Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad presented Pakatan Harapan’s ‘report card’ for its first year in power, highlighting what the government had achieved so far.
PH government’s achievements:
- Legal forms, with oppressive laws abolished or their enforcement suspended
- Return to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 implemented
- Economic growth, with investor confidence increasing
- Practising the rule of law, with separation of powers of the legislature, executive and judicial
- Pumping in RM6.23 billion to help Felda and settlers
- Empowering women and young people to play important roles in policy-making
- Affordable housing, with 100,000 houses to be completed this year
The Prime Minister said 39% of pledges made during the 14th General Election had already been fulfilled.
“This performance is measured based on the ongoing status of 464 initiatives, which are policies and specific actions that are stated in each election pledge.
“A total of 53 Initiatives or 11.42% have been fulfilled out of 128 Initiatives. Another 283 Initiatives or 60.99% were at the In Planning or Not Yet Started stage,” he said in his premier address in conjunction with the first anniversary of Pakatan rule at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) on May 9, 2019.
Dr Mahathir added that this performance showed an improvement of 29.34% compared to 9.67% on Dec 31, 2018.
“We have four more years to ensure all the pledges can be implemented and we are confident all can be achieved before our mandate ends,” he said.
He spelt out the PH government’s achievements one by one, starting with the legal reforms.
“All laws that are cruel and oppress people have been abolished or have their enforcement suspended. Implementation of the death penalty has been suspended while studying the views of the rakyat, not all of whom agree that the punishment be abolished,” Mahathir said.
It is the same with the fake news law which has been suspended pending abolition, and the media has also been given full freedom without having to wait for instructions from Putrajaya like the practice before this.
The promise to return to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 has been implemented and acknowledged by the federal government with the recognition of Malaysia as a union of Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia.
Mahathir said economic growth was continuing and there were signs that investor confidence had increased.
Furthermore, the fact that Malaysia remained stable and peaceful was a big achievement for PH because many had feared that the country could plunge into racial and religious riots if PH governed the country, he said.
He said PH clearly practised the rule of law and the separation of powers between the three branches of a democratic country – the legislative, executive and judicial.
Specific initiatives have been put in place towards Felda’s recovery, with the government pumping in RM6.23 billion to help Felda and its settlers.
He also highlighted its efforts in empowering women, pointing out that for the first time in history, Malaysia appointed a female deputy prime minister.
“Although the government is still not satisfied with efforts to place more women as policy-makers, several appointments have shown the government’s commitment to this initiative,” the prime minister said.
He said apart from several important posts in the cabinet, for the first time in the country’s history women had been appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Chief Justice.
Bank Negara Malaysia, he added, is again led by a woman while several government-linked companies are helmed by women and many senior government officers are women.
“Initiatives to give opportunities to young people to play important roles in policy-making are also emphasised.
“The government has also appointed a young man as a Cabinet member,” he said, referring to Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.
The prime minister said affordable housing was another issue which had gained the government’s attention, as evident from the setting up of the National Affordable Housing Council, which brings the work of all related agencies under one roof and is chaired by the prime minister.
“This council, among other things, will take steps to build one million affordable houses in two terms and maintain an open database on unsold affordable houses to prevent the hiding of information by irresponsible developers,” Mahathir said.
“We are confident that for 2019, about 100,000 affordable houses can be completed. All these achievements reflect our commitment to develop the country and to fulfil the people’s aspirations,” he said.