Price reduction: Pakatan slams Ahmad Maslan for ignorance

Pakatan Rakyat leaders took Umno information chief Ahmad Maslan to task for challenging them to reduce prices of consumer goods in the states that they govern, saying that his ignorance was "shocking" and underscored the "alarming" lack of quality among BN politicians.

"No understanding of federal and state power," Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim said on his Twitter.

Ahmad is not the first BN leader who has bungled in public over the past few days. Just a day ago, Selangorians were shocked to watch on live Internet TV the difference in the quality of debate put up by both Pakatan and BN representatives as they argued the pros and cons for key amendments at a special legislative sitting.

Indeed, Umno's newly appointed head of the Selangor opposition, Satim Diman, drew the loudest laughter and was even likened to a clown for the way he tried to browbeat the august meeting into accepting his point of view.

Although, Pakatan could not manage to collect the minimum two-thirds majority to get their bill endorsed, the Selangor assembly sitting was an eye-opener and a water-shed for new politics in Malaysia.

Old politics vs new politics

Meanwhile, in Tenang where Ahmad is campaigning to help BN win a by-election due to be balloted on January 30, the Umno leader compounded the weakening perception the public has of the BN with a slew of ill-researched comments that Pakatan leaders immediately rubbished.

"This is the problem with Umno, MCA and MIC. They can't recruit new blood. In fact, professionals worth their salt won't join them for fear of being tainted by their brand name. Only the not-so-good or those with baggage or who have been sacked from other parties would go there," PKR vice president Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

Already under fire for bungling racial and religious issues at Tenang, Ahmad fired his best shot to help pull Umno and MCA out of the hole they dug for themselves.

He asked Pakatan to stop harping on Prime Minister Najib Razak's withdrawal of subsidies on consumer essentials which has sparked worrisome price hikes in petrol, sugar, cooking gas and fuel.

"These parties do not have to wait until after the next general election (as they claim to want to do it) as they are already administering the four states,"Bernama reported Ahmad as saying onTuesday.

According to the minister, Pakatan could reduce the price of RON95 petrol from the current RM1.90 to RM1.50 per litre by providing a subsidy to fuel station operators. If these parties were unable to do that, then they should not deceive the constituents of Tenang for the sake of garnering their votes in the by-election on Jan 30, Ahmad added.

"Sorry to say he is talking rubbish. For example, the price mechanism of RON95 is fixed by the Finance ministry and fuel operators are required by federal rules to follow this. It shows how selective his memory is that he can forget facts when it is convenient to do so.

"Yes, Pakatan has promised to reverse the price hikes once we get to Putrajaya. This is because only when federal power is with us, can we change the system and make sure that Malaysians can be guarded with check-and-balances that prevent greedy leaders from ever sapping the life-blood out of the ordinary and average citizen." - Malaysia Chronicle