KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 16 — With polling for the 15th general election less than three days away, PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli said Pakatan Harapan (PH) is still the best coalition to overhaul an ailing economy and give Malaysians a better quality of life.
In a four-minute clip posted on his Facebook page today, Rafizi claimed the only way to address living cost pressure is by restructuring the economy, which he suggested is crowded by government-linked firms.
“We are voting so the ministers who lives on a fat paycheck would solve our main problem. Now what is our main problem? For most regular folks, it’s low income and wages,” Rafizi said.
“Consequentially, every time prices of basic goods go up we are squeezed.”
PH has made economic reform a key campaign pledge, with the promise to alleviate living standards by raising salaries.
Living cost pressure is a key issue for a majority of voters in this general election in the Covid era, as record high inflation drags Malaysians’ purchasing power down.
A key reason for the wage conundrum is the lack of competition, Rafizi said.
He claimed fewer than 500 private companies control almost the entire economy, with almost half of them government-linked.
Because these companies employ only a small portion of the total workforce, Rafizi suggested economic growth only benefits a tiny pool of people.
“That is why when the government reports positive economic growth, only the workers of these 500 firms enjoy salary growth and big bonuses,” the Pandan hopeful said.
Stagnant wages is a longstanding issue that all political coalitions have vowed to address in the past, including PH.
Leaders differ on what the root cause of the problem is but PH has blamed it on the crowding-out theory, that GLCs are vying for the same share of the economic pie with smaller firms. Small and medium enterprises are the country’s biggest pay-rollers.
Rafizi said if elected the coalition will aim to solve this through policy interventions, first by making SMEs more competitive through consolidation and second by directing GLCs businesses outward. This way local companies have more space to compete, he suggested.
Rafizi then pledged to divest more state firms and privatise them by incentivising management buyouts, which he claims will raise “competitiveness”.
Second, Rafizi said a PH government will commit to ensure salaries rise at a “reasonable” rate annually. This can be achieved in a decade and via a special fund
PH is the only contender that has made this a priority, he said.
“PKR and PH is the only political coalition with a progressive wage policy and is committed to make the increase in average income a national economic agenda,” he said.
“If other coalitions are in power and salaries remain low you have wasted this opportunity to raise Malaysians’ wages.”
