THE MALAY MAIL
\nDECEMBER 8, 2013<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8 \u2014 The Malays are heading towards a future that is rapidly growing dimmer under Umno\u2019s continued rule, PKR said today, citing the ruling party\u2019s alleged failure to address key national issues during its just-concluded annual assembly.<\/p>\n
PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said the week-long assembly had only seen more chest-thumping from the ruling party\u2019s bellicose leaders to the tune of their new \u201c1Melayu\u201d refrain, instead of debates on the nation\u2019s dip in education standards and how to better address issues like corruption and the rise in living costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe spike in living costs, an issue that has grown more burdensome on the public, appeared to be mostly ignored.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn fact, Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razah still held on to his old rhetorical approach, saying \u2014 the people should be patient and sacrifice for the sake of the country\u2019s finances,\u201d she pointed out in a statement here.<\/p>\n
The Lembah Pantai MP noted that international ratings agency Moody had recently upgraded its credit outlook on Malaysia to A3, on the back of improved prospects for fiscal consolidation and reforms in government spending, including measures taken to cut back on public subsidies.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the question the Umno assembly failed to address is this \u2014 how did Moody\u2019s downgrade Malaysia\u2019s outlook in the first place? Why didn\u2019t a single leader or delegate speak on the effect of leakages, corruption and mismanagement of the economy?\u201d Nurul Izzah asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was because of government extravagance and leakages that the public now has to face taxes like the GST, price hikes in petrol, sugar and electricity tariffs and even assessment rates by City Hall \u2014 all to boost the country\u2019s credit ratings and raise the national debt at the hands of the select few identified for the Malay Economic Empowerment Agenda (Umno elites),\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
At his closing speech yesterday, Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak had told Malaysians that painful temporary subsidy cuts were necessary to boost the economy and to help Malaysia eventually achieve developed status by 2020.<\/p>\n
The prime minister reasoned that the recent increases in fuel and sugar prices, as well as the electricity tariff hike next month, had improved Malaysia\u2019s outlook by ratings agency Moody\u2019s from stable to positive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to take some short-term pains for long-term gains,\u201d Najib said as he closed Umno\u2019s 67th general assembly here.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is only a little. Not very painful. By 2020, we\u2019ll be a developed nation,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The electricity tariff in the peninsula will increase by 14.9 per cent, or 4.99 sen, to 38.53 sen for every kilowatt per hour (kWh), and 16.9 per cent, or 5 sen per kWh, to 34.52 sen per kWh for Sabah and Labuan, effective January 1 next year.<\/p>\n
In April 2015, the controversial Goods and Services Tax (GST), a broad-based consumption tax, will also be implemented to help reduce the country\u2019s fiscal deficit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must strengthen our economy, then we can give more assistance to the people,\u201d said Najib.<\/p>\n
The party president, now in his second term, had led the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) pact to a bittersweet victory during the 13th general elections that was expected to spur Umno towards introspection and reform.<\/p>\n
But observations throughout debates during the ruling party\u2019s annual meet over the week appeared to show otherwise as delegates chose instead to focus on more of the same rhetoric that is believed to have caused BN to bleed votes during the polls.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the week, Pandan Umno delegate Datuk Mohd Haniff Koslan said government-linked companies (GLCs) should each produce one Malay millionaire every two to three years, ostensibly to prop up the position of Islam in the country.<\/p>\n
Malacca delegate Datuk Akhbar Ali urged for the 30 per cent quota for Bumiputera equity in business to be more than doubled, since the Bumiputera community account for 67.9 per cent of the country\u2019s population of 28 million.<\/p>\n
In proposing the economy motion on Thursday, Bachok Umno chief Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussin sought for GLCs to award public contracts and procurement to more Bumiputera firms.<\/p>\n
The former deputy finance minister also wanted state-owned firms to prefer hiring Bumiputera graduates, while demanding a public key performance index (KPI) to monitor the extent to which GLCs are supporting the Bumiputera agenda.<\/p>\n
Daily, the unifying theme was overwhelmingly \u201cmore\u201d.<\/p>\n
Umno is comfortable with living in its cocoon or its shell and does not want to think of further ways to promote the country as a whole… but just how to further concentrate power and wealth through a range of motions and rebranding policies tailored specifically for select party members.<\/p>\n
Peppered among the calls for more of the carrot were also some demanding the stick for those who did not throw their support behind Umno and BN in Election 2013.<\/p>\n
Telling Putrajaya to only \u201cbet on sure things\u201d, Federal Territories delegate Datuk Mohd Shafei Abdullah on Thursday asked the federal government to re-examine the 1 Malaysia People\u2019s Aid (BR1M) cash handouts with the view of excluding PR supporters.<\/p>\n
Pandan Umno delegate Datuk Mohd Haniff Koslan suggested that the BN government play hard ball in federal to state dealings with the PR Selangor government, claiming the state made it harder for Malays to conduct business there.<\/p>\n
Most controversial was Penang delegate Datuk Musa Sheikh Fadzir, who said Putrajaya should consider adopting \u201c1 Melayu\u201d in place of its all-inclusive \u201c1 Malaysia\u201d slogan after efforts to reach out to Chinese voters were snubbed in Election 2013.<\/p>\n
Amid the pomp and pageantry, there was scant evidence that this was the assembly of a party whose coalition has just come off the poorest electoral result since that of the Alliance Party, which it replaced, in Election 1969.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn conclusion, Umno is comfortable with living in its cocoon or its shell and does not want to think of further ways to promote the country as a whole… but just how to further concentrate power and wealth through a range of motions and rebranding policies tailored specifically for select party members,\u201d Nurul Izzah said.<\/p>\n
\u201cClearly, the future of the Malays and Malaysia will continue to darken under Umno if it still fails to implement national reconciliation efforts that are inclusive, to create a brighter future for all,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Source: THE MALAY MAIL DECEMBER 8, 2013 KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8 \u2014 The Malays are heading towards a future that is rapidly growing dimmer under Umno\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[930],"tags":[136,646,61,81],"class_list":{"0":"post-5609","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-penerbitan","7":"tag-keadilan","8":"tag-nurul-izzah-anwar","9":"tag-pkr","10":"tag-umno"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nurulizzah.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nurulizzah.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nurulizzah.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nurulizzah.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nurulizzah.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5609"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nurulizzah.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5611,"href":"https:\/\/www.nurulizzah.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5609\/revisions\/5611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nurulizzah.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nurulizzah.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nurulizzah.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nhttp:\/\/www.themalaymailonline.com\/malaysia\/article\/post-umno-assembly-pkr-predicts-doomed-malay-race#sthash.W3J96MCg.dpuf<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"