PKR has become like Umno - Khairy

PKR has become like Umno that it used to hate, said former minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

According to the former Umno leader, PKR, and Pakatan Harapan in general, are also committing the "same mistakes" that Umno-BN did when the latter was in power.

"The rakyat has high hopes for Harapan, but nothing is being done to handle the expectations. Even hardcore Harapan supporters are not impressed (with the government).

"Sure, there are several good things like the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR), the New Industrial Master Plan 2030 (NIMP), and the Madani economy, but hardly anything is being done to help the rakyat handle the current challenges," he said in the latest episode of the 'Keluar Sekejap' podcast.

Khairy (above) cited the poor performance of the ringgit and the rising cost of living as examples of the external challenges faced by the rakyat.

"The worst part is Harapan is making the same mistake that BN did, by asking the rakyat why they are complaining as the inflation is still low, and the GDP is up for three consecutive quarters, and so on.

"They think the abstract numbers are felt by the people on the ground, when in fact, these two are different things."

Khairy and his co-host Shahril Hamdan were talking about the first year anniversary of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's administration, which both of them dubbed as "great on show, but short on performance."

'Thin skin syndrome'

Khairy also slammed the coalition government for failing to keep up to its promises and using poor justifications for its shortcomings.

"They (Harapan) have yet to deliver on the separation of powers between the prime minister and finance minister, and the Sedition Act is still being used for political purposes when it was previously promised it would only be used for statements against the royalty.

"(To justify the shortcomings), they (Harapan) give excuses like they have to work with Umno-BN, but good governance should go beyond parties or coalitions. They (Harapan) can't even admit their weaknesses. What they used to attack (former premier) Najib (Abdul Razak) with, now it is suddenly all right for Anwar to do," said Khairy.

According to him, the government and its supporters also suffer from a "thin skin" syndrome, which means it is easily offended by criticism.

Shahril Hamdan

Shahril concurred, saying that the government and its leaders do not deal with criticism well.

"It is disappointing. I thought Harapan was open-minded, but when they are in power, they are touchy, and any criticism is rejected as being motivated by agenda.

"This is akin to the era before the 14th general election, where anyone criticising Najib was seen as the enemy.

"I would like to advise Harapan, don't make the same mistake (that BN did)," said Shahril.

Khairy said that he conducted a poll on his Instagram to gauge his followers' feedback on the Madani government's performance, and out of the 18,000 votes garnered, the majority (69 percent) went for the C and D options.

"It (government performance) is not disastrous, but it can be better," he said, further suggesting Anwar to implement a Madani KPI (key performance indicator) to grade the performance of the cabinet ministers, akin to the one implemented by Pemandu during Najib's time. - Mkini