Pakatan Rakyat Manifesto for GE-13: Some Glaring Omissions
February 27, 2013
Pakatan Rakyat Manifesto for GE-13: Some Glaring Omissions
by Malaysiakini (02-26-13)
Pakatan Rakyat has drawn up many bold and far-reaching promises in its manifesto, which has the potential of transforming Malaysia at its very core. However, the document – dubbed as 'The People's Pact, The People's Hope' manifesto – does contain some glaring omissions, which made it inconsistent with the coalition's policies.
A list of five key issues, chosen by Malaysiakini, follows:
1. Goods and services tax
The BN government has been playing around with the idea of implementing the goods and services tax (GST) since the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi administration.
And although the necessary law has since been tabled in 2009, all the signs are pointing to a post-general election implementation. The Najib Abdul Razak administration, however, had argued that the GST is essential to help sustain the debt-laden federal government, and in widening the tax base beyond the present crop of 1.7 million taxpayers.
Pakatan was opposed to the idea, with PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim stressing that the new tax will burden the lower-income group. However, there is no mention of any move to scrap the proposed Goods and Services Bill in the Pakatan Rakyat manifesto.
2. The Indian and disabled communities
The Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) has long highlighted the main problems that are faced by the Indian community – such as obtaining equal economic opportunities and land concessions for the construction of Tamil schools – that has so far not been resolved during Pakatan's reign in the Penang and Selangor states.
It has also been considered strange that Pakatan did not outline its policies for the disabled community. In Selangor and Penang, the state government had ensured that there was representation from the disabled community in the local government bodies to formulate policies for barrier-free access.
3. Local government elections
Local government elections were suspended in 1964, and since then, DAP has been actively championing the restoration of the elections which it argued would bring about greater efficiency and transparency to the operations of local authorities.
Last year, the DAP-led Penang government passed a law which was designed to allow such elections, but the Election Commission (EC) had decided not to comply. The matter is expected to be brought to court soon.
That was as close as DAP has gotten thus far. But judging from Pakatan's manifesto, which makes no mention of the matter, they might not get much further even if Pakatan takes over Putrajaya.
It is widely believed that PAS and PKR are not in favour of the idea, and are comfortable with the present system of having political appointees in the running of local government bodies.
4. Freedom of information
Perhaps the fact that the laws are currently still window-dressing for both the Selangor and Penang administrations, resulted in this policy being left out of Pakatan's manifesto. On the other hand, BN has been noted to be opposed to such measures.
5. Asset declarations
Pakatan has been hounding the BN leaders who hold public office to declare their assets, but the former had not pledged to do so in their manifesto. However, the coalition has implemented this system for the state cabinet members in Selangor and Penang, whereas the Kedah and Kelantan states had chosen not to follow suit.
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