Govt MPs hit back at Muhyiddin over ‘hopeless’ remark

 

Khaled Nordin says Anwar Ibrahim’s government is a stark contrast to that of Muhyiddin Yassin.

PETALING JAYA: Umno vice-president Khaled Nordin has dismissed the claim by Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin that the government is “hopeless”.

Khaled told FMT it was only natural for Muhyiddin, who is Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman, to paint the unity government in a bad light ahead of elections in six states.

“Of course he will depict everything as negative and unfavourable because his party is chasing votes to win,” said Khaled who is Kota Tinggi MP and also education minister in Anwar Ibrahim’s government.

“The unity government has only been in power for a few months, and various reforms that need to be implemented involve structural changes that need time,” he said.

Muhyiddin said in a recent interview with FMT that Malaysians had given Anwar’s government 100 days to solve a variety of issues, but “nothing happened”.

In response, Khaled said Anwar’s administration was in stark contrast to Muhyiddin’s, who declared a national emergency in 2021 to curb the Covid-19 pandemic and also suspended Parliament during the emergency, a controversial move which received flak from various quarters.

Bangi MP Syahredzan Johan dismissed Muhyiddin’s claims that “nothing happened” after seven months of the unity government being in power, saying that many initiatives have been introduced.

“There have been reforms such as decriminalising attempted suicide and abolishing the mandatory death penalty,” he said.

He added that efforts to alleviate the hardships of the people, such as through the e-tunai Belia Rahmah programme for youth and students nationwide, were also recently implemented.

He urged the opposition to stop playing with polemics and start playing its role as a responsible opposition to rebuild the country.

“They have not offered any alternative policies. Instead, they mostly resort to racial and religious rhetoric to gain political support.

“The constant talk of a change of government by PN, which has started from day one and has not abated until now, is also not helping matters.

“The opposition must stop such polemics and come together to rebuild the country.” - FMT