KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 31 — DAP national chairman Lim Guan Eng today said the 15th general election (GE15) should not be called this year to avoid turning the Budget 2023 presentation into an “election budget” designed to bolster the prospects of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Umno at the ballot box.
There is also valid concern that the RM50 billion from dividend payments by Petronas to the government for this year will be used for political interests and not for the benefit of Malaysians, said the federal Opposition lawmaker in a statement.
“By buckling under pressure from Umno to hold an early general election, Ismail Sabri ignores the perilous nature of the country’s economic recovery in the face of rising prices and inflation, severe labour shortage, depreciating ringgit, poor governance, rampaging corruption and an impending global recession.
“Instead of focusing on the people’s livelihood, Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Barisan Nasional (BN) claim that the unstable political scenario has put the country’s economy in a state of decline, thereby necessitating an early general election.
“Whilst Umno is correct that the country’s economy is in a state of decline, it is Umno that is destabilising their own prime minister with repeated threats to call early general elections when full attention should be given towards resolving current economic woes,” he said.
He added that Ismail Sabri was wrong to emphasise racial unity as a key to realising Keluarga Malaysia (Malaysian Family).
He urged the prime minister to prioritise national unity, the economy and people’s livelihood over racial unity, instead of calling an early GE15 and the blind pursuit of political posts at all costs.
He said that the current economic crisis is the primary issue for Malaysians, even overshadowing the historic jailing of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Besides that, Lim said that racial unity is not Keluarga Malaysia but Keluarga Melayu, Keluarga Cina, Keluarga India, Keluarga Dayak/Iban, Keluarga Kadazan Dusun Murut.
He then asked: “Does Keluarga Malaysia exist when Ismail Sabri failed dramatically to publicly disavow and oppose the false, baseless, racist and extreme remarks by the PAS president and PAS Youth chief that respectively blamed the non-Muslims and non-Bumiputeras as the roots of corruption in Malaysia and threatened nation-wide demonstrations to ban concerts by international artistes?”
He also said that this year’s Merdeka celebrations belong to the people and not politicians, adding that: “The rakyat must take back the spirit of Merdeka from unscrupulous politicians and ensure full accountability of the utilisation and spending of the RM50 billion payment from Petronas.”
Yesterday, Ismail Sabri said he might table Budget 2023 in Parliament on October 7 himself, pending advice from the attorney general.
Budget 2023 was initially scheduled to be tabled on October 28 but was brought forward three weeks after Ismail Sabri exercised his authority as prime minister under Rule 11(2) of the Dewan Rakyat’s Standing Order.
No reason was given for moving up the date.
