GOODIES FOR SABAH IN PAKATAN MANIFESTO

By : G VINOD

SHAH ALAM: Pakatan Rakyat today unveiled its election manifesto, giving more 'goodies' to the people of Sabah and Sarawak. The manifesto was launched at the fourth Pakatan convention here.

DAP Vice-Chairman M Kulasegaran told the nearly 1,000 participants at the Shah Alam Convention Centre that Barisan Nasional had neglected the East Malaysians for far too long.

“Therefore, if elected to federal power, we will set up two second level national oil companies in Sabah and Sarawak. These companies will serve to safeguard the interest of our East Malaysian brothers and provide employment to them,” he said.

Also present were PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli and PAS central working committee member Dzulkefly Ahmad.

Kulasegaran, who is also Ipoh Barat MP, said that the Pakatan government would also implement a mammoth highway project in East Malaysia, currently named the Pan Borneo Highway.

“The highway will link Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and Kudat. This is one of our measures to implement infrastructure projects equally in both East and West Malaysia,” he said.

He also reiterated Pakatan’s earlier promise to increase oil royalty from 5% to 20% if elected to power.

On reforms of public institutions, Kulasegaran said the Pakatan government would introduce the National Anti-Corruption Policy, or Debaran, that will be tasked with coming a comprehensive solution to combat graft.

Under Debaran, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) would be given powers to haul up and prosecute corrupt officials in court.

Chipping in, Dzulkefly said that other institutions such as the police force would also be strengthened in order to combat crime.

“We will also set up the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission [IPCMC] to monitor the police force,” he said.

Rafizi said the Pakatan government would also deal with the menace of monopoly in the economy by forming the Anti-Monopoly Commission.

He added that a Public Contracts Commission would also be set up to revise and study all public concessions for the benefit of the public.

“We need to ensure that those who control the telecommunications, pharmaceutical and other industries do not form a cartel.

“In addition, we will review our agreements with the independent power producers [IPP] that is costing taxpayers billions of ringgit, on top of the surging electricity tariff,” he said. (FMT)