE ‘COMMUNICATED’ AWAY

 Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) leader Daim Zainuddin speaks during a press conference at Ilham tower in Kuala Lumpur on August 20, 2018. - The Malaysian Insight pic by Seth Akmal.

PAKATAN Harapan’s biggest failure was a complete lack of communications strategy between itself and the public, said its former adviser Daim Zainuddin.

This created distrust among PH’s component parties and the public, causing it to dance to the tune of the then opposition that stirred up race and religious fears, he said.

Daim had headed the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP), which was tasked to review the country’s institutions and industries to identify its most pressing problems and recommend solutions.

Another shortcoming, said Daim, was Pakatan’s narrow view of its election promises called Buku Harapan, which contained pledges that were impossible to fulfil given the country’s finances after the May 2018 general election.

Although PH had made missteps during its administration, Daim chalked it up to the inexperience of its leaders in the federal government.

However, these leaders were already learning fast and starting to improve, but this was cut short when it was brought down by a bloodless coup in the last week of February.

These were among Daim’s observations on PH’s performance during its 22 months in power, which he shared in a recent interview.

Below are excerpts of the interview:

Daim Zainuddin, who headed the Council of Eminent Persons, says in many instances, Pakatan was probably its own worst enemy. The draw of party interests back then, he says, far exceeded the interests of the government and the people, leading to many good initiatives being compromised along the way. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, June 16, 2020.

Q: Why were there economic policy failures of PH considering there was little put forward as policy and implementation and the consequential ineffectiveness on economic growth?

: In many ways, the PH government started off well and did a lot of things right. The biggest achievement, in my view, was in reducing corruption. We are no longer known as a kleptocratic nation.

It had also reduced the cost of some big-ticket projects signed off by the Barisan Nasional government. Those election promises, such as removing the goods and services tax, reinstating fuel subsidies, and others were either implemented or was in the process of being implemented.

It also started efforts to restructure government-linked companies and government-linked investment companies by ensuring only capable technocrats were appointed, and many of those appointed received lower remunerations compared to those appointed during the BN era.

Certain institutional reforms have been implemented, and some are in the pipeline. However, those reforms could not be fulfilled due to a change of government halfway through PH’s mandate.

Also, many of the other initiatives including those that began well, were compromised somewhere along the way. In many ways, PH was probably its own worst enemy.

While there is no single reason why some of these policy changes slowed down drastically, I would say the draw of party interests far exceeded the interests of the government and the people, especially when they just came into power, and they were still very much tied to party politics.

Certain members of the PH component parties seemed more intent on fulfilling their individual and party agenda instead of coming together for a national agenda. So, for instance in the case of political appointments in government-linked or government-owned entities, the call to appoint only professionals was partially compromised as some parties caved in to pressure from their members.

They had been in the opposition for too long and found it tough to adjust to running a government. But to be fair, they were only one-third into their mandate and were already learning the ropes. They were ready to move to the next phase with better coordination and implementation – but the government was taken from them.

Q: The CEP worked hard and long to recommend improvements to Malaysia. Why weren’t many of its recommendations adopted and why was it seemingly fruitless?

A: The main component of CEP recommendations, which covers a wide range of issues, were monitored by the prime minister’s office. I do not know what has happened to them.

The independent reform committee’s recommendations are monitored by the National Centre for Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption. There are around 227 recommendations, of which 158 are a work in progress, and about 20% of the recommendations have been addressed.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail during the unveiling of Buku Harapan two years ago. Daim Zainuddin says instead of looking at the spirit of the manifesto, the Pakatan government became obsessed with its details, falling into the trap set by the opposition. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, June 16, 2020.

Q: In the nearly two years PH governed, what are the biggest regrets when it comes to policy decisions and implementation? Was the manifesto a millstone for PH?

A: I participated in the election to get rid of a kleptocratic government. I was not part of the political and administrative setup so I did not have a role in the implementation of policy decisions.

Post-election, my role as head of the CEP was to lead the team in identifying issues that needed immediate attention and making recommendations on how to solve them.

Somewhere along the way, the big picture was lost in the many nitty-gritty issues that were brought up, and that both the government and opposition became obsessed with. The manifesto was one of them.

Instead of looking at the spirit of the manifesto, the government became obsessed with the details of the manifesto. It fell into the trap of the opposition who started nitpicking on the manifesto.

Yes, promises must be kept but when we saw the financial position the government was left with after GE14, it was impossible to fulfil them immediately.

The government should have told the rakyat why it couldn’t fulfil them. But at that point in time, the priority was to attend to the messy financial and economic problems left behind by the BN government.

For instance, the cancellation of the East Coast Rail Link project was part of the manifesto. But when weighing the available options, it became obvious we had to accept that the continuation of the ECRL at a lower cost was a more viable option rather than outright cancellation.

In missing the woods for the trees, the PH government kept on bumping against trees and bushes, often the result of lack of trust among component parties and the constant baiting by the opposition.

Other manifesto initiatives could have and should have been carried out not by the letter but in the spirit in which the manifesto intended but infighting, as well as personal and party agenda also did not help.

Hence the lack of political will and grit to do so. For instance, in the case of addressing the number of illegals in the country and reducing the number of foreign workers. After meeting many parties at their requests, I decided to write to the then prime minister and made several proposals to address this issue.

These proposals would not only have seen a proper exercise to legalise and repatriate illegals, but would have also led to a more sustainable foreign worker policy. Instead, they were hijacked by the vested interests. As a result, the proposals were ignored and another manifesto promise was left unfulfilled.

We see the repercussions of the failure to address this issue manifested now during this Covid-19 pandemic. In addition to being unable to conduct contact tracing and a clear knowledge of their size and whereabouts, the “sudden” arrests of illegals and their subsequent positive tests has not only led to increased xenophobia in the country but also to the rising reluctance of any illegals to come forward for voluntary repatriation.

So much so, we are now facing a situation where locals think Covid-19 is rampant only among foreigners, and this is creating distrust, abuse and fear of all foreign workers.

Because of the failure to address this issue, many business activities such as construction, cannot resume because they are either hampered by their illegal workers going underground or there being too much fear of transmission.

The biggest failure to me was how the government communications team failed badly to explain the actual situation to the people and build on the goodwill that brought it to power. The government squandered the trust given to it.

Instead of setting the narrative, the government was forever reacting to events and agendas it could not control nor had any control over.

The breakdown in communication and the communication gap between the government and rakyat was indeed a lost opportunity.

There was also so much good going on but the noise from both the then opposition and the unhappy members of certain parties, gave the impression this was a disunited government, a clueless government or a government beset with infighting.

If they have had a better communication team who could explain the policies and the programmes undertaken, people would have at least understood the difference between the empty noise outside and the hard work going on inside.

THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT