COULD the Pakatan Harapan (PH) have promised too much to the people during the May 9 general elections?
The answer is yes and no. Yes after it had known the extent of the rot left behind by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government and no had the situation been better.
The authors of its manifesto could be blamed for underestimating the depth of the problems generated by the BN. But then again how could they know when the whole world was being lied to.
The Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, had lamented at this week’s meeting of the supreme leadership council of Parti Primbumi Bersata Malaysia (PPBM) in Petaling Jaya that the government might find it hard to fulfil all the promises it made.
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| Saving the country: Dr Mahathir did it twice before |
Those with elementary understanding of the economy would, by now, know that the ousted kleptokratic BN government had left a much greater mess than most of us had dared to imagine.
The financial market, already spooked by the US-China trade disputes, reacted negatively to the news of the BN’s plundering.
There’s no way that the new government could or should hide these bad news from the investors.
My attitude is, let us be as truthful as we could. After all, the PH had promised transparency and accountability.
What has been discovered so far shows that the former Prime Minister, who was also Finance Minister, (Datuk Seri I Mappadulung Daeng Mattimung Karaeng Sandrobone Sultan Abdul Jalil) Mohd Najib Abdul Razak, had wantonly and systematically crippled the country’s economy.
The institutional damage his government did was systematic and systemic. Literally there wasn’t an institution, including the monarchy, that hadn’t been usurped and perverted using bribery and intimidation. Cash was truly the supreme king.
It started with the formation of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) in 2009, the year he became Prime Minister, and gotten worse with every subsequent get-rich-quick scheme he launched – anything from the commercialisation of Felda assets via the Felda Global Ventures IPO to the launch of a slew of debt-funded mega projects.
Moving Forward
My feeling is the government must share the truth with the people. Let them know comprehensively the situation the country is in and what plans it has to put it back on track.
The government should use the first sitting of the Parliament, starting July 16, to address these issues. A new budget or, at the very least, a supplementary one may be necessary.
Surely the people want to hear from the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister (Lim Guan Eng) and the Minister in charge of the economy (Mohd Azmin Ali) about state that the economy.
It’s timely for the Prime Minister to make his first “state of the federation” address.
The people must be told the truth no matter how unpalatable it may be. The new government cannot perpetuate the lies and pretense of the previous administration.
It would appear that in many cases we may be forced to start all over again. So many institutions, agencies and corporations had been so badly corrupted and perverted that they are literally financially insolvent.
Dr Mahathir and his team had saved the country twice before. They did it in the mid-1980’s and during the 1997/98 Asian Financial Crises.
I am sure the people would give them a chance to do it again.
God willing.
WRITER: KADIR JASIN – Views expressed herein are entirely mine. I am writing in my personal capacity as a blogger. It has nothing to do with whatever position I may hold.
– http://kadirjasin.blogspot.com
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