KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18 — The Malaysian United Democratic Alliance’s (Muda) Muar MP Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman has called on the unity government to live up to its promises made after the 15th general election.
Among others, he said, were reforms promised but have yet to be fulfilled.
“Earlier, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said told the Dewan Rakyat in her winding-up address that the Madani government is one that walks the talk, and with that, the government will bring about all kinds of reforms and one of it being the separation of judiciary and public prosecutors.
“I believe, it isn’t a government that walks the talk, but a Nato government — no action, talk only. Why I have labelled the government as that is because prior to this, many promised reforms were delayed and are still being delayed.
“Let’s not even talk about new reforms... in March itself, the prime minister promised that each parliamentary district, be it under the ruling party or Opposition, will get fair allocation.
“But negotiation after negotiation, today the allocation is still zero Ringgit Malaysia,” Syed Saddiq told reporters at the Parliament building here today.
He claimed government bloc MPs have already received between RM3.8 million and RM4.5 million, but Opposition parliamentary districts nothing.
The sole MP in Muda said this meant that schools have not been maintained in Opposition areas, and that those who are facing hardship and have registered for help through channels like e-Kasih will not receive due aid.
“This means that these people who are facing hardship, because of the differences in political colours, will suffer.
“Why I say this is a ‘no action, talk only’ government, is because in January, the prime minister promised that all Cabinet ministers would be required to make an asset declaration. It is now September, and the base reforms promised since January have still not been done.
“We don’t need to back track much. Just look at last year. It was promised that graft cases would not be dropped. I didn’t say this, but it was promised by the prime minister,” he said.
Syed Saddiq went on to say that these were situations that the government could control.
“In this context, I think there is no need to say that this is a ‘walk the talk’ government, because when the rakyat hear the word ‘tatakelola’ (governance) they know these are all lies.
“When they hear the word ‘implementation’, they no longer have any trust because they have given so many chances (to implement reforms), but nothing has been done.
“So don’t talk about how they need two-thirds majority to make the reforms happen. I have given my commitment since the beginning to these reforms. If they need Muar’s vote, we will commit our support,” he said.
In this regard, he told the government not to hide behind the lack of two-thirds majority when it comes to fulfilling reforms promised previously, as the current Parliament is at its most stable in terms of vote, since Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s time.
