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Salleh: Harapan manifesto all talk, no substance
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The Pakatan Harapan general election manifesto unveiled yesterday is big on words but small in substance, said Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak.

“We need to be realistic. The fact is that Harapan’s manifesto is big on words but small in substance. With reduced income and increased spending, Harapan is not going to deliver all their promises and still develop Malaysia,” he said in a post today on his blog, sskeruak.blogspot.my.

He said:  “We must build our nation on proven plans, not recycled promises”.

Salleh said Harapan made a lot of promises, such as giving more money to the people but did not explain their plans to replace the lost income.

“They also talk about giving the states the equivalent of 20 percent oil royalty. Will this mean grants and development budgets would now be reduced or is it an additional burden to grants and development budgets?

“How can the country afford that and where will the money come from? That question is never explained,” he said.

Salleh said politicians needed to make promises that can be delivered, not just any promises to help win the election.

He said Harapan also talked about restoring the sovereignty of the law.

“It is the actually the same thing the opposition said back in 1988, and then in 1998, when Dr Mahathir Mohamad was accused of practising rule by law instead of rule of law. Today, Harapan is saying the same thing again and has chosen Mahathir to lead the ‘change’. What logic is this?”

Salleh said Harapan was also saying that the sovereignty had been pawned.

“What does this actually mean? Are they saying Malaysia is no longer an independent country? This is again simple exaggeration and sensationalism. Malaysia is still ‘merdeka’ (independent) and its sovereignty is intact,” said Salleh, who is also the Umno treasurer.

-- Bernama

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