Pakatan’s promises are venomous poison

Prime Minister Najib urges rakyat to be wary of Pakatan's weapons.

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak today urged Malaysians to be wary of the opposition’s three main “weapons” which were condemning, instigating and making all sorts of promises in trying woo the people.

“They must condemn (the government), they must knock you (government) down. After that, they must instigate (the people) and then they will promise. Like I said, they’ll promise the sun, the moon, and even the galaxy,” he said when opening Gerakan’s 41st National Delegates Conference here.

Najib, who is also Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, said the people should ponder about the sweet promises made by the Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition which in the end were actually nothing more than venomous poison for them.

“Is it really something good for the people or will it lead to some catastrophic outcome for the nation. This is something the people must think about, because to become the opposition, the arsenal is three things  — condemn, instigate, promise,” stressed Najib.

Najib said that to be a credible opposition in a parliamentary democracy, a few fundamental conditions must be fulfilled, one of which is having a common symbol.

“In other words, you must register as a party. But Pakatan Rakyat is not registered as a common party nor do they have a common symbol,” Najib said.

The prime minister pointed out BN had been using a common symbol, with electoral candidates contesting under the BN banner.

“We go and face the people as BN, but the opposition will go to the people with different faces.

“Symbol not the same …we are not sure whether they will table a common manifesto ,” he said, noting that squabbles over (the implementation of) hudud (Syariah laws) among the opposition pact had been conducted openly.

Unfulfilled promises
Najib said this demonstrated that they did not have a common position and common policy on how this country was going to be administered.

He also took a swipe at the opposition’s failure in unveiling its ‘shadow cabinet’.

Najib said the country should not be governed by the opposition pact who kept on making unfulfilled promises.

He noted that 75 per cent of promises in PKR-led Selangor, remained unfulfilled while the BN had to step in to resolve the Kampung Buah Pala (eviction of villagers) issue in DAP-dominated Penang.

The prime minister also said that a leader must be fair and just, traits which had apparently escaped an opposition leader when he tried to deprive a competent senior state Education official from being promoted in Penang some time ago because he was a non-Malay.

“When I checked on it, I took a risk. He was the deputy prime minister, I was the Education Minister…I said no, that man must be given the Pengarah Pelajaran (atate education director) post. And I was prepared to face the consequences because of principle. A leader must be fair and just,” he said.

Touching on the 2013 Budget he tabled on Friday, Najib said the underlying philosophy in its preparation was that the people must come first and all steps taken were for them.

“This budget is about the people as well as about moving the economy. You can’t just talk about the rakyat (people) without moving the economy, without attracting foreign investment, domestic investment, innovation and productivity.

“There are 111 initiatives or touch points in Budget 2013. Read them one by one,” he said.

- Bernama