Enough with the past, PPBM leader says after Camerons defeat

PPBM Supreme Council member Tariq Ismail says voters do not need to be reminded of past misdeeds, but to be given solutions to present problems.

PETALING JAYA: A PPBM leader has urged Pakatan Harapan (PH) to stop dwelling on Barisan Nasional’s (BN) past, following the ruling coalition’s first by-election defeat since the May 9 polls.

The Cameron Highlands by-election on Saturday saw BN retaining the parliamentary seat with its biggest margin since 2008.

PPBM Supreme Council member Tariq Ismail said the outcome of the by-election should serve as a message to PH that voters do not want to be reminded time and again of BN’s alleged misdeeds.

“At the end of the day, do not take the voters for granted,” he said. “They know when something is wrong and when a coalition is not united. This is what led to BN’s fall.

“There should be no need to remind voters of the past and past crimes. They know to let the law take its course. From now on, provide solutions,” he told FMT.

BN candidate Ramli Mohd Nor had beaten PH’s M Manogaran by over 3,000 votes, marking the DAP man’s third successive defeat at the polls.

Ramli’s margin of victory was also bigger than that of former Cameron Highlands MP C Sivarraajh, who won the seat by 567 votes against Manogaran in the general election last year.

Tariq said BN’s victory in Pahang showed that the majority of votes had come from the Malays. Moving forward, he said, the PH government needed to focus on providing solutions, not bickering among themselves.

He gave the example of Felda and the cost of living, saying voters had not seen any solutions to these issues.

Tariq Ismail.

“It is inevitable that Malaysia will enter the industrial revolution 4.0, where more mechanisation and technology takes over jobs which will hurt the Bottom 40 (B40) group.

“Rather than fight it, we need to find new industries for the B40 to get an income,” he said.

He also urged the government to find a way to help the Bumiputeras increase their stake in the economy without hurting the contributions of non-Bumiputeras.

“Governments are not magicians who can solve everything in one day,” he added. “But as long as solutions in the form of policies are tabled for the good of the nation, people will start to accept it.”

Tariq’s view on the need to provide solutions to issues faced by the people is shared by others, including PKR president Anwar Ibrahim who recently urged the government to address public anxiety over the economy and cost of living.

PKR Supreme Council member Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad meanwhile said PH needed to show more concrete results, especially in terms of the economy, if it wished to avoid a repeat of its loss in Cameron Highlands.

The Setiawangsa MP said PH had mostly itself to blame for its defeat.

“The biggest weakness is our inability to show a better vision for the future, for the people in Cameron Highlands and for Malaysians in general.

“We still have not shown Malaysians why they should vote for us, for the sake of a more thorough and inclusive economy.

“The bottom 40% and middle 40% income groups in the country cannot live on sweet words alone – they need benefits that can be measured,” he said in a statement. - FMT