In sly agreement, Anwar concurs PM no longer populist

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today needled political rival and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak by agreeing that the latter has steered clear of populist measures since Election 2013.

The opposition leader said Najib’s recent statement that his federal administration did not adopt a populist approach, was correct in view of the recent raft of subsidy cuts and power rate hikes that have left the public up in arms.

“He is right. After the elections, he was no longer populist,” Anwar said at a press conference here.

Yesterday, Najib was reported as saying his administration could not afford to adopt a populist stance without jeopardising the country, and must instead work towards expanding the nation’s economy.

“I can be a prime minister riding on a populist platform but I will destabilise the economy and ruin the future of our beloved country,” he told an auditorium packed with civil servants at the 26th Congress of Unions of Employees (Cuepacs) Triennial Convention here at the PGRM tower.

Anwar said the recent raft of rate hikes announced by Najib was a clear indication that the Barisan Nasional-led government was not interested in keeping to its word.

He accused the government of making countless promises in the run-up to the fractious national polls last May, only to turn its back on the very public that returned them to power.

“Before the GE he was very populist, promising that there would be no rate hikes and many other things, and then his position altered immediately after the elections,” he said.

Anwar noted that the government’s plan to implement the six per cent Goods and Services Tax in 2015 - which will broaden the country’s tax base - fails to address the bigger issue of pubic wastage and illicit outflow of funds.

“They (government) are saying now is the time for GST because it has been deferred too long, but they are not saying they will stop the wastage, illicit outflow of funds or corruption.

“You have a choice, whether to deal with the excesses and wastages prior to implementing the GST, or to implement GST now and burden the people,” he said.

Najib’s administration announced several price hikes recently that have left the public up in arms, after a divisive national polls that saw the BN retain power with a diminished parliamentary majority.

Apart from the GST, the federal government also announced the total removal of sugar subsidies and further reduction of fuel subsidies, a nationwide increase in electricity tariffs and an upward revision of assessment rates for properties in Kuala Lumpur.

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