KUCHING, Dec 31: The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government has vowed to give focus and priority on carrying out its outstanding promises from the coalition’s 2018 Elections Manifesto next year.
PH Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen pointed out in a press release yesterday (Dec 30) that this would be among the top three priority agendas for 2020 with the other two matters being resolving racial polarisation issues and rebuilding the Malaysian economy.
“It will not be an easy task as the problem (racial polarisation) is the result of 56 years of indoctrination and mutual mistrust. In all societies, there are bound to be the small minority extremists whose voices are the loudest. They have the agenda to drive a wedge amongst the races to serve their personal and political gains,” he said.
However, Chong was optimistic that the great majority of Malaysians wanted to see a Malaysia of multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-racial harmony.
“To achieve that, we need the co-operation of all parties, the cabinet ministers, the elected representatives from both divides of the House, the NGOs, the learning institutions, all Malaysians as a whole and the media,” he added.
On rebuilding the Malaysian economy, Chong stated that there would be internal and external challenges, namely the lack of confidence amongst the business sector caused by political uncertainty within PH and the fluid and uncertain international trade caused by the trade war between the United States and China.
He however pointed out despite all that, statistically Malaysia had done reasonably well compared to other countries in 2019.
“As we move into 2020, PH will become more stabilised and there are glimpse of an amiable resolution of the trade war. With that, it is hoped that the economy will pick up in 2020,” he said.
“The people of Malaysia has created a miracle by defeating the Barisan Nasional (BN) in 2018. In most countries where there is a change of authoritarian regime, which have ruled for many decades, the new government could not hold together and the country plunged into chaos in the first one or two years of the change,” he said.
Despite all the bumps and humps, Chong added that PH had managed to hold the government together and would continue to strive to bring progress and prosperity to the country.
“We hope all Malaysians will be with us in this mission to rebuild the country,” he said.
He emphasised that there had been many reforms implemented by the PH government in 2019 including increased allocation for Chinese schools, full refund of RM37 billion in Goods and Services Tax (GST) and income tax, RM1.2 billion saved from terminating Lebuhraya Utara Borneo Sdn Bhd (LBU) as the Project Delivery Partner (PDP) for the Pan Borneo Highway project in Sarawak, maintaining inflation rate at below 1 per cent, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, and stabilising petrol RON95 and diesel prices, among others. —DayakDaily
