Guan Eng lists Ismail’s 5 big failures

 

Lim Guan Eng says Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s failures have tarnished the credibility of his Keluarga Malaysia vision.

PETALING JAYA: Lim Guan Eng has listed five big failures that he claims Ismail Sabri Yaakob has ignored and criticised him for his self-assessed 90% score for the Cabinet’s key performance indicators it had set for the first 100 days of government.

Lim, who is DAP secretary-general, said the first failure was that the government did not quickly proceed to pull the economy out of the recession by improving the economic well-being of the rakyat.

“This is seen by the prices of food and other daily necessities reaching record highs.

“Both meat and vegetable prices have gone up.

“There is genuine concern that inflation will continue to be unmanageable and spill over to next year and even lead to food shortages,” he said in a statement today.

The second failure was not implementing Covid-19 SOPs without fear or favour to curb the pandemic and avoid another lockdown, which had previously resulted in more than RM500 billion in economic losses.

The Bagan MP highlighted that the 80% discount, offered for police and Road Transport Department summonses, had attracted huge crowds at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre but had ignored Covid-19 SOPs.

“The official penalty of a mere RM1,000 fine to the organisers for breaching SOPs is a case of double standards when compared to opposition MPs being fined individually. Every minister and political leader present should have been issued a compound fine,” he said.

Ismail’s third failure, Lim said, was politicising posts and positions, with a record number of appointments of ministers, special envoys and special advisers. He said they were given high salaries and provided luxury vehicles, with minimal returns in performance.

“Politicians with no qualifications, except loyalty to the prime minister, have been appointed to senior positions in government-linked corporations managing tens of billions of ringgit in public funds.”

It was reported in October that former Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker Azalina Othman Said had been appointed Ismail’s special adviser for law and human rights, while Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan was made economics director in the Prime Minister’s Office.

Two weeks ago, Kedah Umno chief Jamil Khir Baharom was appointed to advise the prime minister on religious affairs.

The luxury vehicles Lim referred to was the government’s decision to switch from the Proton Perdana 2.4L Premium to the Toyota Vellfire 2.5L as the official car of senior government officials.

Lim said the prime minister’s fourth failure was the lack of a clear and transparent plan to address poor internet coverage and low internet speed.

“Ismail has missed a golden opportunity to push forward the 5G programme. He also failed to provide cabotage exemption for submarine cable repairs, as requested by Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon and Google,” he said.

Lastly, Lim said, Ismail’s Keluarga Malaysia vision had no credibility when he tried to gain political leverage to win Malay votes by marginalising and neglecting non-Malays or the non-Muslim communities.

“No one objects to government programmes and policies to help Bumis, but to expand at the expense of non-Bumis is contrary to national unity.”

He said this was demonstrated through the government’s refusal to provide an additional allocation of RM500 million each to Sabah, Sarawak, Malays and non-Malay communities to ensure a balanced and equitable Budget 2022.

Lim also criticised the recent restrictions on 4D shops and the sale of alcohol and beer in Kedah, calling them “an adoption of extremist policies advocated by PAS”.

“This has further offended the sensitivities of non-Muslims.

“Extremist and discriminatory policies have openly interfered and disrupted the customary lifestyle and normal business practices of non-Muslims, leading to a sense of alienation and of being treated as second-class citizens,” he said. - FMT